Different theoretical and laboratory studies on the propagation of elastic waves in real rocks have shown that the presence of heterogeneities larger than the pore size but smaller than the predominant wavelengths ͑mesoscopic-scale heterogeneities͒ may produce significant attenuation and velocity dispersion effects on seismic waves. Such phenomena are known as "mesoscopic effects" and are caused by equilibration of wave-induced fluid pressure gradients. We propose a numerical upscaling procedure to obtain equivalent viscoelastic solids for heterogeneous fluidsaturated rocks. It consists in simulating oscillatory compressibility and shear tests in the space-frequency domain, which enable us to obtain the equivalent complex undrained plane wave and shear moduli of the rock sample. We assume that the behavior of the porous media obeys Biot's equations and use a finiteelement procedure to approximate the solutions of the associated boundary value problems. Also, because at mesoscopic scales rock parameter distributions are generally uncertain and of stochastic nature, we propose applying the compressibility and shear tests in a Monte Carlo fashion. This facilitates the definition of average equivalent viscoelastic media by computing the moments of the equivalent phase velocities and inverse quality factors over a set of realizations of stochastic rock parameters described by a given spectral density distribution. We analyzed the sensitivity of the mesoscopic effects to different kinds of heterogeneities in the rock and fluid properties using numerical examples. Also, the application of the Monte Carlo procedure allowed us to determine the statistical properties of phase velocities and inverse quality factors for the particular case of quasi-fractal heterogeneities.

Texture analysis of damascene-fabricated Cu lines by x-ray diffraction and electron backscatter diffraction and its impact on electromigration performance Electromigration in on-chip Cu interconnections with a selective electroless metal coating, CoWP, CoSnP, or Pd, on the top surface of Cu damascene lines has been investigated. The 10-20 nm thick metal cap significantly improves electromigration lifetime by providing protection against interface diffusion of Cu which has been the leading contributor to metal line failure by electromigration.

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The presence of stiffness contrasts at scales larger than the typical pore sizes but smaller than the predominant seismic wavelengths can produce seismic attenuation and velocity dispersion in fluid‐saturated porous rocks. This energy dissipation mechanism is caused by wave‐induced fluid pressure diffusion among the different components of the probed geological formations. In many cases, heterogeneities have elongated shapes and preferential orientations, which implies that the overall response of the medium is anisotropic. In this work, we propose a numerical upscaling procedure that permits to quantify seismic attenuation and phase velocity considering fluid pressure diffusion effects as well as generic anisotropy at the sample's scale. The methodology is based on a set of three relaxation tests performed on a 2‐D synthetic rock sample representative of the medium of interest. It provides a complex‐valued frequency‐dependent equivalent stiffness matrix through a least squares procedure. We also derive an approach for computing various poroelastic fields associated with the considered sample in response to the propagation of a seismic wave with arbitrary incidence angle. Using this approach, we provide an energy‐based estimation of seismic attenuation. A comprehensive numerical analysis indicates that the methodology is suitable for handling complex media and different levels of overall anisotropy. Comparisons with the energy‐based estimations demonstrate that the dynamic‐equivalent viscoelastic medium assumption made by the numerical upscaling procedure is reasonable even in the presence of high levels of overall anisotropy. This work also highlights the usefulness of poroelastic fields for the physical interpretation of seismic wave phenomena in strongly heterogeneous and complex media.

Wave-induced fluid flow (WIFF) between fractures and the embedding matrix as well as within connected fractures tends to produce significant seismic attenuation and velocity dispersion. While WIFF between fractures and matrix is well understood, the corresponding effects related to fracture connectivity and the characteristics of the energy dissipation due to flow within fractures are largely unexplored. In this work, we use oscillatory relaxation simulations based on the quasi-static poroelastic equations to study these phenomena. We first consider synthetic rock samples containing connected and unconnected fractures and compute the corresponding attenuation and phase velocity. We also determine the relative fluid displacement and pressure fields in order to gain insight into the physical processes involved in the two manifestations of WIFF in fractured media. To quantify the contributions of the two WIFF mechanisms to the total seismic attenuation, we compute the spatial distribution of the local energy dissipation. Finally, we perform an exhaustive sensitivity analysis to study the role played by different characteristics of fracture networks on the seismic signatures. We show that in the presence of connected fractures both P wave attenuation and phase velocity are sensitive to some key characteristics of the probed medium, notably to the lengths, permeabilities, and intersection angles of the fractures as well as to the overall degree of connectivity of the fracture network. This, in turn, indicates that a deeper understanding of these two manifestations of WIFF in fractured media may eventually allow for the extraction of some of these properties from seismic data.

When a seismic wave travels through a fluid-saturated porous reservoir containing aligned fractures, it induces oscillatory fluid flow between the fractures and the embedding background medium. Although there are numerous theoretical models for quantifying the associated seismic attenuation and velocity dispersion, they rely on certain assumptions, such as infinitesimal fracture thickness and dilute fracture concentration, which rarely hold in real reservoirs. The objective of this work is to overcome some of these limitations and, therefore, improve the applicability of the available theoretical models. To do so, we extend existing models to the finite fracture thickness case for P-waves propagating perpendicular to the fracture plane using the so-called branching function approach. We consider three types of fractures, namely, periodically and randomly spaced planar fractures, as well as penny-shaped cracks. The extended unified model is then tested by comparing with corresponding numerical simulations based on Biot’s theory of poroelasticity. We consider two cases of 2D rock samples with aligned elliptical fractures, one with low fracture density and the other with high fracture density. The results indicate that the influence of the finite fracture thickness on seismic dispersion and attenuation is small at low frequencies when the fluid pressure has enough time to equilibrate between the fractures and background medium. However, this effect is significant at high frequencies when there is not sufficient time for the fluid pressure equilibration. In addition, the theoretical predictions of the penny-shaped crack model are found to match the numerical simulation results very well, even under relatively high fracture density. Analyses of stress distributions suggest that the small discrepancies found between theoretical predictions and numerical simulations are probably due to fracture interactions. In a companion paper, we will extend the analysis for considering the full stiffness matrix and anisotropic properties of such rocks.

The detection and characterisation of domains of intersecting fractures are important goals in several disciplines of current interest, including exploration and production of unconventional reservoirs, nuclear waste storage, CO2 sequestration, and groundwater hydrology, among others. The objective of this study is to propose a theoretical framework for quantifying the effects of fracture intersections on the frequency‐dependent elastic properties of fluid‐saturated porous and fractured rocks. Three characteristic frequency regimes for fluid pressure communication are identified. In the low‐frequency limit, fractures are in full pressure communication with the embedding porous matrix and with other fractures. Conversely, in the high‐frequency limit, fractures are hydraulically isolated from the matrix and from other fractures. At intermediate frequencies, fractures are hydraulically isolated from the matrix porosity but can be in hydraulic communication with each other, depending on whether fracture sets are intersecting. For each frequency regime, the effective stiffness coefficients are derived using the linear‐slip theory and anisotropic Gassmann equations. Explicit mathematical expressions for the two characteristic frequencies that separate the three frequency regimes are also determined. Theoretical predictions are then applied to two synthetic 2D samples, each containing two orthogonal fracture sets: one with and another without intersections. The resulting stiffness coefficients, Thomsen‐style anisotropy parameters, and the transition frequencies show good agreement with corresponding numerical simulations. The theoretical results are applicable not only to 2D but also to 3D fracture systems and are amenable to being employed in inversion schemes designed to characterise fracture systems.

The deformations caused by an acoustic wavefield in subsurface rock can induce fluid flow within hydraulically interconnected mesoscopic fractures, from one fracture into the other. The viscous friction associated with this squirt-type fluid flow parallel to the fracture walls results in energy dissipation and velocity dispersion. We have developed a quasi-static hydromechanical approach that is suitable for simulating squirt-type flow in the mesoscopic scale range and microscopic squirt flow. Our approach couples Navier-Stokes equation with Hooke’s law to describe the laminar flow of a viscous compressible fluid in conduits embedded in an elastic solid background. Results from the proposed method were compared with those obtained with Biot’s equations for a model containing interconnected mesoscopic fractures embedded in a background of very low porosity and permeability. Despite significant differences in the flow and dissipation spatial patterns, we have observed an essentially perfect agreement of the attenuation and modulus dispersion characteristics predicted by the two approaches. The difference in the flow and dissipation spatial patterns are associated with the “upscaling” inherent to Biot’s equations and, correspondingly, with differing boundary conditions at the fracture walls. Our results demonstrate that the proposed hydromechanical approach can provide additional insights on the physics of squirt-type flow in the mesoscopic and microscopic scale ranges.