loading page

Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) as a Distributed Hydraulic Sensor in Fractured Bedrock
  • Matthew W Becker,
  • Thomas I Coleman,
  • Chris Ciervo
Matthew W Becker
California State University Long Beach

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

Author Profile
Thomas I Coleman
Silixa LLC
Author Profile
Chris Ciervo
California State University, Long Beach
Author Profile

Abstract

Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) was originally intended to measure oscillatory strain at frequencies of 1 Hertz or more on a fiber optic cable. Recently, measurements at much lower frequencies have opened the possibility of using DAS as a dynamic strain sensor in boreholes. A fiber optic cable mechanically coupled to a geologic formation will strain in response to hydraulic stresses in pores and fractures. A DAS interrogator can measure dynamic strain in the borehole which can be related to fluid pressure through the mechanical compliance properties of the formation. Because DAS makes distributed measurements, it is capable of both locating hydraulically active features and quantifying the fluid pressure in the formation. We present field experiments in which a fiber optic cable was mechanically coupled to two crystalline rock boreholes. The formation was stressed hydraulically at another well using alternating injection and pumping. The DAS instrument measured oscillating strain at the location of a fracture zone known to be hydraulically active. Rock displacements of less than one nanometer were measured. Laboratory experiments confirm that displacement is measured correctly. These results suggest that fiber optic cable embedded in geologic formations may be used to map hydraulic connections in three dimensional fracture networks. A great advantage of this approach is that strain, an indirect measure of hydraulic stress, can be measured without beforehand knowledge of flowing fractures that intersect boreholes. The technology has obvious applications in water resources, geothermal energy, CO sequestration, and remediation of groundwater in fractured bedrock.
Sep 2020Published in Water Resources Research volume 56 issue 9. 10.1029/2020WR028140