Effect of viscous cross coupling between two immiscible fluids on elastic wave propagation and attenuation in unsaturated porous media

To evaluate quantitatively this as-yet unknown effect, numerical calculations are conducted to solve the dispersion relations for Columbia fine sandy loam bearing an oil-water mixture as a function of water saturation and excitation frequency. Our results show that the phase speed and attenuation coefficient of the P3 wave which has the smallest speed is strongly sensitive to the presence of viscous cross coupling, as expected since this wave is attributed primarily to the out-of-phase motion of the two pore fluids. Viscous cross coupling also exerts an impact on the attenuation coefficient of the shear wave and the P1 wave whose speed is greatest, which exhibits two opposite trends at different ranges of low and high water contents. Relative differences in these wave attributes are principally independent of excitation frequency. A sensitivity analysis is carried out to assess how changes in viscous cross coupling affect these differences, revealing that some of them become more significant as viscous cross coupling is stronger.