Modeling the effect of pore and crack interactions on the effective elastic properties of fractured porous rocks

Abstract

We discuss and address two questions for effective medium theories in fractured, porous media: How the pores and cracks interactions could affect the elastic response and seismic anisotropy? And can we physically characterize the pores and cracks interactions? We first use Biot-Gassmann consistency concept to test if an effective medium theory is physically plausible. Then a detailed theoretical analysis and numerical simulations about T-matrix theory for the effective elastic properties will be explored. We also compare the numerical results from different effective medium theories, revealing the physical importance to consider the elastic interactions of pores and cracks.