Estimating elastic properties of clay minerals

What is it about?

The elastic properties of clay minerals and mica are vital in varieties of rock physics analysis for both conventional and unconventional shale characterization. In our study, we have used the orientation distribution data and related it in a heuristic way to model the anisotropic elastic moduli for zero porosity mineral aggregates as a function of the median orientation angle.

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Why is it important?

Very fine-grained nature of clay aggregates complicates direct measurements of the elastic properties of individual clay platelets. Hence, our modeling approach can be very helpful in finding the elastic properties. These can be used for modeling shale velocities, its anisotropy analysis, seismic interpretation, reservoir properties estimation from seismic attributes.