Slow wave propagation in air-filled porous materials and natural rocks

Abstract

Slow compressional waves in fluid‐saturated porous solids offer a unique acoustical means to study certain material properties, such as tortuosity and permeability. We present a novel experimental technique based on the transmission of airborne ultrasound through air‐filled porous samples. The suggested method can be used to measure the velocity and attenuation of the slow compressional wave in a wide frequency range from 30 to 500 kHz. More important, the technique is so sensitive that it provides irrefutable evidence of slow wave propagation in air‐saturated natural rocks and lends itself quite easily to tortuosity measurements in such materials, too.