TITLE:
Analytical and Numerical Study of the Reflection/Transmission Coefficients in Slight Viscoelastic Medium
AUTHORS:
Fateh Bouchaala, Claude Guennou
KEYWORDS:
Viscoelasticity, Quality Factor, Reflection/Transmission
JOURNAL NAME:
International Journal of Geosciences,
Vol.5 No.9,
August
21,
2014
ABSTRACT: The study
done in this paper brings out the effect of the viscoelasticity on the
reflection/transmission coefficients. The knowledge of this effect can be
useful for several applications, such as enhancing the resolution of the
seismic sections, fluid and fracture detection. It can also have other applications different from the geophysical
domain, as the study of the bonding between the materials in the civil
engineering domain. We use the complex Lame coefficients in the
continuity equations at the boundary layers to get the analytical expressions
of the reflection/transmission coefficients in viscoelastic media. The
coefficients can be divided into two parts, the first part is independent from
the quality factor, and it corresponds to the elastic reflection/transmission
coefficients. The second part is dependent on the quality factor contrast and
it represents the contribution of the viscoelasticity on the
reflection/transmission coefficients. From the numerical study it appears that
the effect of the viscoelasticity is significant near to the critical angles.
This effect is not clear and it is difficult to interpret and we do not know if
it has a physical meaning or it is only a mathematical artifact that is why it
is better to be far from the critical angles for seismic investigation.