Krauklis wave initiation in fluid-filled fractures by seismic body waves

Krauklis waves are a special wave mode that is bound to and propagates along fluid-filled fractures. They can repeatedly propagate back and forth along a fracture and eventually fall into resonance emitting a seismic signal with a dominant characteristic frequency. They are of great interest because this resonant behavior can lead to strongly frequency-dependent propagation effects for seismic body waves and may explain seismic tremor generation in volcanic areas or affect microseismic signals in fractured fluid reservoirs. It has been demonstrated that Krauklis waves can be initiated by a seismic source inside the fracture, for example by hydrofracturing. Here, the aim is to study Krauklis wave initiation by an incident plane P- or S-wave in numerical simulations. Both seismic body waves are reflected and scattered at the fracture, but also, two Krauklis waves are initiated with significant amplitude, one at each fracture tip (i.e., at the diffraction-points of the fracture). Generally, the incident S-wave initiates larger-amplitude Krauklis waves compared to the incident P-wave case. For both incident wave modes, the initiation of Krauklis waves strongly depends on the fracture orientation. In the case of an incident P-wave, large-amplitude Krauklis waves are initiated at moderate (12°–40°) and high ([Formula: see text]) inclination angles of the fracture with a distinct gap at approximately 50°. The dependency of Krauklis wave initiation on fracture orientation is almost inversed in the case of an incident S-wave and the largest-amplitude Krauklis waves are initiated at an S-wave incidence angle of approximately 50°. The initiation of large-amplitude Krauklis waves by both P- and S-waves has important implications for earthquake signals propagating through fluid-bearing fractured rocks (volcanic areas, fluid-reservoirs) or for seismic exploration surveys in fractured reservoir situations.