Experimental research on seismoelectric effects in sandstone

The seismoelectric effects induced from the coupling of the seismic wave field and the electromagnetic field depend on the physical properties of the reservoir rocks. We built an experimental apparatus to measure the seismoelectric effects in saturated sandstone samples. We recorded the seismoelectric signals induced by P-waves and studied the attenuation of the seismoelectric signals induced at the sandstone interface. The analysis of the seismoelectric effects suggests that the minimization of the potential difference between the reference potential and the baseline potential of the seismoelectric disturbance area is critical to the accuracy of the seismoelectric measurements and greatly improves the detectability of the seismoelectric signals. The experimental results confirmed that the seismoelectric coupling of the seismic wave field and the electromagnetic field is induced when seismic wave propagating in a fluid-saturated porous medium. The amplitudes of the seismoelectric signals decrease linearly with increasing distance between the source and the interface, and decay exponentially with increasing distance between the receiver and the interface. The seismoelectric response of sandstone samples with different permeabilities suggests that the seismoelectric response is directly related to permeability, which should help obtaining the permeability of reservoirs in the future.