Acceleration and Strain-Rate Elastic Wave Equation and its Finite-Difference Solution for Distributed Acoustic Sensing Seismic Simulations

Abstract

Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) is increasingly being adopted across various seismic disciplines due to its cost-effective acquisition capabilities and its high-resolution spatial and temporal sampling. Fiber-optic cables offer exceptional resistance in high pressure and temperature environments, facilitating both rapid-deployment and long-term continuous monitoring. Unlike traditional sensors, fibre optic cables record seismic vibrations as strain or strain-rate along the cables longitudinal axis. To effectively integrate this data format, the governing equations for seismic wave propagation must be adjusted. This study introduces a formulation based on acceleration and strain-rate, analogous to the conventional velocity-stress framework used for describing elastic waves. The resulting system of first order, coupled partial differential equations closely mirrors existing velocity and stress models, allowing current theoretical frameworks and computational tools to be updated with minimal modification. Numerical validation using finite-difference simulations confirms that the proposed formulation produces strain-rate wavefields in complex media with accuracy equivalent to that of traditional velocity-stress methods, thereby effectively eliminating the requirement for data conversion or extra computations.