Calibration of the strain amplitude recorded with DAS using a strainmeter array

Abstract

The power of distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) lies in its ability to sample deformation signals along an optical fiber at hundreds of locations with only one interrogation unit (IU). While the IU is calibrated to record 'fiber strain', the properties of the cable and its coupling to the rock control the 'strain transfer rate' and hence how much of 'rock strain' is represented in the recorded signal. We use DAS recordings in an underground installation colocated with an array of strainmeters in order to calibrate the 'strain transfer rate' in situ, using earthquake signals between 0.05 Hz and 0.1 Hz. A tight-buffered cable and a standard loose-tube telecommunication cable (running in parallel) are used, where a section of both cables loaded down by loose sand and sand bags is compared to a section, where cables are just unreeled on the floor. The 'strain transfer rate' varies between 0.13 and 0.53 depending on cable and installation type. The sandbags show no obvious effect and the tight-buffered cable generally provides a larger 'strain transfer rate'. Calibration of the 'strain transfer rate' with respect to the strainmeter does not depend on wave propagation parameters. Hence it is applicable to the large amplitude surface wave signal in a strain component almost perpendicular to the great-circle direction for which a waveform comparison with seismometer data does not work. The noise background for 'rock strain' in the investigated band is found at about an rms-amplitude of 0.1 nstrain in 1/6 decade for the tight-buffered cable. This allows a detection of marine microseisms at times of high microseism amplitude.