Characterizing the nonlinear interaction of S- and P-waves in a rock sample

The nonlinear elastic response of rocks is known to be caused by the rocks' microstructure, particularly cracks and fluids. This paper presents a method for characterizing the nonlinearity of rocks in a laboratory scale experiment with a unique configuration. This configuration has been designed to open up the possibility of using the nonlinear characterization of rocks as an imaging tool in the field. In our experiment, we study the nonlinear interaction of two traveling waves: a low-amplitude 500 kHz P-wave probe and a high-amplitude 50 kHz S-wave pump in a room-dry 15 × 15 × 3 cm slab of Berea sandstone. Changes in the arrival time of the P-wave probe as it passes through the perturbation created by the traveling S-wave pump were recorded. Waveforms were time gated to simulate a semi-infinite medium. The shear wave phase relative to the P-wave probe signal was varied with resultant changes in the P-wave probe arrival time of up to 100 ns, corresponding to a change in elastic properties of 0.2%. In orde...