AccScience Publishing / JSE / Online First / DOI: 10.36922/JSE026230098
ARTICLE

Influence of microstructural characteristics and boundary conditions on the viscoelastic properties of carbonate rocks

Wei Cheng1,2,3 Jing Ba1* Zhijian Fang1 Siya Wang1 Guoqing Jiao1 Mengqiang Pang4
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1 School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China
2 Sinopec Geophysical Research Institute Co. Ltd., Nanjing, Jiangsu, China
3 Sinopec Key Laboratory of Rock Physics and Seismic Modeling, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China
4 National Key Laboratory of Intelligent Construction and Health Operation of Deep Underground Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, Jiangsu, China
Received: 3 June 2026 | Revised: 9 July 2026 | Accepted: 13 July 2026 | Published online: 27 July 2026
© 2026 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
Abstract

Carbonate formations host hydrocarbon resources and are a focus of deep and ultra-deep oil and gas exploration and development. Carbonate rocks exhibit complex pore structures, which influence the rock framework and govern fluid distribution, thereby affecting their viscoelastic properties. Furthermore, the boundary conditions of carbonate rocks (drained or undrained) affect pore-fluid pressure dissipation and viscoelastic characteristics. Most poroelastic rock-physics models assume closed boundaries and neglect open boundary states, limiting their applicability to viscoelasticity. In this work, six dolomite and five limestone samples were collected from carbonate reservoirs in the Sichuan Basin, China. Thin-section analyses, physical-property measurements, and ultrasonic and low-frequency experiments were conducted. Frequency-dependent variations in elastic-wave velocities were evaluated for fractured, fractured-vuggy, and pore-cavity samples. The fractured-vuggy samples showed greater dispersion than other samples. A boundary opening index was introduced to improve the equivalent inclusion average stress (EIAS) model. The model was combined with the standard linear solid (Zener) model to develop a full-frequency-band EIAS–Zener boundary model incorporating open boundary conditions. The model was validated using low-frequency and ultrasonic experimental data. Relationships among boundary opening degree, pore structure properties, and elastic-wave dispersion and attenuation were elucidated. A higher degree of boundary opening, corresponding to a lower boundary opening index, was associated with a lower P-wave velocity. The boundary opening index was more sensitive to effective pressure than the crack aspect ratio and crack volume ratio. Crack parameters and the boundary opening index correlated more strongly with permeability than with porosity, indicating that the boundary opening index may serve as a quantitative indicator of reservoir permeability.

Keywords
Carbonate
Rock physics model
Microstructural characteristics
Boundary opening degree
Dispersion and attenuation
Funding
This research was financially supported by the National Science and Technology Major Project of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (Grant No. 2025ZD1402704-03), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (Grant No. BK20220995), the Project from Sinopec Science and Technology Department (Grant No. P24170), and the Joint Funds Key Support Project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. U24B2020).
Conflict of interest
Jing Ba serves as the Executive Editor-in-Chief of this journal but was not in any way involved in the editorial and peer-review process conducted for this paper, directly or indirectly. The other authors declare they have no competing interests.
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Journal of Seismic Exploration, Electronic ISSN: 0963-0651 Print ISSN: 0963-0651, Published by AccScience Publishing