An Estimation Method of Pore Structure and Mineral Moduli Based on Kuster-Toksöz (KT) Model and Biot’s Coefficient

Pore structure and mineral matrix elastic moduli are indispensable in rock physics models. We propose an estimation method of pore structure and mineral moduli based on Kuster-Toksöz model and Biot’s coefficient. In this technique, pore aspect ratios of five different scales from 100 to 10−4 are considered, Biot’s coefficient is used to determine bounds of mineral moduli, and an estimation procedure combined with simulated annealing (SA) algorithm to handle real logs or laboratory measurements is developed. The proposed method is applied to parameter estimations on 28 sandstone samples, the properties of which have been measured in lab. The water saturated data are used for estimating pore structure and mineral moduli, and the oil saturated data are used for testing these estimated parameters through fluid substitution in Kuster-Toksöz model. We then compare fluid substitution results with lab measurements and find that relative errors of P-wave and S-wave velocities are all less than 5%, which indicates that the estimation results are accurate.