Distributed Acoustic Sensing of Strain at Earth Tide Frequencies
Abstract
The solid Earth strains in response to the gravitational pull from the Moon, Sun, and other planetary bodies. Measuring the flexure of geologic material in response to these Earth tides provides information about the geomechanical properties of rock and sediment. Such measurements are particularly useful for understanding dilation of faults and fractures in competent rock. A new approach to measuring earth tides using fiber optic distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) is presented here. DAS was originally designed to record acoustic vibration through the measurement of dynamic strain on a fiber optic cable. Here, laboratory experiments demonstrate that oscillating strain can be measured with DAS in the microHertz frequency range, corresponding to half-day (M2) lunar tidal cycles. Although the magnitude of strain measured in the laboratory is larger than what would be expected due to earth tides, a clear signal at half-day period was extracted from the data. With the increased signal-to-noise expected from quiet field applications and improvements to DAS using engineered fiber, earth tides could potentially be measured in deep boreholes with DAS. Because of the distributed nature of the sensor (0.25 m measurement interval over kilometres), fractures could be simultaneously located and evaluated. Such measurements would provide valuable informationmore »
- Authors:
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- California State Univ. (CalState), Long Beach, CA (United States); GeoMechanics Technologies, Inc., Monrovia, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Geothermal Technologies Office
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1509746
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1613390
- Grant/Contract Number:
- SC0017744; EE0006763
- Resource Type:
- Published Article
- Journal Name:
- Sensors
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Name: Sensors Journal Volume: 19 Journal Issue: 9; Journal ID: ISSN 1424-8220
- Publisher:
- MDPI AG
- Country of Publication:
- Switzerland
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY; chemistry; engineering; instruments & instrumentation; distributed acoustic sensing; fiber optic sensors; earth tides; low frequency strain; geomechanics
Citation Formats
Becker, Matthew W., and Coleman, Thomas I. Distributed Acoustic Sensing of Strain at Earth Tide Frequencies. Switzerland: N. p., 2019.
Web. doi:10.3390/s19091975.
Becker, Matthew W., & Coleman, Thomas I. Distributed Acoustic Sensing of Strain at Earth Tide Frequencies. Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.3390/s19091975
Becker, Matthew W., and Coleman, Thomas I. Sat .
"Distributed Acoustic Sensing of Strain at Earth Tide Frequencies". Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.3390/s19091975.
@article{osti_1509746,
title = {Distributed Acoustic Sensing of Strain at Earth Tide Frequencies},
author = {Becker, Matthew W. and Coleman, Thomas I.},
abstractNote = {The solid Earth strains in response to the gravitational pull from the Moon, Sun, and other planetary bodies. Measuring the flexure of geologic material in response to these Earth tides provides information about the geomechanical properties of rock and sediment. Such measurements are particularly useful for understanding dilation of faults and fractures in competent rock. A new approach to measuring earth tides using fiber optic distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) is presented here. DAS was originally designed to record acoustic vibration through the measurement of dynamic strain on a fiber optic cable. Here, laboratory experiments demonstrate that oscillating strain can be measured with DAS in the microHertz frequency range, corresponding to half-day (M2) lunar tidal cycles. Although the magnitude of strain measured in the laboratory is larger than what would be expected due to earth tides, a clear signal at half-day period was extracted from the data. With the increased signal-to-noise expected from quiet field applications and improvements to DAS using engineered fiber, earth tides could potentially be measured in deep boreholes with DAS. Because of the distributed nature of the sensor (0.25 m measurement interval over kilometres), fractures could be simultaneously located and evaluated. Such measurements would provide valuable information regarding the placement and stiffness of open fractures in bedrock. Characterization of bedrock fractures is an important goal for multiple subsurface operations such as petroleum extraction, geothermal energy recovery, and geologic carbon sequestration.},
doi = {10.3390/s19091975},
journal = {Sensors},
number = 9,
volume = 19,
place = {Switzerland},
year = {2019},
month = {4}
}
https://doi.org/10.3390/s19091975
Web of Science
Works referenced in this record:
Fluid pressure sensing with fiber-optic distributed acoustic sensing
journal, December 2017
- Becker, Matthew; Coleman, Thomas; Ciervo, Christopher
- The Leading Edge, Vol. 36, Issue 12, p. 1018-1023
Field testing of modular borehole monitoring with simultaneous distributed acoustic sensing and geophone vertical seismic profiles at Citronelle, Alabama: Field testing of MBM
journal, November 2015
- Daley, T. M.; Miller, D. E.; Dodds, K.
- Geophysical Prospecting, Vol. 64, Issue 5
Quantifying fractured crystalline-rock properties using well tests, earth tides and barometric effects
journal, January 2012
- Burbey, Thomas J.; Hisz, David; Murdoch, Lawrence C.
- Journal of Hydrology, Vol. 414-415
Fracture characterization using Earth tide analysis
journal, January 2010
- Burbey, Thomas J.
- Journal of Hydrology, Vol. 380, Issue 3-4
Using earth-tide induced water pressure changes to measure in situ permeability: A comparison with long-term pumping tests: TIDALLY INDUCED WATER PRESSURE TO MEASURE PERMEABILITY
journal, April 2016
- Allègre, Vincent; Brodsky, Emily E.; Xue, Lian
- Water Resources Research, Vol. 52, Issue 4
Distributed Acoustic Sensing - A New Way of Listening to Your Well/Reservoir
conference, April 2013
- Johannessen, Kjetil; Drakeley, Brian Keith; Farhadiroushan, Mahmoud
- SPE Intelligent Energy International
Tidal calibration of Plate Boundary Observatory borehole strainmeters: Roles of vertical and shear coupling
journal, January 2010
- Roeloffs, Evelyn
- Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 115, Issue B6
Bedrock fracture parameters from the interpretation of well tides
journal, June 1983
- Bower, Don R.
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, Vol. 88, Issue B6
Fracture hydromechanical response measured by fiber optic distributed acoustic sensing at milliHertz frequencies: Fracture Hydromechanics From DAS
journal, July 2017
- Becker, M. W.; Ciervo, C.; Cole, M.
- Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 44, Issue 14
Distributed Acoustic Sensing – a new tool for seismic applications
journal, January 2014
- Parker, Tom; Shatalin, Sergey; Farhadiroushan, Mahmoud
- First Break, Vol. 32, Issue 2010
A Review of Hybrid Fiber-Optic Distributed Simultaneous Vibration and Temperature Sensing Technology and Its Geophysical Applications
journal, November 2017
- Miah, Khalid; Potter, David
- Sensors, Vol. 17, Issue 11
Field testing of fiber-optic distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) for subsurface seismic monitoring
journal, June 2013
- Daley, Thomas M.; Freifeld, Barry M.; Ajo-Franklin, Jonathan
- The Leading Edge, Vol. 32, Issue 6
A Review of Distributed Fibre Optic Sensors for Geo-Hydrological Applications
journal, September 2017
- Schenato, Luca
- Applied Sciences, Vol. 7, Issue 9
A portable borehole extensometer and tiltmeter for characterizing aquifers: A Portable Borehole Extensometer and Tiltmeter
journal, December 2013
- Hisz, David B.; Murdoch, Lawrence C.; Germanovich, Leonid N.
- Water Resources Research, Vol. 49, Issue 12
Monitoring the underground migration of sequestered carbon dioxide using Earth tides
journal, September 2006
- Sato, Kozo
- Energy Conversion and Management, Vol. 47, Issue 15-16