Electromagnetic fields in a non-uniform steel-cased borehole

Since most oil wells are cased in steel, electromagnetic (EM) signals undergo severe attenuation as they diffuse across the casing. This paper examines an effect of non‐uniform casing properties on EM fields measured in a steel‐cased well embedded in a layered formation. We use a finite‐element method for computing secondary azimuthal electric fields in a cylindrically symmetric model, and analytically obtain primary fields for a homogeneous casing in a homogeneous whole space. Although steel casing largely masks EM signals induced into a layered formation, the induced signal is more pronounced in phase than in amplitude. The effect of casing non‐uniformity is quite large in measured fields but is highly localized. When electrical conductivity varies rapidly in the casing wall, the resulting EM fields also vary rapidly. A cross‐correlation function of these variations has strong peaks at two points, the interval between them being equal to the source–receiver distance. The high‐frequency coherent noise event caused by the non‐uniform casing can be greatly suppressed by low‐pass filtering to enhance EM signals indicating formation conductivity.     

Three‐dimensional controlled‐source electromagnetic modelling with a well casing as a grounded source: a hybrid method of moments and finite element scheme

Steel well casings in or near a hydrocarbon reservoir can be used as source electrodes in time‐lapse monitoring using grounded line electromagnetic methods. A requisite component of carrying out such monitoring is the capability to numerically model the electromagnetic response of a set of source electrodes of finite length. We present a modelling algorithm using the finite‐element method for calculating the electromagnetic response of a three‐dimensional conductivity model excited using a vertical steel‐cased borehole as a source. The method is based on a combination of the method of moments and the Coulomb‐gauged primary–secondary potential formulation. Using the method of moments, we obtain the primary field in a half‐space due to an energized vertical steel casing by dividing the casing into a set of segments, each assumed to carry a piecewise constant alternating current density. The primary field is then substituted into the primary–secondary potential finite‐element formulation of the three‐dimensional problem to obtain the secondary field. To validate the algorithm, we compare our numerical results with: (i) the analytical solution for an infinite length casing in a whole space, excited by a line source, and (ii) a three‐layered Earth model without a casing. The agreement between the numerical and analytical solutions demonstrates the effectiveness of our algorithm. As an illustration, we also present the time‐lapse electromagnetic response of a synthetic model representing a gas reservoir undergoing water flooding.     

The marine controlled source electromagnetic response of a steel borehole casing: applications for the NEPTUNE Canada gas hydrate observatory

Gas hydrates are a potential energy resource, a possible factor in climate change and an exploration geohazard. The University of Toronto has deployed a permanent seafloor time‐domain controlled source electromagnetic (CSEM) system offshore Vancouver Island, within the framework of the NEPTUNE Canada underwater cabled observatory. Hydrates are known to be present in the area and due to their electrically resistive nature can be monitored by 5 permanent electric field receivers. However, two cased boreholes may be drilled near the CSEM site in the near future. To understand any potential distortions of the electric fields due to the metal, we model the marine electromagnetic response of a conductive steel borehole casing. First, we consider the commonly used canonical model consisting of a 100 Ωm, 100 m thick resistive hydrocarbon layer embedded at a depth of 1000 m in a 1 Ωm conductive host medium, with the addition of a typical steel production casing extending from the seafloor to the resistive zone. Results show that in both the frequency and time domains the distortion produced by the casing occurs at smaller transmitter‐receiver offsets than the offsets required to detect the resistive layer. Second, we consider the experimentally determined model of the offshore Vancouver Island hydrate zone, consisting of a 5.5 Ωm, 36 m thick hydrate layer overlying a 0.7 Ωm sedimentary half‐space, with the addition of two borehole casings extending 300 m into the seafloor. In this case, results show that the distortion produced by casings located within a 100 m safety zone of the CSEM system will be measured at 4 of the 5 receivers. We conclude that the boreholes must be positioned at least 200 m away from the CSEM array so as to minimize the effects of the casings.     

井中磁源瞬变电磁响应特征研究

井中瞬变电磁波勘探是一个全空间地球物理场问题.采用Gaver-Stehfest逆拉氏变换方法,正演计算了瞬变信号激励下接收线圈上的电磁场响应.分析了包含井眼泥浆、套管、水泥环和地层的轴对称多层介质模型的电磁场响应特征,考察了各层介质参数对井中瞬变电磁响应的影响.不同电导率井眼泥浆的电磁场响应衰减曲线表明,井眼泥浆电导率...     

Hydro‐frac monitoring using ground time‐domain electromagnetics

As motivation for considering new electromagnetic techniques for hydraulic fracture monitoring, we develop a simple financial model for the net present value offered by geophysical characterization to reduce the error in stimulated reservoir volume calculations. This model shows that even a 5% improvement in stimulated reservoir volume for a 1 billion barrel (bbl.) field results in over 1 billion U.S. dollars (US$) in net present value over 24 years for US$100/bbl. oil and US$0.5 billion for US$50/bbl. oil. The application of conductivity upscaling, often used in electromagnetic modeling to reduce mesh size and thus simulation runtimes, is shown to be inaccurate for the high electrical contrasts needed to represent steel‐cased wells in the earth. Fine‐scale finite‐difference modeling with 12.22‐mm cells to capture the steel casing and fractures shows that the steel casing provides a direct current pathway to a created fracture that significantly enhances the response compared with neglecting the steel casing. We consider conductively enhanced proppant, such as coke‐breeze‐coated sand, and a highly saline brine solution to produce electrically conductive fractures. For a relatively small frac job at a depth of 3 km, involving 5,000 bbl. of slurry and a source midpoint to receiver separation of 50 m, the models show that the conductively enhanced proppant produces a 15% increase in the electric field strength (in‐line with the transmitter) in a 10‐Ωm background. In a 100‐Ωm background, the response due to the proppant increases to 213%. Replacing the conductive proppant by brine with a concentration of 100,000‐ppm NaCl, the field strength is increased by 23% in the 100‐Ωm background and by 2.3% in the 10‐Ωm background. All but the 100,000‐ppm NaCl brine in a 10‐Ωm background produce calculated fracture‐induced electric field increases that are significantly above 2%, a value that has been demonstrated to be observable in field measurements.     

Three-Dimensional Modeling of the Casing Effect in Onshore Controlled-Source Electromagnetic Surveys

The presence of steel-cased wells and other infrastructure causes a significant change in the electromagnetic fields that has to be taken into consideration in modeling and interpretation of field data. A realistic and accurate simulation requires the borehole casing to be incorporated into the modeling scheme, which is numerically challenging. Due to the huge conductivity contrast between the casing and surrounding media, a spatial discretization that provides accurate results at different spatial scales ranging from millimeters to hundreds of meters is required. In this paper, we present a full 3D frequency-domain electromagnetic modeling based on a parallel finite-difference algorithm considering the casing effect and investigate its applicability on the borehole-to-surface configuration of the Hontomín CO₂ storage site. To guarantee a robust solution of linear systems with highly ill-conditioned matrices caused by huge conductivity contrasts and multiple spatial scales in the model, we employ direct sparse solvers. Different scenarios are simulated in order to study the influence of the source position, conductivity model, and the effect of the steel casing on the measured data. Several approximations of the real hollow casing that allow for a large reduction in the number of elements in the resulting meshes are studied. A good agreement between the modeled responses and the real field data demonstrates the feasibility of simulating casing effects in complex geological areas. The steel casing of the well greatly increases the amplitude of the surface electromagnetic fields and thus improves the signal-to-noise ratio and the sensitivity to deep targets.     

Distributed electric field sensing using fibre optics in borehole environments

In the past decade, rapid advances in distributed optical fibre sensing technologies have made it possible to record various geophysical data (e.g. strain, temperature and pressure) continuously in both time and space along the fibre, providing an unprecedented quantity and spatial density of data compared to traditional geophysical measurements as well as reducing data acquisition cost. To date, no distributed fibre-based electromagnetic field sensing system has been implemented although electromagnetic sensing could have a broad range of applications to geophysical imaging and monitoring in borehole environments. The goal of this paper is to provide a theoretical feasibility study regarding the design and use of an electromagnetic sensing optical fibre for geophysical applications. First, we present the sensitivity analysis of a ‘hypothetical’ optical fibre coated with polyvinylidene fluoride, a polymer that provides relatively high piezoelectric properties, yet unlike ceramics, is flexible. Using a two-dimensional electromagnetic modelling algorithm, we simulate the earth electric-field-to-fibre-strain transfer function and estimate the theoretical sensitivity of the optical fibre to electric fields. Given the state-of-the-art distributed acoustic sensing strain sensitivities in the picometres strain range, our numerical modelling analysis suggests that a perfectly coupled polyvinylidene fluoride–coated optical fibre can measure electric field values in the mV/m to V/m amplitude range. We then apply a cylindrically symmetric modelling algorithm to simulate numerical models demonstrating the applicability of such a fibre in an oilfield environment. Scenarios investigated employ an electric field source and suggest that the measurements can be used to distinguish the oil versus water ratio with a fibre mounted inside a producing steel cased oil well as well as distinguishing between brine and hydrocarbon filled reservoir zones with a fibre located outside of the casing.     

The electromagnetic response of a horizontal electric dipole buried in a multi‐layered earth

The electromagnetic response of a horizontal electric dipole transmitter in the presence of a conductive, layered earth is important in a number of geophysical applications, ranging from controlled‐source audio‐frequency magnetotellurics to borehole geophysics to marine electromagnetics. The problem has been thoroughly studied for more than a century, starting from a dipole resting on the surface of a half‐space and subsequently advancing all the way to a transmitter buried within a stack of anisotropic layers. The solution is still relevant today. For example, it is useful for one‐dimensional modelling and interpretation, as well as to provide background fields for two‐ and three‐dimensional modelling methods such as integral equation or primary–secondary field formulations. This tutorial borrows elements from the many texts and papers on the topic and combines them into what we believe is a helpful guide to performing layered earth electromagnetic field calculations. It is not intended to replace any of the existing work on the subject. However, we have found that this combination of elements is particularly effective in teaching electromagnetic theory and providing a basis for algorithmic development. Readers will be able to calculate electric and magnetic fields at any point in or above the earth, produced by a transmitter at any location. As an illustrative example, we calculate the fields of a dipole buried in a multi‐layered anisotropic earth to demonstrate how the theory that developed in this tutorial can be implemented in practice; we then use the example to examine the diffusion of volume charge density within anisotropic media—a rarely visualised process. The algorithm is internally validated by comparing the response of many thin layers with alternating high and low conductivity values to the theoretically equivalent (yet algorithmically simpler) anisotropic solution, as well as externally validated against an independent algorithm.     

Two-Dimensional Magnetotelluric Modelling of Ore Deposits: Improvements in Model Constraints by Inclusion of Borehole Measurements

A combination of magnetotelluric (MT) measurements on the surface and in boreholes (without metal casing) can be expected to enhance resolution and reduce the ambiguity in models of electrical resistivity derived from MT surface measurements alone. In order to quantify potential improvement in inversion models and to aid design of electromagnetic (EM) borehole sensors, we considered two synthetic 2D models containing ore bodies down to 3000 m depth (the first with two dipping conductors in resistive crystalline host rock and the second with three mineralisation zones in a sedimentary succession exhibiting only moderate resistivity contrasts). We computed 2D inversion models from the forward responses based on combinations of surface impedance measurements and borehole measurements such as (1) skin-effect transfer functions relating horizontal magnetic fields at depth to those on the surface, (2) vertical magnetic transfer functions relating vertical magnetic fields at depth to horizontal magnetic fields on the surface and (3) vertical electric transfer functions relating vertical electric fields at depth to horizontal magnetic fields on the surface. Whereas skin-effect transfer functions are sensitive to the resistivity of the background medium and 2D anomalies, the vertical magnetic and electric field transfer functions have the disadvantage that they are comparatively insensitive to the resistivity of the layered background medium. This insensitivity introduces convergence problems in the inversion of data from structures with strong 2D resistivity contrasts. Hence, we adjusted the inversion approach to a three-step procedure, where (1) an initial inversion model is computed from surface impedance measurements, (2) this inversion model from surface impedances is used as the initial model for a joint inversion of surface impedances and skin-effect transfer functions and (3) the joint inversion model derived from the surface impedances and skin-effect transfer functions is used as the initial model for the inversion of the surface impedances, skin-effect transfer functions and vertical magnetic and electric transfer functions. For both synthetic examples, the inversion models resulting from surface and borehole measurements have higher similarity to the true models than models computed exclusively from surface measurements. However, the most prominent improvements were obtained for the first example, in which a deep small-sized ore body is more easily distinguished from a shallow main ore body penetrated by a borehole and the extent of the shadow zone (a conductive artefact) underneath the main conductor is strongly reduced. Formal model error and resolution analysis demonstrated that predominantly the skin-effect transfer functions improve model resolution at depth below the sensors and at distance of \(\sim \) 300–1000 m laterally off a borehole, whereas the vertical electric and magnetic transfer functions improve resolution along the borehole and in its immediate vicinity. Furthermore, we studied the signal levels at depth and provided specifications of borehole magnetic and electric field sensors to be developed in a future project. Our results suggest that three-component SQUID and fluxgate magnetometers should be developed to facilitate borehole MT measurements at signal frequencies above and below 1 Hz, respectively.     

金属套管对多分量电磁感应测井信号的影响

研究金属套管对低频电磁场各分量透射信号和反射信号的影响规律对采用过套管电磁感应测井技术监测生产过程中的流体移动具有重要价值.采用柱状成层各向异性介质中的并矢Green函数模拟当发射源在套管内、接收器分别在套管内和套管外时多分量电磁感应的响应,并系统分析了金属套管对透射磁场和反射磁场各主分量的影响规律.计算结果表明,无论是透射场还是反射场,由于所采用的频率较低,金属套管对每个分量信号的影响可以与地层对该分量信号的影响分开.在低频段,磁性金属套管对磁场各分量仍存在稳定的反射,但不同分量被反射的程度不同,受套管磁屏蔽作用大的分量(如ρρ分量)被反射的程度高于受套管磁屏蔽作用小的分量(如zz分量).随着频率的升高,反射磁场的强度逐渐增大并最终达到饱和,信号被全反射.磁性金属套管的存在导致透射磁场各分量出现不同程度的幅度衰减和相位延迟,受套管磁屏蔽作用大的分量的幅度衰减程度大.在固定套管参数和频率的情况下,磁性套管对透射磁场不同分量的影响程度虽然不同但是恒定,其所导致的各分量的幅度衰减和相位延迟与线圈系位置和地层电参数无关.在低频段,套管外透射场的各分量处于准静态,其幅度和相位均不随频率而改变,受套管磁屏蔽作用大的分量的幅度随套管磁导率和厚度的不同而存在明显变化.当频率超过某一临界值后,套管的影响逐渐从以静态屏蔽为主转到以趋肤效应为主,导致透射场幅度的衰减和相位的延迟,套管的厚度越大、套管的电导率和相对磁导率值越大,所对应的频率临界值越小.     

偶极声源在裸眼井及套管井外的横波辐射特征

偶极横波远探测技术作为近年来发展起来的一门地球物理测井技术,一个重要应用前景就是在裸眼井和套管井测井时寻找井外地层中的油气构造.本文从井中偶极声场积分表达式的远场渐近解出发,对裸眼井及套管井中偶极声源的辐射场进行了对比分析,首次得到了偶极声源在不同声源频率和不同地层类型下的辐射特征.并深入研究了套管井中偶极声源的SH横波远场辐射特性,给出了不同耦合情况下的SH横波远场辐射特性的变化规律,对比了套前套后SH横波远场辐射的异同.结果表明：井中偶极声源的远场辐射特性受声源频率和地层类型影响较大;在套管井中,偶极声源辐射到地层中的横波能量也可以进行远探测,尽管与裸眼井情况相比,辐射能量会有所降低.本文的结果为偶极横波远探测技术的应用提供了理论支持.     

套管井井壁附近地层横波速度径向分布反演

套管外地层受异常地应力、油气开采的影响,在径向上表现出非均质性;采用声波测井可以对该非均质性进行探测,利用偶极子横波测井数据可以对横波速度的径向分布进行反演.本文建立了套管井外地层横波速度径向分层参考模型,采用修正的微扰法计算了该模型的偶极弯曲波频散曲线,建立了横波速度径向分布反演目标函数,采用高斯牛顿法和快速模拟退火法对目标函数进行了求解,得到了套管井外地层横波速度的径向分布.分析了偶极弯曲波频段、套管横波速度对反演结果的影响,对比了高斯牛顿法和快速模拟退火法对反演过程的影响.分析对比结果表明,采用偶极弯曲波激发强度较高的频段与采用全频段的反演结果相近;套管的横波速度准确度越高,反演结果越准确;高斯牛顿法和快速模拟退火法计算精度相同,都可以得到高精度的横波速度径向分布;快速模拟退火法的计算效率略低于高斯牛顿法,但其收敛性对初始值依赖更小,实际处理中应选择快速模拟退火法.     

柱状成层地层中仪器偏心对阵列感应测井响应的影响

采用柱状成层介质的并矢Green函数高效计算井眼中偏心发射源产生的电磁波,并利用该算法模拟了阵列感应测井仪器在井眼中偏心时的响应.在模拟时既考虑到了金属心轴的存在也考虑到了线圈系所处绝缘层的存在,并重点分析了绝缘层的影响.数值模拟结果表明,对相对低泥浆电导率情况而言,无论线圈距长短,线圈系所处绝缘层对仪器响应的影响均较小,可忽略不计.而对于相对高泥浆电导率情况,线圈系所处绝缘层对仪器响应的影响明显,不可忽略,且线圈距越短影响越大,仪器偏心距越大影响越大.另由数值模拟结果可以看出,在相同泥浆电导率情况下,仪器线圈距越短偏心对线圈系响应的影响越大.     

Transient electromagnetic modelling of an isolated wire loop over a conductive medium

A large closed wire loop is generally used in field experiments for testing airborne electrical exploration equipment. Thus, methods are required for the precise calculation of an electromagnetic response in the presence of a closed wire loop. We develop a fast and precise scheme for calculating the transient response for such a closed loop laid out at the surface of a horizontally layered conductive ground. Our scheme is based on the relationship between the magnetic flux flowing through a closed loop and the current induced in it. The developed scheme is compared with 2D and 3D finite‐element modelling for several positions of an airborne electromagnetic system flying over a closed loop. We also study the coupling effect between the current flowing in the closed loop and the current flowing in the horizontally layered conductive medium. The result shows that for the central position of the transmitter, the difference between axisymmetrical finite‐element modelling and our scheme is less than 1%. Moreover, for the non‐coaxial transmitter–receiver–loop system, the solution obtained by our scheme is in good agreement with full 3D finite‐element modelling, and our total simulation time is substantially lower: 1 minute versus 120 hours.     

Elongated horizontal and vertical receivers in three-dimensional electromagnetic modelling and inversion

Electromagnetic geophysical methods often rely on measurements of naturally occurring or artificially impressed electric fields. It is technically impossible, however, to measure the electric field directly. Instead, the electric field is approximated by recording the voltage difference between two electrodes and dividing the obtained voltage by the distance between the electrodes. Typically, modelling and inversion algorithms assume that the electric fields are obtained over infinitely short point-dipoles and thus measured fields are assigned to a single point between the electrodes. Such procedures imply several assumptions: (1) The electric field between the two electrodes is regarded as constant or being a potential field and (2) the receiver dimensions are negligible compared to the dimensions of the underlying modelling grid. While these conditions are often fulfilled for horizontal electric fields, borehole sensors for recordings of the vertical electric field have dimensions in the order of ≈100 m and span several modelling grid cells. Observations from such elongated borehole sensors can therefore only be interpreted properly if true receiver dimensions and variations of electrical conductivity along the receiver are considered. Here, we introduce a numerical solution to include the true receiver geometry into electromagnetic modelling schemes, which does not rely on such simplifying assumptions. The algorithm is flexible, independent of the chosen numerical method to solve Maxwell's equations and can easily be implemented in other electromagnetic modelling and inversion codes. We present conceptual modelling results for land-based controlled source electromagnetic scenarios and discuss consideration of true receiver geometries for a series of examples of horizontal and vertical electric field measurements. Comparison with Ez data measured in an observation borehole in a producing oil field shows the importance of both considering the true length of the receiver and also its orientation. We show that misalignment from the vertical axis as small as 0.1° may seriously distort the measured signal, as horizontal electric field components are mapped into the desired vertical component. Adequate inclusion of elongated receivers in modelling and inversion can also help reducing effects of static shift when interpreting (natural source) magnetotelluric data.     

The Suction Side Sample Catcher in Ground Water Quality Sampling

A suction side sample collector (SSSC) is a contrivance installed hydraulically ahead of the intake port of a pumping device. This paper describes construction and operational details of SSSCs fitted to a submersible pump with packer for use in a 6-inch cased borehole, an air lift pump with packer for use in a 1-inch or 2.5-inch cased borehole, a bladder pump for use in a casing of 2-inch or greater diameter, and a jet pump with packer for use in a 2-inch cased borehole.
Each form of SSSC has been thoroughly tested in ground water quality sampling for volatile organic chemicals. Comparative data for samples collected with the SSSCs and conventional sample collecting gear are presented. The SSSC is demonstrated to be superior to other methods of collecting volatile organic chemical samples owing to its freedom from contamination by the pump delivery line and to its mode of collecting the sample from a position in the well remote from disturbance by the pumping technique.
SSSCs are conveniently decontaminated, easily transported, and can be used to deliver samples to the laboratory while still at formation pressure. The air-lift pumps, described in this paper for use with SSSCs in 1- and 2.5-inch casings, have pumping capacities greater than obtained by other methods that can operate in these small casings. Discharge rates of up to 2 gpm are routinely achieved with the 1-inch model and higher rates are common With the 2.5-inch model. The use of packers with these pumps reduces the time needed to replace the water in the casing with fresh water from the formation.     

Modelling and straight‐ray tomographic imaging studies of cross‐hole radio‐frequency electromagnetic data for mineral exploration

Radio‐frequency electromagnetic tomography (or radio imaging method) employs radio‐frequency (typically 0.1–10 MHz) electromagnetic wave propagation to delineate the distribution of electric properties between two boreholes. Currently, the straight‐ray imaging method is the primary imaging method for the radio imaging method data acquired for mineral exploration. We carried out synthetic studies using three‐dimensional finite‐element modelling implemented in COMSOL Multiphysics to study the electromagnetic field characteristics and to assess the capability of the straight‐ray imaging method using amplitude and phase data separately. We studied four sets of experiments with models of interest in the mining setting. In the first two experiments, we studied models with perfect conductors in homogeneous backgrounds, which show that the characteristics of the electromagnetic fields depend mainly on the wavelength. When the borehole separations are less than one wavelength, induction effects occur; conductors with simple geometries can be recovered acceptably with amplitude data but are incorrectly imaged on the phase tomogram. When the borehole separations are longer than two wavelengths, radiation effects play a major role. In this case, phase tomography provides images with acceptable quality, whereas amplitude tomography does not provide satisfactory results. The third experiment shows that imaging with both original and reciprocal datasets is somewhat helpful in improving the imaging quality by reducing the impact of noise. In the last experiment, we studied models with conductive zones extended into the borehole plane with different lengths, which were not accurately recovered with amplitude tomography. The experiment implies that it is difficult to determine the extent of a mineralised zone that has been intersected by one of the boreholes. Due to the large variation of the wavelength in the radio‐frequency range, we suggest investigating the local electric properties to select an operating frequency prior to a survey. We conclude that straight‐ray tomography with either amplitude or phase data cannot provide high‐quality imaging results. We suggest using more general methods based on full electromagnetic modelling to interpret the data. In circumstances when computational time is critical, we suggest saving time by using either induction methods for borehole separations less than one wavelength or wave‐based methods (only radiation fields are considered) for borehole separation larger than two wavelengths.     

Seismic interferometry experiment in a shallow cased borehole using a seismic vibrator source‡

We present the results of a seismic interferometry experiment in a shallow cased borehole. The experiment is an initial study for subsequent borehole seismic surveys in an instrumented well site, where we plan to test other surface/borehole seismic techniques. The purpose of this application is to improve the knowledge of the reflectivity sequence and to verify the potential of the seismic interferometry approach to retrieve high‐frequency signals in the single well geometry, overcoming the loss and attenuation effects introduced by the overburden. We used a walkaway vertical seismic profile (VSP) geometry with a seismic vibrator to generate polarized vertical and horizontal components along a surface seismic line and an array of 3C geophones cemented outside the casing. The recorded traces are processed to obtain virtual sources in the borehole and to simulate single‐well gathers with a variable source‐receiver offset in the vertical array. We compare the results obtained by processing the field data with synthetic signals calculated by numerical simulation and analyse the signal bandwidth and amplitude versus offset to evaluate near‐field effects in the virtual signals. The application provides direct and reflected signals with improved bandwidth after vibrator signal deconvolution. Clear reflections are detected in the virtual seismic sections in agreement with the geology and other surface and borehole seismic data recorded with conventional seismic exploration techniques.     

Fast and accurate three‐dimensional controlled source electromagnetic modelling†

We present a fast approximate method for three‐dimensional low frequency controlled source electro‐magnetic modeling. We apply the method to a synthetic model in a typical marine controlled source electromagnetic scenario, where conductivity and permittivity are different from the known background medium. For 3D configurations, fast computational methods are relevant for both forward and inverse modelling studies. Since this problem involves a large number of unknowns, it has to be solved efficiently to obtain results in a timely manner, without compromising accuracy. For this reason, the Born approximation, extended Born approximation and iterative extended Born approximation are implemented and compared with the full solution of the conjugate gradient fast Fourier transformation method. These methods are based on an electric field domain integral equation formulation. It is shown here how well the iterative extended Born approximation method performs in terms of both accuracy and speed with different configurations and different source positions. The improved accuracy comes at virtually no additional computational cost. With the help of this method, it is now possible to perform sensitivity analysis using 3D modelling in a timely manner, which is vital for controlled source electromagnetic applications. For forward modeling the solution at the sea‐bottom is of interest, because that is where the receivers are usually located. For inverse modeling, the accuracy of the solution in the target zone is important to obtain reasonably accurate conductivity values from the inversion using this approximate solution method. Our modelling studies show that the iterative extended Born approximation method is fast and accurate for both forward and inverse modelling. Sensitivity analysis as a function of the source position and different reservoir sizes validate the accuracy of the iterative extended Born approximation.     

随钻条件下井旁界面声电效应的辐射电磁波响应特征

孔隙地层中存在着动电耦合现象,弹性波作用在声阻抗或者电化学性质差异地层会产生辐射电磁波.本文探讨了随钻条件下,利用孔隙地层中的动电耦合效应探测井旁地质体的可行性.为此模拟了井外存在声阻抗差异和电化学差异界面时声波诱导的辐射电场响应特征.求出柱坐标下介质中声场和电场函数表达式,由此计算并比较了均匀介质和弹性差异界面情况下井中接收到的电场.发现随钻条件下,井外的弹性差异界面会产生以光速传播的辐射电磁波.该电磁波反映了井外地质信息,并先于井中直达声波的伴随电磁场到达接收器,因而可以直接观测到.此外,还发现界面辐射电磁波可以用来探测油、水等电化学性质差异大而弹性阻抗差异小的界面;声源频率以及界面两侧地层性质差异程度是辐射电磁波幅度的影响因素.