Acoustic Approximation for Viscoelastic Transversely Isotropic Models: Comparison Between Three Scenarios of Parameterizations

ABSTRACT The acoustic approximation is widely used in modelling and inverting P‐wave data in transversely isotropic elastic media. However, no unique parameterization can be found in the literature to describe the acoustic approximation for viscoelastic transversely isotropic media. We examine three scenarios of acoustic parameterization, which have different complex stiffness coefficients for viscoacoustic transversely isotropic media. We analyse the Thomsen attenuation parameters corresponding to the three scenarios. We also compare the normalized attenuation coefficients from these scenarios with the rigorous solution that does not use the acoustic approximation. The results show that only one scenario can produce the phase and group attenuation coefficients close to those without using the acoustic approximation.