The biot-stoll sediment model: An experimental assessment

A promising approach in the prediction of acoustic wave speeds and attenuations in marine sediments is the use of the Biot theory as implemented by Stoll. The Biot-Stoll physical sediment model is examined here in a field application. Both the geophysical inputs and the geoacoustic outputs were measured at three shallow-water sites in the Mediterranean Sea. This permitted the investigation of the accuracy of the model for a variety of natural marine sediments including silty clay, sand, and gravel. A difficulty in the use of the Biot-Stoll model is the problem of accurately determining the 13 geophysical inputs since many of the inputs cannot be directly measured. Ten of the input properties are derived by empirical means and the other three properties are determined by measurement. Comparisons are made between the Biot-Stoll model predictions of compressional velocity, compressional attenuation, and shear velocity with in situ and laboratory measurements. The model predictions, on the whole, show excellent agreement with the measured data.