Joint evaluation of fracture azimuth by electromagnetic wave and elastic wave

• Evaluation of fracture azimuth using full-polarimetric ground penetrating radar.
• Joint analysis of fracture azimuth using coincident elastic and EM wave data.
• Statistical analysis of fracture azimuth by Pearson correlation coefficient.

With the multi-wave, multi-component seismic wave exploration, one can apply the anisotropy of fracture media to analyze the attributes of the fracture media, including the fracture azimuth. In the meantime, the techniques of full-polarimetric electromagnetic wave, including full-polarimetric borehole radar, can also be used to analyze the attributes of the fracture. However, the analysis precision of both the multi-component elastic wave exploration and full-polarimetric electromagnetic wave exploration is prone to the influence of noise and other factors. So far, some researchers have conducted studies on the joint inversion of electromagnetic waves and seismic waves. This paper develops evaluation techniques of fracture azimuth by electromagnetic wave, elastic wave, and joint analysis of coincident elastic reflection and electromagnetic data. Firstly, based on the shear wave splitting of elastic waves, this paper develops a statistical analysis technique which applies Pearson correlation coefficient to count and analyze the azimuth angle of fracture. Secondly, based on the information of electromagnetic polarization rotated by fracture, this paper develops a statistical analysis method of full-polarimetric electromagnetic waves which applies the maximum amplitude ratio between the co-polarization and cross-polarization to analyze the azimuth angle of fracture. Furthermore, based on the analysis result of the elastic wave and full-polarimetric electromagnetic wave, this paper develops a joint analysis technique which adopts the standard deviation. At last, authors in this study conduct joint detection experiments on the coincident fracture medium by using the ultrasonic and full-polarimetric ground penetrating radar. The experimental result indicates that both single geophysical methods are capable of analyzing the fracture azimuth angle, but the joint analysis is more accurate.