Experimental study on seismic attenuation and permeability of large porosity rock

The large porosity areas widely present in the underground resulting from
natural hazards or artificial damages. The porosity and permeability are suggested
to be capable of estimating the mechanical and air flow conditions inside
the porous layer in the underground. To accurately measure the porosity
and permeability in the porous area is imperative. To address this issue, we
experimentally modeled some porous samples in large porosities by using
sandstone particles sieved to different sizes. Ultrasonic was employed to apply
on the porous sandstone samples to characterize the seismic velocity and attenuation. Permeability was also measured simultaneously to find a correlation
with the porosity. The results showed the seismic attenuation decrease as
the reduction of frequency and increasing particle size at the same porosity.
Seismic attenuation was strongly correlated to porosity and particle size. Velocity
showed a good relationship with the porosity change. Permeability was
highly dependent on the particle size especially in the higher porosity range.
The results indicated that it is possible to find a relationship between the permeability and seismic attenuation via the porosity and particle size.