Amplitude-dependent hysteresis of wave velocity in rocks in wide frequency range: an experimental study

This research belongs to the field of rock physics. In recent years, in solid state physics and materials science, new knowledge has emerged about microplastic strain of various materials, including rocks. These data were obtained using high-precision micro- and nanoscale strain measurements. The very fact of the existence of the poorly studied rock property in the earth sciences requires the study of the possible influence of the rock microplasticity on the propagation of seismic and acoustic waves. The studies were carried out using three alternative methods and under different observation conditions. The field measurements were carried out in the zone of low velocities in crosshole space with transmitted waves of frequency of 240–850 Hz. The laboratory measurements were carried out on sandstone samples with transmitted (6.8 kHz) and reflected (1 MHz) waves at the strain of 10⁻⁸–10⁻⁶. The manifestations of microplasticity were recorded using high-resolution recording of signals with discretization time t_discret = 1 μs – 40 μs and 32.5 ns. The wave amplitude variation was provided in a closed cycle: discrete increasing the amplitude from minimum to maximum and return to the initial value (A1+ → A2+ → … A_max … → А2– → A1–). In this amplitude range, an amplitude hysteresis was observed, a sign of which was the inequality of wave velocities on the upward and downward amplitude courses. This effect was recorded for all three measurement methods at different frequencies. However, the amplitude hysteresis of the wave velocity was not observed only in the measurements at full water saturation of loam. The largest amplitude-dependent change in the wave velocity reached 2% (at the accuracy of 0.02%), and the change in the attenuation value amounted to 5%. The reason for this effect could be microplastic inelasticity, which manifested itself by amplitude plateaus located within the waveform. The amplitude microhysteresis forms overall picture of the amplitude dependence of the wave velocity in wide amplitude range. Proposals for the potential use of the obtained data for solving some applied problems have been presented.

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