Influence of frame inelasticity on poroviscoelastic reflections from a gas–water contact

• Biot theory is modified into poroviscoelasticity by adding frame inelasticity.
• Frame inelasticity influences poroviscoelastic dispersion and attenuation.
• It also influences corresponding reflection and transmission coefficients.
• PP critical angle and S wave reflection are rather sensitive to frame inelasticity

As a natural extension of Biot theory, poroviscoelasticity is more comprehensive. The only difference between them is frame inelasticity, which influences wave dispersion, attenuation, reflection, and transmission. Hence we compute the influence, which uses the data of typical sand with gas and water saturation in the Gulf of Mexico with four values of frame inelasticity. The graphically illustrated results show that frame inelasticity has a small influence on the dispersion of P1- and S-waves and almost no influence on the dispersion of P2-wave. The frame inelasticity's influence on the P1- and S-wave attenuation is substantial with only a relatively small impact on the P2-wave attenuation. In some frequency and incident-angle ranges, frame inelasticity's influence on the reflection and transmission coefficients is considerable.