Multiple depths and frequencies for simultaneous inversion of electromagnetic borehole measurements

• US 5,469,062 A
• Filed: 03/11/1994
• Issued: 11/21/1995
• Est. Priority Date: 03/11/1994
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Baker Hughes Incorporated (Baker Hughes Company)
• Original Assignee: Baker Hughes Incorporated (Baker Hughes Company)
• Inventors: Meyer, Wallace H. Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): Strecker, Gerard R.
• Application Number:
  US08/212,194
• Time in Patent Office: 620 Days
• Field of Search: 324/323, 324/338-343, 364/422
• US Class Current: 324/338
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 3/30 operating with electromagnetic waves

Abstract

A wave propagation measurement-while-drilling system is used to determine selected formation and borehole properties. One or more transmitter-receiver pairs are utilized with the transmitter components operating at one or more frequencies to provide a measured data set. A model relating the borehole instrument response to a wide range of formation and borehole conditions is also utilized. Inversion techniques are employed to determine selected formation and borehole parameters of interest and to simultaneously correct the selected formation parametric measurements for the adverse effects of the borehole and formation bed boundaries thereby avoiding serial type corrections which can yield erroneous results in certain frequency ranges.

Claims

1. A wave propagation method for measuring electromagnetic properties of earth formation penetrated by a borehole and simultaneously correcting said measurements for the adverse effects of drilling fluid invasion and bed boundary conditions, comprising:

(a) providing a borehole instrument comprising at least two transmitter-receiver pairs;

(b) operating each said transmitter at a first operating frequency and at a second operating frequency thereby inducing electromagnetic radiation within the borehole and formation environs at each operating frequency;

(c) measuring the amplitude and phase of electromagnetic radiation detected by the receiver component of each said transmitter-receiver pair and computing values of apparent resistivity, at each said operating frequency, from the ratios of said amplitude measurements from each receiver pair, and from the differences of said phase measurements from each said receiver pair;

(d) providing a model of the response of said borehole instrument which relates said apparent resistivity measurements to a plurality of formation and borehole parameters representative of the environs in which said borehole instrument is expected to operate, and wherein said model is obtained from apparent resistivity determinations made with said borehole instrument operating in environs of known formation and borehole parameters;

(e) selecting, from said plurality of formation and borehole parameters, parameters of interest to be determined;

(f) mathematically combining said apparent resistivity measurements with said instrument response model to compute said parameters of interest and simultaneously correct said parameters of interest for the adverse effects of formation bed boundary and borehole perturbation effects; and

(g) repeating (b) through (f) as said borehole instrument is conveyed along the borehole.

2. The method of claim 1 where said first operating frequency falls within the range of 500 KHz to 12 MHz and said second operating frequency falls within the range of 100 KHz to 6 MHz.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the depth of said borehole instrument in the borehole is tracked.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein said parameters of interest are recorded as a function of depth within the borehole at which they were determined.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein said borehole instrument is conveyed along the borehole with a drill string.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein the borehole instrument is conveyed along the borehole with a wireline.

7. A wave propagation apparatus for measuring electromagnetic properties of earth formation penetrated by a borehole and simultaneously correcting said measurements for the adverse effects of drilling fluid invasion and bed boundary conditions, comprising:

(a) a borehole instrument comprising at least two transmitter-receiver pairs with the transmitter components of said transmitter-receiver pairs operating at at least two frequencies thereby inducing a response within the receiver components of said transmitter-receiver pairs;

(b) a borehole instrument response model which relates said responses of said receiver components of said transmitter-receiver pairs to a plurality of formation and borehole parameters representative of the environs in which said borehole instrument is expected to operate, and wherein said model is obtained from determinations of the responses of said receiver components of said transmitter-receiver pairs in environs in which formation and borehole parameters are known;

(c) power and control circuits for said transmitter-receiver pairs;

(d) a conveyance apparatus for conveying said borehole instrument along the borehole;

(e) a CPU for mathematically processing by combining said responses by said receiver components of said transmitter-receiver pairs with said borehole instrument response model stored in said CPU thereby obtaining processed data, said processed data comprising parameters of interest selected from said plurality of formation and borehole parameters;

(f) a data transfer system for transferring said receiver responses to said CPU;

(g) a depth indicator for tracking the depth of said borehole instrument along said borehole; and

(h) a recorder for recording said processed data as a function of depth along said borehole at which data used to generate said processed data is measured.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 where said conveyance apparatus comprises a wireline.

9. The apparatus of claim 7 where said conveyance apparatus comprises a drill string.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein said means for transferring said responses by said receivers to said data processing means comprises a mud pulse system with said data processing means being located at the surface of the earth.

11. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein said data transfer system for transferring said response by said receivers to said CPU comprises a downhole memory for recording and storing said data in the borehole instrument and one or more electrical conductors for subsequently transferring said data from said downhole memory to said CPU when said borehole instrument is retrieved at the surface of the earth.

12. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein said data transfer system for transferring said response by said receivers to said CPU comprises one or more electrical conductors contained within said wireline.

13. A wave propagation method for measuring electromagnetic properties of earth formation penetrated by a borehole and simultaneously correcting said measurements for drilling fluid invasion and bed boundary conditions, comprising:

(a) providing a borehole instrument comprising four transmitter-receiver pairs;

(b) operating each said transmitter at a first operating frequency and a second operating frequency thereby inducing electromagnetic radiation within the formation and borehole environs;

(c) measuring the amplitude and phase of electromagnetic radiation detected by the receiver component of each said transmitter-receiver pair and computing values of intermediate resistivity, at each said operating frequency, from the ratios of said amplitude measurements from each receiver pair, and from the differences of said phase measurements from each said receiver pair thereby obtaining a total of sixteen said intermediate resistivity measurements;

(d) combining said intermediate resistivity measurements from transmitter-receiver pairs of equal longitudinal spacing thereby obtaining eight measures of apparent resistivity in which the adverse effects of rapidly changing borehole conditions and variations in the circuitry of said borehole instrument are minimized;

(e) providing a model of the response of said borehole instrument which relates said eight measures of apparent resistivity to a plurality of formation and borehole parameters representative of the environs in which said borehole instrument is expected to operate, and wherein said model is obtained from determinations of said eight measures of apparent resistivity in environs in which formation and borehole parameters are known;

(f) selecting, from said plurality of formation and borehole parameters, parameters of interest which are to be determined;

(g) computing said parameters of interest and simultaneously correcting said parameters of interest by mathematically combining said eight measures of apparent resistivity with said instrument response model;

(h) tracking the depth of said borehole instrument along the borehole;

(i) recording said parameters of interest as a function of depth within the borehole at which they were determined;

(j) conveying said borehole instrument along the borehole by means of a drill string; and

(k) repeating (b) through (i) as said borehole instrument is conveyed along the borehole.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein said four transmitter-receiver pairs are comprised of four transmitters and two receivers.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein said combination of said eight apparent resistivity values and said borehole instrument response model comprises the steps of:

(a) formulating said eight values of apparent resistivity in the form of a 8×

1 apparent resistivity matrix;

(b) formulating said borehole instrument model in the form of an 8×

8 model matrix;

(c) formulating an 8×

1 parameter matrix which contains the parameters of interest;

(d) equating the product of said model matrix and said parameter matrix to said apparent resistivity matrix thereby forming a first matrix equation;

(e) employing a non-linear regression scheme to invert said first matrix equation to form a second matrix equation which equates said parameter matrix to the product of said apparent resistivity matrix and the transform of said model matrix; and

(f) solving said second matrix equation to obtain said parameter matrix wherein said parameters of interest are represented by the elements of said parameter matrix.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein said first operating frequency falls within the range of 500 KHz to 12 MHz and said second operating frequency falls within the range of 100 KHz to 6 MHz.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein said parameters of interest comprise formation resistivity and formation dielectric constant.

18. A wave propagation apparatus for measuring electromagnetic properties of earth formation penetrated by a borehole and simultaneously correcting said measurements for drilling fluid invasion and bed boundary effects, comprising:

(a) an elongated borehole instrument comprising two receivers and four transmitters;

(b) means for operating said transmitters at a first operating frequency and a second operating frequency thereby producing responses of said receivers to electromagnetic radiation produced by the operation of said transmitters;

(c) power and control circuits for said transmitters and said receivers contained within the borehole instrument;

(d) a model of the response of said borehole instrument which relates the responses of said receivers to electromagnetic radiation, resulting from said transmitter operations, to a plurality of formation and borehole parameters representative of the environs in which said borehole instrument is expected to operate, and wherein said model is obtained from determinations of the responses of said receivers with said transmitters operating in environs in which formation and borehole parameters are known;

(e) a CPU for mathematically processing responses of said receivers with said borehole instrument response model thereby obtaining processed data, said processed data comprising parameters of interest selected from said plurality of formation and borehole parameters;

(f) a data transfer system for transmitting said responses of said receivers to said CPU;

(g) a conveyance apparatus for conveying said borehole instrument within the borehole;

(h) a depth indicator for tracking the depth of said borehole instrument within the borehole; and

(i) a recorder for recording said responses of said receivers and said processed data as a function of said depth.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 wherein said conveyance apparatus for conveying said borehole instrument along the borehole is a wireline.

20. The apparatus of claim 18 wherein said conveyance apparatus for conveying said borehole instrument along the borehole is a drill string.

21. The apparatus of claim 20 wherein said elongated borehole instrument further comprises:

(a) a drill collar;

(b) a first receiver and a second receiver, each receiver comprising coils of one or more turns wrapped around the outer diameter of said drill collar and electrically insulated from said drill collar and positioned longitudinally along the axis of said drill collar with the axes of said coils and the axis of said drill collar being coincident; and

(c) four transmitters comprising coils of one or more turns, said coil turns being wrapped around the outside diameter of said drill collar and electrically insulated from said drill collar and arranged in longitudinally spaced pairs with each pair being symmetrically spaced on either side of a point midway between the positions of said first and said second receivers.

22. The apparatus of claim 21 wherein said first operating frequency falls within the range of 500 KHz to 12 MHz and said second operating frequency falls within the range of 100 KHz to 6 MHz.

23. The apparatus of claim 22 wherein said data transmission means comprises a drilling fluid pulsing system.

24. The apparatus of claim 22 wherein said data transfer system comprises a memory, contained within said drill collar, with which said measured data are recorded and stored for subsequent retrieval and processing by said CPU when said drill collar is returned to the surface of the earth.

25. A wave propagation method for measuring electromagnetic properties of earth formation penetrated by a borehole and simultaneously correcting said measurements for the adverse effects of drilling fluid invasion and bed boundary conditions, comprising:

(a) providing a borehole instrument comprising one or more transmitter-receiver pairs;

(b) operating each said transmitter at one or more operating frequencies thereby inducing electromagnetic radiation within the borehole and formation environs at each operating frequency;

(c) measuring the amplitude and phase of electromagnetic radiation detected by the receiver component of each said transmitter-receiver pair and at each said operating frequency thereby obtaining a set of data parameters;

(d) providing a model of the response of said borehole instrument which relates mathematically said data parameters to a plurality of formation and borehole parameters representative of the borehole and formation environs in which said borehole instrument is expected to operate, and wherein said model is obtained from determinations of said data parameters in environs in which formation and borehole parameters are known;

(e) selecting, from said plurality of formation and borehole parameters, parameters of interest to be determined;

(f) combining mathematically said set of data parameters with said instrument response model to compute said parameters of interest and simultaneously to correct said parameters of interest for the adverse effects of formation bed boundary and borehole perturbation effects; and

(g) repeating (b) through (g) as said borehole instrument is conveyed along the borehole.

26. The method of claim 25 where said first operating frequency falls within the range of 500 KHz to 12 MHz and said second operating frequency falls within the range of 100 KHz to 6 MHz.

27. The method of claim 26 wherein the depth of said borehole instrument in the borehole is tracked.

28. The method of claim 27 wherein said parameters of interest are recorded as a function of depth within the borehole at which they were determined.

29. The method of claim 28 wherein said borehole instrument is conveyed along the borehole with a drill string.

30. A wave propagation apparatus for measuring electromagnetic properties of earth formation penetrated by a borehole and simultaneously correcting said measurements for the adverse effects of drilling fluid invasion and bed boundary conditions, comprising:

(a) a borehole instrument comprising one or more transmitter-receiver pairs with the transmitter components of said transmitter-receiver pairs operating at at least one frequency;

(b) power and control circuits for said transmitters and receivers contained within said borehole instrument;

(c) a conveyance apparatus for conveying said borehole instrument along the borehole;

(d) a model of the response of said borehole instrument which relates the responses of the receiver components of said transmitter-receiver pairs to electromagnetic radiation produced by the operation of said transmitter components in a plurality of formation and borehole conditions representative of the environs in which said borehole instrument is expected to operate, and wherein said model is obtained from determinations of the responses of said receiver components of said transmitter-receiver pairs in environs in which formation and borehole parameters are known;

(e) a downhole processor contained within said borehole instrument for mathematically processing the responses of the receiver components of said transmitter-receiver pairs with said borehole instrument response model thereby obtaining processed data, said processed data comprising parameters of interest selected from said plurality of formation and borehole parameters;

(f) a depth indicator for tracking the depth of said borehole instrument along said borehole;

(g) a data transfer system for transferring said processed data or said responses of said receivers or both to the surface of the earth; and

(h) a recorder for recording said processed data as a function of depth along said borehole at which said responses of said receivers used to generate said processed data are measured.

31. The apparatus of claim 30 where said conveyance apparatus for conveying said borehole instrument is a drill string.

32. The apparatus of claim 31 wherein said conveyance apparatus for transferring said measured data or said processed data or both to the surface of the earth comprises a drilling fluid pulsing system.

33. The apparatus of claim 31 wherein said data transfer system for transferring said measured data or said processed data or both to the surface of the earth comprises downhole memory recording and memory means contained within said borehole instrument with which said measured data or processed data or both are stored for subsequent retrieval when said borehole instrument is returned to the surface of the earth.