Fracture characterization using converted waves

Abstract

We present a method for inversion of fracture compliance matrix components from wide-azimuth noisy synthetic PS reflection data and quantitatively show that reflection amplitude variations with offset and azimuth for converted PS-waves are more informative than P-waves for fracture characterization. We consider monoclinic symmetry for fractured reservoir (parameters chosen from Woodford Shale), which can be formed by two or more sets of vertical fractures embedded in a vertically transverse isotropic background. Components of effective fracture compliance matrices for a medium with monoclinic symmetry are related to the characteristics of the fractured medium. Monte Carlo simulation results show that inversion of PS reflection data is more robust than that of PP reflection data to uncertainties in our a priori knowledge (vertically transverse isotropic parameters of unfractured rock) than PP reflection data. We also show that, while inversion of PP reflections is sensitive to contrasts in elastic properties of upper and lower media, inversion of PS reflections is robust with respect to such contrasts.