9526786 Frazer This research is to develop the theory for determining the speeds of P- and SV- waves in a solid containing plane-parallel fractures. The fracture separation is random in accordance with a specified probability density function, and the fracture compliances are also random in accordance with another specified probability density function. Prior results for SH, now in press, suggest that the project is feasible. Three new methods were developed for SH, and they all agree with each other; the goal is to generalize these three methods to the PSV problem. The results have application to the inversion for seismic velocity structure in plane-parallel fractured media, a situation that is widely applicable to the crust of the earth, particularly in the context of secondary and tertiary recovery of oil and gas, and in geothermal operations.
