Study on Creating Hydraulic Tomography for Crystalline Rock Using Frequency Dependent Elastic Wave Velocity

The objective of this study is to establish a technique to obtain hydraulic conductivity distribution in granite rock masses using seismic tomography. We apply the characteristic that elastic wave velocity disperses in fully saturated porous media on frequency and this velocity dispersion is governed by the hydraulic conductivity — this characteristic has been confirmed in laboratory experiments. The feasibility and design of the field experiment was demonstrated in a first step with numerical simulations. In a second step we applied the technique to the fractured granite at the Grimsel Test Site in Switzerland. The emphasis of the field campaign was on the evaluation of the range of applicability of this technique. The field campaign was structured in three steps, each one corresponding to a larger spatial scale. First, the seismic tomography was applied to a small area — the two boreholes were located at a distance of 1.5m. In the following step, we selected a larger area, in which the distance of the boreholes amounts to 10 m and the field corresponds to a more complex geology. Finally we applied the testing to a field where the borehole distance was of the order of 75 m. We also drilled a borehole to confirm hydraulic characteristic and reviewed hydraulic model in the 1.5m cross-hole location area. The results from the field campaign are presented and their application to the various fields are discussed and evaluated.