Seismic wavefield modeling in media with fluid-filled fractures and surface topography

Abstract

We present a finite difference (FD) method for the simulation of seismic wave fields in fractured medium with an irregular (non-flat) free surface which is beneficial for interpreting exploration data acquired in mountainous regions. Fractures are introduced through the Coates-Schoenberg approach into the FD scheme which leads to local anisotropic properties of the media where fractures are embedded. To implement surface topography, we take advantage of the boundary-conforming grid and map a rectangular grid onto a curved one. We use a stable and explicit second-order accurate finite difference scheme to discretize the elastic wave equations (in a curvilinear coordinate system) in a 2D heterogeneous transversely isotropic medium with a horizontal axis of symmetry (HTI). Efficiency tests performed by different numerical experiments clearly illustrate the influence of an irregular free surface on seismic wave propagation in fractured media which may be significant to mountain seismic exploration. The tests also illustrate that the scattered waves induced by the tips of the fracture are re-scattered by the features of the free surface topography. The scattered waves provoked by the topography are re-scattered by the fractures, especially Rayleigh wave scattering whose amplitudes are much larger than others and making it very difficult to identify effective information from the fractures.