Elastic waves in fractured rocks under periodic compression

Abstract Background One of the current problems in studying the mechanical properties and behavior of structurally inhomogeneous media with cracks is the characterization of acoustic wave propagation. This is especially important in Geomechanics and prognosis of earthquakes. Methods In this work, the authors propose an approach that could simplify characterization of wave propagation in medium with cracks. It is based on homogenization procedure performed at a set of equations characterizing acoustic wave propagation in media weakened by fractures under condition of external distributed loading. Such kind of loading in most cases is close to the real one in case of consideration of Geomechanics problems. Results On the basis of the proposed homogenization technique, we performed characterization of elastic properties and plane acoustic waves propagation in a pre-loaded linear elastic medium weakened by a large amount of cracks. We have investigated two special cases of loading: uniaxial compression and complex compression. We have also studied how the wavespeeds depend on averaged concentration and distribution of craks. Conclusions Effective elastic properties were theoretically characterized for fractured media under external loading. The results revealed high dependency of the longitudinal wave propagation speed on the relation between stresses reasoned by an external loading.