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In this paper, a set of equations governing the electromagnetic/acoustic coupling in partially saturated porous rocks in the low-frequency regime is derived. The equations are obtained by volume averaging of fundamental electromagnetic and mechanical equations valid at the pore-scale, following the same procedure as the one developed in the seminal paper of S. Pride for porous media where the fluid electrolyte fully saturates the pore space. In the present approach, it is assumed that the porous rock is partially saturated with a wetting-fluid electrolyte (water) and a non-wetting fluid (air). We also assume that an electromagnetic/mechanical coupling exists at the water–solid and water–air contact surfaces through adsorbed excess charges balanced by mobile ions in the water. The proposed approach is valid at the low-frequency regime, where capillary pressure perturbations can be safely neglected. The governing equations thus derived are similar to the ones obtained by Pride with the main difference that the various coefficients, including the electrokinetic coupling coefficient and electric conductivity appearing in the transport equations, are functions of the water saturation and depend on electrical and topological properties of both electric double layers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a numerical method to simulate seismic wave propagation in coupled fluid and porous media. We developed a numerical finite element–based algorithm to approximate solutions to viscoacoustic and Biot's equations, considering the open pore conditions at the interfaces between both media. The algorithm architecture allows to simulate arbitrary distributions of viscoacoustic and poroelastic regions, facilitating the modelling of heterogeneous systems involving complex geometries. The algorithm includes a double parallelization scheme whose efficiency in terms of computing time and memory requirements was tested for different core distributions and mesh sizes. We validate our proposal by performing a comparison between its results and those obtained with a well‐known freely available code. We test its capabilities by studying two different scenarios with geophysical interest: a lake with an irregular bottom and a fractured porous medium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The presence of mesoscopic heterogeneities in fluid-saturated porous rocks can produce measurable seismoelectric signals due to wave-induced fluid flow between regions of differing compressibility. The dependence of these signals on the petrophysical and structural characteristics of the probed rock mass remains largely unexplored. In this work, we derive an analytical solution to describe the seismoelectric response of a rock sample, containing a horizontal layer at its centre, that is subjected to an oscillatory compressibility test. We then adapt this general solution to compute the seismoelectric signature of a particular case related to a sample that is permeated by a horizontal fracture located at its centre. Analyses of the general and particular solutions are performed to study the impact of different petrophysical and structural parameters on the seismoelectric response. We find that the amplitude of the seismoelectric signal is directly proportional to the applied stress, to the Skempton coefficient contrast between the host rock and the layer, and to a weighted average of the effective excess charge of the two materials. Our results also demonstrate that the frequency at which the maximum electrical potential amplitude prevails does not depend on the applied stress or the Skempton coefficient contrast. In presence of strong permeability variations, this frequency is rather controlled by the permeability and thickness of the less permeable material. The results of this study thus indicate that seismoelectric measurements can potentially be used to estimate key mechanical and hydraulic rock properties of mesoscopic heterogeneities, such as compressibility, permeability and fracture compliance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]