Borehole Acoustic Logging – Theory and Methods

326 Pages·2020·34.065 MB·English

by  Hua Wang, M. Nafi Toksöz, Michael C Fehler

Petroleum Engineering
Hua Wang
M. Nafi Toksöz
Michael C. Fehler
Borehole Acoustic
Logging—Theory
and Methods
Petroleum Engineering
Editor-in-Chief
Gbenga Oluyemi, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, UK
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(cid:129) Exploration
(cid:129) Formation evaluation (well logging)
(cid:129) Drilling
(cid:129) Economics
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fi ö
Hua Wang M. Na Toks z Michael C. Fehler
(cid:129) (cid:129)
Borehole Acoustic
—
Logging Theory
and Methods
123
Hua Wang M.NafiToksöz
Schoolof Resources andEnvironment EarthResources Laboratory,Department of
University of Electronic Scienceand Earth, Atmospheric andPlanetary Sciences
Technology of China Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Chengdu,China Cambridge, MA, USA
Michael C. Fehler
EarthResources Laboratory,Department of
Earth, Atmospheric andPlanetary Sciences
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MA, USA
ISSN 2366-2646 ISSN 2366-2654 (electronic)
Petroleum Engineering
ISBN978-3-030-51422-8 ISBN978-3-030-51423-5 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51423-5
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Preface
Acoustic logging relies on the analysis of seismic waves generated and recorded
within a borehole. These waves provide information about the borehole, the sur-
rounding formation, and the casing and cement of a cased hole. Since the early
days, when a single source and single receiver were used, acoustic logging has
advanced into a sophisticated system with a broad spectrum of applications aimed
at obtaining information about the borehole and the surrounding medium. Many
advanced technologies developed in recent years have improved our ability to
extract additional information from acoustic logging. Among them is acoustic
logging-while-drilling,inwhichreal-timedataareacquiredinvertical,deviated,or
horizontal wells while drilling. Another newly developed technology is borehole
acoustic reflection imaging, which has the capability to delineate geological
structures as far as 10–20 m away from the borehole. Other developments include
high-tech sonic/ultrasonic methods, which can be employed to evaluate the con-
ditionofthecementbondincasedholes.Inshort,acousticlogginghasgrowninto
an extensive field with advanced applications. However, the most recent books
concerning acoustic well logging were published more than 16 years ago (Paillet
and Cheng 1991; Tang and Cheng 2004) and do not cover all of these newly
developed technologies. To mitigate this gap in books, this book provides an
in-depth review of acoustic logging using extensive numerical modeling examples
ofwavesinandaroundaboreholetohelpvisualizeandunderstandthewaveforms
resulting from complicated boreholes and measurement geometries.
This book covers the principles, historical development, and applications of
many acoustic logging methods, including acoustic logging-while-drilling and
cased hole logging methods. State-of-the-art simulation methods, such as the dis-
crete wavenumber integration method (DWM) and the finite difference method
(FDM), are introduced to tackle the numerical challenges associated with models
containing large material contrasts, such as the contrasts between borehole fluids
andsteelcasings.Inaddition,waveformsandpressuresnapshotsareshowntohelp
the reader understand the wavefields under various conditions. Advanced data
processing methods, including velocity analyses within the time and frequency
domains, are utilized to extract the velocities of different modes. Furthermore, we
v
vi Preface
discusshowvariousformationparametersinfluencethewaveformsrecordedinthe
boreholeanddescribetheprinciplesofbothexistingandpotentialtooldesignsand
data acquisition schemes.
Benefiting from the rapid development of information technology, the subsur-
face energy resource industry is moving toward data integration to increase the
efficiency of decision-making through the use of advanced big data and artificial
intelligence technologies, such as machine/deep learning. However, wellbore fail-
uremayhappenifevaluationsofriskandinfrastructurearemadeusingdatamining
methods without a complete understanding of the physics of borehole measure-
ments.Hence,theuncertaintyofthedatamustbeproperlyunderstoodtoimplement
reliable supervised machine learning methods. Processed results from borehole
acoustic logging will constitute part of the input data used for data integration.
Therefore, to successfully employ modern techniques for data assimilation and
analysis,onemustfullyunderstandthecomplexityofwavemodepropagation,how
suchpropagationisinfluencedbythewellandthematerialsplacedwithinthewell
(i.e.,thecement,casing,anddrillstrings),andultimatelyhowwavespenetrateinto
and are influenced by geological formations.
This book will benefit geophysicists (including borehole geophysicists and
seismologists), petrophysicists, and petroleum engineers who are interested in
formation evaluation and cementation conditions. In addition, this work will be of
interesttoresearchersintheacousticsciencesandtofourth-yearundergraduateand
postgraduate students in the areas of geophysics and acoustical physics.
Thisbookgreatlybenefitsfromtheresearchandknowledgegeneratedoverfour
decades attheEarthResourcesLaboratory(ERL)oftheMassachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT) under its acoustic logging program. We thank the sponsors,
researchers, staff, and graduates of ERL for providing the knowledge base from
which this book has benefited. Hua Wang feels honored to have worked at
MIT ERL for nearly 6 years. Interacting with ERL members over this period has
helped Hua Wang to improve both his English and technical skills. We thank
Dr. Douglas Miller, Dr. Daniel Burns, and Dr. Aimé Fournier at MIT, whose
experience in data processing and mathematics stimulated our ideas on borehole
acoustic data. We have greatly benefited through our close work with them and
through the many resulting discussions.
HuaWangthankshisPh.D.thesisadvisorattheChinaUniversityofPetroleum
(Beijing),Prof.GuoTao,currentlyaProfessoratKhalifaUniversityofScienceand
Technology in Abu Dhabi, and Professor Lizhi Xiao at the China University of
Petroleum (Beijing), for their enduring help during his research. Dr. Wei Li at the
Beijing Research Center of Saudi Aramco provided some materials shown in
Chap. 3. Dr. Chao Li at the Institute of Acoustics, Chinese Academy of Sciences,
Dr. Meng LiatXi’anShiyou University, and Dr. Junxiao LiatPetroliam National
Berhad (Petronas) provided and processed some of the data shown in Chap. 7.
Mr. Ioan Alexandru Merciu and his colleagues at Equinor read a draft of the book
andprovidedhelpfulsuggestions.Wealsothankotherformercolleagueswhoaided
and supported us during the writing of this book, including Dr. Xuefeng Shang at
theShellExplorationandProductionInternationalCompanyandDr.XindingFang
Preface vii
attheSouthernUniversityofScienceandTechnology,andweexpressourgratitude
for the support from our many friends, including Dr. Xiao He at the Institute of
Acoustics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Mr. Aihua Tao at China Oilfield
Services Limited.
Charlotte Johnson spent countless hours editing early versions of this book and
contributed greatly to its readability, and Anna Shaughnessy helped edit Chap. 6.
We could not have completed the book without their dedicated efforts and help.
Thank you both!
Special and deep thanks are owed to Hua Wang’s wife Xichen Xu, his son,
Albert (Mingyue) Wang, and his daughter, Annie (Chuoyue) Wang. The
long-distance separation between Cambridge and Beijing and later between
Chengdu and Beijing made it difficult for them while this book was being written.
As such, we deeply appreciate their support.
Finally, we are grateful for the financial support provided by the National
Science Foundation of China (No. 41404100 and 41974150), the China
Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 2013M530106), the International
Postdoctoral Exchange Fellowship Program managed by the office of the China
PostdoctoralCouncil,theFoundingMembersConsortiumofERLatMIT,andMIT
Energy Initiative Seed Fund Award (No. 015728-00149).
Chengdu, China Hua Wang
Professor
Cambridge, MA, USA M. Nafi Toksöz
Professor
Cambridge, MA, USA Michael C. Fehler
Senior Scientist
Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 Evolution of Borehole Acoustic Logging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.1.1 Data Processing Methods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.1.2 Borehole Acoustic Logging Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.2 Waves in a Borehole . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.3 Coverage of This Book. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2 Wave Propagation in an Open Borehole. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.1 Waves in and Around an Open Borehole. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.1.1 Waves in the Isotropic Solid Medium. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.1.2 Waves in a Fluid Medium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.1.3 Wavefieds in the Borehole and Formation. . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.2 Wavefields in Fast Formations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2.2.1 Monopole Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.2.2 Dipole Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
2.2.3 Field Data in Fast Formations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
2.2.4 Quadrupole Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
2.3 Wavefields in Slow Formations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
2.3.1 Monopole Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
2.3.2 Dipole Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
2.3.3 Quadrupole Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
2.3.4 Field Data in Slow Formations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
2.4 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
3 Data Processing Methods for Borehole Acoustics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
3.1 Time Domain Velocity Determination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
3.1.1 Traditional Methods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
3.1.2 Time Semblance with Multiple Scale Wavelets . . . . . . . . . 63
3.2 Frequency Domain Velocity Determination: Parametric
Spectrum Estimation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
ix
x Contents
3.2.1 Extended Prony’s Method (EPM). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
3.2.2 Forward/Backward Averaging Matrix Pencil (FBAMP) . . . 70
3.3 Frequency Domain Velocity Determination: Nonparametric
Spectrum Estimation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
3.3.1 Frequency-Wavenumber (F-K) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
3.3.2 Weighted Spectrum Semblance (WSS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
3.3.3 Amplitude and Phase Estimation (APES) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
3.3.4 Filtered Frequency Semblance (FFS). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
3.4 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
4 Wave Propagation in a Cased Borehole and Cement Bond
Evaluation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
4.1 Waves in Open and Cased Boreholes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
4.2 Wave Modes in a Free Pipe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
4.2.1 Sonic Frequencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
4.2.2 Ultrasonic Frequencies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
4.3 Wavefields in a Cased Hole . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
4.3.1 Monopole Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
4.3.2 Dipole Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
4.3.3 Quadrupole Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
4.4 Cement Bond Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
4.4.1 Sonic Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
4.4.2 Ultrasonic Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
4.5 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
5 Acoustic Logging-While-Drilling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
5.1 Wave Modes in the Borehole with a Cylindrical Collar . . . . . . . . 131
5.1.1 Wavefields in a Fast Formation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
5.1.2 Wavefields in a Slow Formation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
5.2 Improvements for Velocity Measurements in ALWD . . . . . . . . . . 157
5.2.1 Formation P-Wave Velocity Measurement in Fast
Formations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
5.2.2 S-Wave Velocity Measurement in Slow Formations. . . . . . 166
5.3 Field Examples of ALWD Measurements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
5.4 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
6 Effects of Tool Eccentricity on Acoustic Logs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
6.1 Wavefields of an Eccentered Multipole Wireline Tool . . . . . . . . . 179
6.1.1 Monopole Wavefields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
6.1.2 Dipole Wavefields in Slow Formations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
6.1.3 Quadrupole Wavefields in Slow Formations . . . . . . . . . . . 194
6.2 Eccentered Monopole ALWD Tool in Fast Formations. . . . . . . . . 197
6.2.1 Fast Formation (F1). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
6.2.2 Fast Formation (F2). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201