Rock Deformation Monitoring Using Monte Carlo Waveform Inversion

Ssu-Ting Lai (1) , Nobuaki Fuji (1) , Ikuo Katayama , Luis Fabian Bonilla (1) , Yann Capdeville (2)

1 IPGP (UMR_7154) - Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris
2 LPG - Laboratoire de Planétologie et Géodynamique [UMR 6112]

We estimate elastic and anelastic parameters and their evolution during laboratory rock deformation experiments, while developing a Monte Carlo waveform inversion. The transducer-to-transducer one-source one-station active seismic data of dry and water-saturated samples are obtained from Zaima and Katayama (2018), https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JB016377. We first performed a trial-and-error estimate of the boundary conditions in order to suppress its influence on waveforms. The synthetic seismic data were generated using equivalent homogeneous models with different combinations of elastic and anelastic parameters with the aid of spectral element method. We compared them with the laboratory experimental data. Based on the comparisons, we obtained the time-lapse variations of seismic velocities and attenuation of rock samples during deformation experiments, which we interpreted as crack developments. Our simultaneous estimation of elastic and anelastic parameters allowed us to detail the dynamics prior to the rock failure.

Keywords: numerical modeling; triaxial experiment; inverse theory; weakening and rupture processes; synthetic seismogram

Domains: Sciences of the Universe [physics]

Ssu-Ting Lai, Nobuaki Fuji, Ikuo Katayama, Luis Fabian Bonilla, Yann Capdeville. Rock Deformation Monitoring Using Monte Carlo Waveform Inversion. Journal of Geophysical Research : Solid Earth, 2021, 126, 12 pp. ⟨10.1029/2021JB021873⟩. ⟨insu-03589891⟩