Scattering resonance of elastic wave and low-frequency equivalent slow wave

Abstract:

Transmitted wave occurs as fast p-wave and slow p-wave in certain conditions when seismic waves travel through inhomogeneous layers. Energy of slow p-waves is strongest at some frequency band, but rather weak at both high frequency band and low frequency band, called scattering resonance. For practical seismic exploration, the frequency of slow p-wave occurs is below 10Hz, which cannot be explained by Biot’s theory which predicts existence of the slow p-wave at ultrasonic band in the porous media. The slow p-wave equation have been derived, but which only adapted to explaining slow p-wave in the ultrasonic band. Experimental observations exhibit that slow p-wave also exists in nonporous media but with enormous low-velocity interbeds. When vertical incidence, elastic wave is simplified as compressing wave, the generation of slow waves is independent on shear wave. In the case of flat interbed and gas bubble, Liu (2006) has studied the transmission of acoustic waves, and found that the slow waves below the 10Hz frequency band can be explained. In the case of general elastic anisotropy medium, the tiheoretical research on the generation of slow waves is insufficient. Aiming at this problem, this paper presents an exponential mapping method based on transmitted wave (Magnus 1954), which can successfully explain the generation of the slow wave transmission in that case. Using the prediction operator (Claerbout 1985) to represent the transmission wave, this can be derived as first order partial differential equation. Using expansions in the frequency domain and the wave number domain, we find that the solutions have different expressions in the case of weak scattering and strong scattering. Besides, the method of combining the prediction operator and the exponential map is needed to extend to the elastic wave equation. Using the equation (Frazer and Fryer 1984, 1987), we derive the exponential mapping solution for the prediction operator of the general elastic medium. Using quaternion and Pfaffian(Dyson 1970) techniques, the matrix’s exponential mapping solution is further solved as the hyperbolic trigonometric functions or trigonometric matrix elements. Using the Fourier transform, slow wave’s Airy-like function can be obtained. This study shows that slow waves only occur in the case of strong scattering.