Propagation of long elastic waves in porous rocks with crack-like inclusions

Heterogeneous porous rocks containing flattened soft (crack-like) inclusions with high hydraulic permeability are considered. The Biot linear poroelastic theory is used for description of wave propagation in such materials. A self-consistent effective field method (EFM) is developed for calculation of the effective dynamic characteristics (elastic moduli, density, and permeability coefficients) of the considered heterogeneous materials. Propagation of long elastic waves in the rocks with randomly oriented or aligned crack-like inclusions is studied. Explicit expressions for the velocities and attenuation coefficients of various types of waves are obtained and compared with experimental data available in the literature.