Tubing eccentricity evaluation using acoustic signals

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12078052-B2
Application number	US-202117543130-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 6, 2021
Priority date	Dec 6, 2021
Publication date	Sep 3, 2024
Grant date	Sep 3, 2024

Abstract

The disclosure presents processes to determine the direction and magnitude of tubing eccentricity along the length of a tube inserted within a borehole. The tubing can be a wireline, a drill string, a drill pipe, or tubing capable of allowing fluid or other material to flow through it. As borehole operations proceed, the tubing can move toward the side of the borehole. This eccentricity can cause excess wear and tear on the tubing, on the casing of the borehole, or on the inner surface of the subterranean formation. The eccentricity can be measured using acoustic signals that are collected downhole covering the azimuthal angles 0° to 360° at a location in the borehole. The collected signals can be filtered, transformed, and analyzed to estimate the tubing eccentricity. Other processes and systems can use the results to obtain cement bond evaluations through tubing and to determine preventative or restorative actions.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method to determine eccentricity of a tubing within a borehole, comprising:
collecting acoustic data from an acoustic system located within the borehole, wherein the acoustic data is collected at more than one azimuthal position at a borehole location;
generating transformed acoustic data by applying a fast Fourier transformation (FFT) filter to the acoustic data;
calculating a central value of the transformed acoustic data;
identifying a tubing arrival time using the central value and the transformed acoustic data, wherein the tubing arrival time relates to the acoustic data and the tubing;
determining a symmetry of axis for the transformed acoustic data;
calculating an eccentricity direction of the tubing using the symmetry of axis, and the transformed acoustic data;
identifying an earliest casing arrival time utilizing the transformed acoustic data;
computing an eccentricity magnitude of the tubing utilizing the transformed acoustic data, received input parameters, the tubing arrival time, and the earliest casing arrival time, using the acoustic analyzer; and
performing a corrective action on the tubing based on the eccentricity magnitude, wherein the corrective action includes replacing a section of the tubing or adjusting a position of the tubing in order to improve cement evaluation, or prevent or reduce wear on the tubing or casing within the borehole.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:
communicating results to one or more borehole operation systems, wherein the results include the eccentricity direction and the eccentricity magnitude.

3. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the calculating the eccentricity direction further utilizes the tubing arrival time or a third interface echo (TIE) acoustic path.

4. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the central value is a mean value or a median value.

5. The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:
flipping the transformed acoustic data after the calculating the eccentricity direction and prior to the identifying the earliest casing arrival time to generate a flipped acoustic data, and wherein the identifying utilizes the flipped acoustic data as the transformed acoustic data.

6. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the acoustic system is tilted at a specified angle relative to the tubing or a wireline within the borehole.

7. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the input parameters are one or more of a tubing diameter, a tubing thickness, a casing diameter, a casing thickness, a characteristic of a subterranean formation, a type of transformations to apply, a filtering algorithm, or a distance between a transmitter of the acoustic system and a receiver of the acoustic system.

8. The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising removing, prior to the applying the FFT filter, noise from the acoustic data using a machine learning algorithm.

9. A system, comprising:
a data transceiver, capable of receiving input parameters and collected acoustic data, wherein the acoustic data is collected downhole within a borehole at one or more locations along the borehole, wherein the borehole includes tubing located therein; and
an acoustic analyzer, capable of communicating with the data transceiver, applying one or more transformation algorithms to the acoustic data, generating transformed acoustic data by applying one or more filtering algorithms to the acoustic data, wherein the one or more filtering algorithms include a fast Fourier transformation (FFT) filter algorithm, calculating a central value of the transformed acoustic data, identifying a tubing arrival time using the central value, determining a symmetry of axis of the transformed acoustic data, calculating an eccentricity direction of the tubing using the symmetry of axis, identifying an earliest casing arrival time, computing an eccentricity magnitude of the tubing utilizing the transformed acoustic data, the tubing arrival time, and the earliest casing arrival time, and initiating, based on the eccentricity magnitude, replacement of a section of the tubing or adjustment of a position of the tubing in order to improve cement evaluation, or prevent or reduce wear on the tubing or casing within the borehole.

10. The system as recited in claim 9 , further comprising:
an acoustic system, capable of collecting the acoustic data and communicating the acoustic data to the data transceiver, wherein the acoustic system has at least one acoustic transmitter and at least one acoustic receiver separated by specified distance, and the acoustic system is located downhole of the borehole.

11. The system as recited in claim 10 , wherein the acoustic system includes the data transceiver and the acoustic analyzer.

12. The system as recited in claim 10 , wherein the acoustic system is part of downhole tools.

13. The system as recited in claim 9 , wherein the acoustic analyzer and the data transceiver are part of a well site controller or a computing system.

14. The system as recited in claim 9 , further comprising:
a result transceiver, capable of communicating results, interim outputs, and the collected acoustic data to a user system, a data store, or a computing system, wherein the results include the eccentricity magnitude and the eccentricity direction.

15. The system as recited in claim 9 , wherein the input parameters are one or more of a tubing diameter, a tubing thickness, a casing diameter, a casing thickness, a characteristic of a subterranean formation, a type of transformations to apply, a type of filtering to apply, or a distance between a transmitter of an acoustic system and a receiver of the acoustic system.

16. A computer program product having a series of operating instructions stored on a non-transitory computer-readable medium that directs a data processing apparatus when executed thereby to perform operations to determine eccentricity of a tubing within a borehole, the operations comprising:
collecting acoustic data from an acoustic system located within the borehole, wherein the acoustic data is collected at more than one azimuthal position at a borehole location;
generating transformed acoustic data by applying a fast Fourier transformation (FFT) filter to the acoustic data;
calculating a central value of the transformed acoustic data;
identifying a tubing arrival time using the central value and the transformed acoustic data, wherein the tubing arrival time relates to the acoustic data and the tubing;
determining a symmetry of axis for the transformed acoustic data;
calculating an eccentricity direction of the tubing using the symmetry of axis, and the transformed acoustic data;
identifying an earliest casing arrival time utilizing the transformed acoustic data;
computing an eccentricity magnitude of the tubing utilizing the transformed acoustic data, received input parameters, the tubing arrival time, and the earliest casing arrival time, using the acoustic analyzer; and
performing a corrective action on the tubing based on the eccentricity magnitude, wherein the corrective action includes replacing a section of the tubing or adjusting a position of the tubing in order to improve cement evaluation, or prevent or reduce wear on the tubing or casing within the borehole.

17. The computer program product as recited in claim 16 , wherein the operations further comprise:
communicating results to one or more borehole operation systems, wherein the results include the eccentricity direction and the eccentricity magnitude.

18. The computer program

Assignees

• Halliburton Energy Services Inc

Inventors

• Cabella Brenno Caetano Troca
• Wu Xiang
• Luzio Marco Aurelio
• Rego Pablo Vieira
• Chang Chung
• Lucas Federico Combis
• Ge Yao
• Wang Ruijia
• Ma Ho Yin

Classifications

• E21B47/16

  through the drill string or casing {, e.g. by torsional acoustic waves} · CPC title

• E21B47/095

  by detecting an acoustic anomalies, e.g. using mud-pressure pulses · CPC title

• E21B2200/22

  Fuzzy logic, artificial intelligence, neural networks or the like · CPC title

• G06N20/00

  Machine learning · CPC title

• E21B47/085 Primary

  using radiant means, e.g. acoustic, radioactive or electromagnetic · CPC title