Computational poroelasticity — A review

Abstract

Computational physics has become an essential research and interpretation tool in many fields. Particularly in reservoir geophysics, ultrasonic and seismic modeling in porous media is used to study the properties of rocks and to characterize the seismic response of geologic formations. We provide a review of the most common numerical methods used to solve the partial differential equations describing wave propagation in fluid-saturated rocks, i.e., finite-difference, pseudospectral, and finite-element methods, including the spectral-element technique. The modeling is based on Biot-type theories of dynamic poroelasticity, which constitute a general framework to describe the physics of wave propagation. We explain the various techniques and discuss numerical implementation aspects for application to seismic modeling and rock physics, as, for instance, the role of the Biot diffusion wave as a loss mechanism and interface waves in porous media.