Can one hear the shape of a saturation patch?

TL;DR

This paper applies acoustic theory to analyze wave data in water-saturated rocks, enabling the deduction of water patch size and shape from experimental measurements under certain conditions.

Contribution

It introduces a method to determine the shape and size of water patches in porous media using acoustic wave data and theoretical modeling.

Findings

Theory accurately predicts wave velocity and attenuation in partially saturated limestones.

Water patch volume-to-area ratio and Poisson size can be deduced from measurements.

Conditions for 'hearing' the shape of a patch are specified.

Abstract

The theory of the acoustics of patchy-saturation in porous media is used to analyze experimental data on wave velocity and attenuation in partially water saturated limestones. It is demonstrated that the theory can be used to deduce the value of V/A, the ratio of the volume to area of the water patch, and l_f, the Poisson size of the water patch. One can ``hear'' the shape of a patch if the properties of the rock and the measurement frequencies are such as to satisfy the specific requirements for the validity of the theory.