Evaluation of acoustic anisotropy of granite by surface wave measurements

Okano, Aoi*; Kimoto, Kazushi*; Matsui, Hiroya 

This study evaluates the acoustic anisotropy of granite using surface waves. It is well-known that granite shows acoustic anisotropy due to preferentially oriented microcracks. Therefore it may be possible to gain information on the microcracks from the measurement of the acoustic anisotropy. In the conventional rock core elastic wave test, acoustic anisotropy has been evaluated by the ultrasonic transmission test. However, it is difficult to apply this method to field measurement and irregularly-shaped specimens. Therefore, in this study, we attempted to evaluate the acoustic anisotropy of granite using surface waves. By this method, the acoustic anisotropy was evaluated based on the changes in the surface wave amplitude, velocity, and frequency when the transmission direction was varied stepwise at a constant angle. As a result, the proposed surface wave technique evaluated acoustic anisotropy successfully. Furthermore, it was found that the acoustic anisotropy emerges because the microcracks change the apparent rigidity of the granite specimen.