Abstract
The seismoelectric phenomenon associated with propagation of seismic waves in fluid-saturated porous media has been studied for many decades. The method has a great potential to monitor subsurface fluid saturation changes associated with production of hydrocarbons. Frequency of the seismic source has a significant impact on measurement of the seismoelectric effects. In this paper, the effects of seismic wave frequency and water saturation on the seismoelectric response of a partially-saturated porous media is studied numerically. The conversion of seismic wave to electromagnetic wave was modelled by extending the theoretically developed seismoelectric coupling coefficient equation. We assumed constant values of pore radius and zeta-potential of 80 micrometers and 48 microvolts, respectively. Our calculations of the coupling coefficient were conducted at various water saturation values in the frequency range of 10 kHz to 150 kHz. The results show that the seismoelectric coupling is frequency-dependent and decreases exponentially when frequency increases. Similar trend is seen when water saturation is varied at different frequencies. However, when water saturation is less than about 0.6, the effect of frequency is significant. On the other hand, when the water saturation is greater than 0.6, the coupling coefficient shows monotonous trend when water saturation is increased at constant frequency.
Highlights
The seismoelectric phenomenon has been attracting attention of many researchers all over the world
We normalized the values of each coupling coefficient with respect to the largest coupling coefficient, which was obtained at the frequency of 10 kHz for each water saturation
The results show that the normalized curves at various water saturations coalesce into a single curve, indicating that the relative strength of the coupling coefficient is the same at the given frequency regardless of water saturation
Summary
The seismoelectric phenomenon has been attracting attention of many researchers all over the world. The first interest to study this phenomenon was shown the early 1940s [21]. The seismoelectric method combines a high resolution of the seismic surveys and the sensitivity of the electrical methods to hydrological properties of subsurface formations [9, 23] that are commonly used in Oil and Gas Industry. It has been shown that the seismoelectric method can have very promising applications in various sectors of the Petroleum Engineering, especially, in Reservoir Monitoring. The seismoelectric method can be applied in Reservoir Monitoring because it is able to detect subsurface fluid saturation changes. With sufficient knowledge of the subsurface geology, the distribution of reservoir fluids can be mapped
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