Search Menu
DOE PAGES title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information
Search Scholarly Publications

Title: 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 » 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.« less

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.
Copy to clipboard
Becker, Matthew W., & Coleman, Thomas I. Distributed Acoustic Sensing of Strain at Earth Tide Frequencies. Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.3390/s19091975
Copy to clipboard
Becker, Matthew W., and Coleman, Thomas I. Sat . "Distributed Acoustic Sensing of Strain at Earth Tide Frequencies". Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.3390/s19091975.
Copy to clipboard
@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}
}
Copy to clipboard
Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.3390/s19091975
Copyright Statement
Other availability
Search WorldCat Search WorldCat to find libraries that may hold this journal
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 1 work
Citation information provided by
Web of Science
Save / Share:
Export Metadata
Save to My Library
You must Sign In or Create an Account in order to save documents to your library.

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
  • DOI: 10.1190/tle36121018.1

Quantifying fractured crystalline-rock properties using well tests, earth tides and barometric effects
journal, January 2012

Fracture characterization using Earth tide analysis
journal, January 2010

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
  • DOI: 10.2118/149602-MS

Tidal calibration of Plate Boundary Observatory borehole strainmeters: Roles of vertical and shear coupling
journal, January 2010

Bedrock fracture parameters from the interpretation of well tides
journal, June 1983

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
  • DOI: 10.1002/2017GL073931

Distributed Acoustic Sensing – a new tool for seismic applications
journal, January 2014

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
  • DOI: 10.1190/tle32060699.1

A Review of Distributed Fibre Optic Sensors for Geo-Hydrological Applications
journal, September 2017

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
  • DOI: 10.1002/wrcr.20500

Monitoring the underground migration of sequestered carbon dioxide using Earth tides
journal, September 2006

    Sort by:
    [ × clear filter / sort ]

    Similar Records in DOE PAGES and OSTI.GOV collections: