Effect of pore connectivity on reflection amplitudes of an inhomogeneous wave in a composite porous solid saturated by two immiscible fluids

Abstract

Present paper aims to study the phenomenon of reflection and transmission when an inhomogeneous wave strikes some discontinuity in a composite porous medium saturated by two immiscible viscous fluids. The incident wave splits into six reflected and six transmitted waves at the interface. All reflected and transmitted waves are inhomogeneous in nature with different directions of propagation vector and attenuation vector. A dimensionless parameter \(\varsigma \in [0, 1]\) is introduced to represent the extent of connection among the pores at the interface. Expression of Umov–Poynting vector is derived to obtain energy flux vector. Continuity of energy flux vector at the interface gives the required boundary conditions for the system. Connecting parameter \(\varsigma \) is also employed in boundary conditions to model the partial connection of pores at the interstices of two media. For numerical discussion we consider a porous medium composed of sandstone and ice, saturated with oil and water. The effect of parameter \(\varsigma \) and angle of incidence is determined numerically on the amplitude and the energy ratios of reflected and transmitted waves.