Determining perforation orientation
First Claim
1. A method of orienting an object in a wellbore comprising:
- varying the orientation of the object in the wellbore;
activating at least one directional acoustic source arranged in fixed relation to said object so as to generate sound in a plurality of different orientations of said object;
interrogating an optical fibre deployed down the wellbore to provide distributed acoustic sensing in the vicinity of the object; and
analyzing acoustic signals detected by the optical fibre so as to determine the orientation of the at least one directional acoustic source relative to the optical fibre wherein the acoustic signals are analyzed to determine the relative intensity of the detected acoustic signals and wherein the detected acoustic signals are analyzed to determine the orientation of the object which leads to the greatest detected acoustic intensity.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for determining the relative orientation of objects downwell, and especially to determining perforator orientation, involves varying the orientation of an object, such as a perforator gun (302) in the wellbore (202) and activating at least one directional acoustic source (402a-c). Each directional acoustic source is fixed in a predetermined location to the object and transmits an acoustic signal preferentially in a known direction. The directional acoustic sources are activated so as to generate sound in a plurality of different orientations of said object. An optical fiber (104) is interrogated to provide distributed acoustic sensing in the vicinity of the object; and the acoustic signals detected by the optical fiber are analyzed to determine the orientation of the at least one directional acoustic source relative to the optical fiber, for instance by looking at the relative intensity in the different orientations.
-
Citations
16 Claims
-
1. A method of orienting an object in a wellbore comprising:
- varying the orientation of the object in the wellbore;
activating at least one directional acoustic source arranged in fixed relation to said object so as to generate sound in a plurality of different orientations of said object;
interrogating an optical fibre deployed down the wellbore to provide distributed acoustic sensing in the vicinity of the object; and
analyzing acoustic signals detected by the optical fibre so as to determine the orientation of the at least one directional acoustic source relative to the optical fibre wherein the acoustic signals are analyzed to determine the relative intensity of the detected acoustic signals and wherein the detected acoustic signals are analyzed to determine the orientation of the object which leads to the greatest detected acoustic intensity. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
- varying the orientation of the object in the wellbore;
-
16. A distributed acoustic sensing apparatus for determining the location of an object downwell comprising an interrogator unit configured to, in use, interrogate an optical fibre deployed downwell to provide distributed acoustic sensing and a processor configured to take a plurality of measurement signals acquired when the object having at least one directional acoustic source is located downwell wherein said signals correspond to a plurality of orientations of said object and process the measurement signals to determine the orientation of said object relative to the optical fibre, wherein the directional acoustic source generates acoustic waves that have a greater intensity in one direction than in other directions, and wherein the acoustic signals are analyzed to determine the relative intensity of the detected acoustic signals and wherein the detected acoustic signals are analyzed to determine the orientation of the object which leads to the greatest detected acoustic intensity.
Specification