Dependencies of Acoustic Properties on the Frequency, Porosity, and GrainSize in Water-Saturated Sandy Sediment from 150 to 350 kHz:Application of the Grain-Shearing Model

摘要

In the present study, the grain-shearing (GS) model for wave propagation in a saturated, uncon-solidated, granular material was applied to predict the dependencies of the acoustic properties, suchas the phase velocity and the attenuation, of the compressional wave on the frequency, porosity,and grain size in water-saturated sandy sediment over the frequency range from 150 to 350 kHz.The GS model predicted a slightly positive velocity dispersion and a near-linear relationship of theattenuation with the frequency, following well the trends of the data acquired from water-saturatedsandy sediment with a porosity of 0.408 and a mean grain diameter of 425 pm. The predictionsfor the relationships of the acoustic properties with the porosity and the grain size also showedgood agreement with the measurements. These results suggest that the GS model may be usefullyemployed as a practical tool for estimating the acoustic and the physical properties of a sediment.