Reflection and transmission approximations for weak contrast orthorhombic media

Abstract

Subsurface media are in general anisotropic, and this fact should be taken into account for analyzing reflection and transmission (R/T) coefficients. Orthorhombic (ORT) media are commonly regarded as a practical symmetry system to account for polar anisotropy and azimuthal anisotropy. We have focused on the model made up of two welded ORT half-spaces to analyze the R/T coefficients normalized by vertical energy flux. The two half-spaces have azimuthally nonaligned vertical symmetry planes and are parameterized in two local 3D Cartesian coordinate frames, respectively. The vertical coordinate planes in each local frame coincide with the vertical symmetry planes for the corresponding ORT half-spaces. Under the weak contrast assumption for the two half-spaces, this model is taken as the perturbed model in R/T approximations with the perturbation theory. The unperturbed model is also composed of two unperturbed ORT half-spaces with their different vertical symmetry plane orientations inheriting the counterparts for the perturbed half-spaces above and below the interface, respectively. The unperturbed ORT half-spaces above and below the interface have the same model parameters defined in the two local coordinate frames, respectively. With the perturbations respectively evaluated in the local coordinate frames above and below the interface, the azimuth angle that indicates the local frames’ azimuthal difference is decoupled from the model parameter contrasts. Compared with the traditional approximation method with the perturbation theory in a global coordinate frame, the proposed R/T approximations depend on fewer model parameter discontinuities. We also consider the isotropic background medium under the weak anisotropy assumption. Influences of S-wave singularity points are mitigated by introducing pseudowaves for approximations. Numerical tests are implemented to demonstrate the accuracy.