Azimuthal scanning of a wellbore for determination of a cement-bond condition and for detecting/locating a leak source

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12297733-B2
Application number	US-202016905416-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 18, 2020
Priority date	Jun 18, 2020
Publication date	May 13, 2025
Grant date	May 13, 2025

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to determining a location of a noise source where the location includes azimuth information and determining cement-bond integrity. A downhole tool disposed in a borehole may comprise one or more receivers (such as a monopole receiver and any one or more of one or more multi-pole receivers) and in certain embodiments one or more transmitters that fire one or more shots may provide azimuthal estimate of the location of a noise source, a location of a leak in one or more layers of a casing, cement-bond integrity any combination thereof based, at least in part, on one or more measurements or data for received signals at any one or more receivers. Accurate and efficient identification of a leak or integrity of a cement-bond reduces overall inefficiencies and costs associated with a downhole operation.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for determining a cement-bond condition comprising:
digitally rotating one or more receivers of a plurality of receivers of a downhole tool to obtain 360 degrees of coverage of a borehole at a plurality of receiver azimuthal angles;
at each rotation, receiving, by the plurality of receivers, one or more signals associated with a source, wherein the plurality of receivers comprise one or more monopole receivers and one or more multipole receivers, and wherein the one or more monopole receivers receive the one or more signals as one or more monopole measurements and the one or more multipole receivers receive the one or more signals as one or more multipole measurements;
computing a weighted sum of the one or more signals received at the plurality of receivers rotated to a first receiver azimuthal angle of the plurality of receiver azimuthal angles;
determining an amplitude of the weighted sum of the one or more signals at each receiver azimuthal angle of the plurality of receiver azimuthal angles; and
determining a cement-bond condition of a casing of the borehole based, at least in part, on the amplitude.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising storing in a memory of the downhole tool one or more of the one or more monopole measurements and the one or more multipole measurements.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising applying a pre-filter to the one or more signals to filter out an interference of a guided wave in a borehole.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the source comprises a first transmitter, a second transmitter and a third transmitter.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the first transmitter comprises a monopole, the second transmitter comprises a cross-dipole source and the third transmitter comprises a quadrupole source.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
rotating the second transmitter and the third transmitter to one or more transmitter azimuthal angles to generate one or more resulting signals;
determining a resulting amplitude of the one or more resulting signals, wherein the cement-bond condition is based, at least in part, on the resulting amplitude; and
extracting the azimuth of the one or more resulting signals based at least in part on the resulting amplitude of the one or more resulting signals.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein one or more of the multipole receivers comprises one or more of a dipole receiver and a quadrupole receiver.

8. A downhole tool disposable within a borehole, comprising:
a source rotatable to a plurality of source azimuthal angles;
a plurality of receivers, wherein the plurality of receivers are digitally rotatable to obtain 360 degrees of coverage of the borehole at one or more receiver azimuthal angles, wherein the plurality of receivers receive one or more signals from the source at each of the one or more receiver azimuthal angles, wherein the plurality of receivers comprise one or more monopole receivers and one or more multipole receivers, and wherein the one or more monopole receivers receive the one or more signals as one or more monopole measurements and the one or more multipole receivers receive the one or more signals as one or more multipole measurements; and
a memory coupled to the plurality of receivers, wherein the memory stores one or more amplitudes associated with the one or more signals from the source at each of the one or more receiver azimuthal angles, wherein the memory stores a weighted sum of the one or more signals received at the plurality of receivers rotated to a first receiver azimuthal angle of the one or more receiver azimuthal angles; wherein the one or more amplitudes comprise one or more amplitudes of the weighted sum of the one or more signals; and wherein a cement-bond condition associated with a casing of the borehole is determinable using the one or more amplitudes.

9. The downhole tool of claim 8 , wherein the source comprises a first transmitter, a second transmitter and a third transmitter.

10. The downhole tool of claim 9 , wherein the first transmitter comprises a monopole, the second transmitter comprises a cross-dipole source and the third transmitter comprises a quadrupole source.

11. The downhole tool of claim 9 , further comprising:
wherein the second transmitter and the third transmitter are rotatable to the plurality of source azimuthal angles and generate one or more resulting signals at each of the plurality of source azimuthal angles;
wherein the monopole receiver and the multipole receiver receive the one or more resulting signals rotated to a first receiver azimuthal angle of the one or more receiver azimuthal angles; and
wherein the memory stores one or more resulting amplitudes for determining the cement-bond condition.

12. The downhole tool of claim 8 , wherein one or more of the multipole receivers comprises one or more of a dipole receiver and a quadrupole receiver.

13. The downhole tool of claim 8 , wherein the source is digitally rotated.

14. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing one or more instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:
digitally rotate one or more receivers of a plurality of receivers of a downhole tool to obtain 360 degrees of coverage of a borehole at a plurality of receiver azimuthal angles;
at each rotation, receive, by the plurality of receivers, one or more signals associated with a source, wherein the plurality of receivers comprise one or more monopole receivers and one or more multipole receivers, and wherein the one or more monopole receivers receive the one or more signals as one or more monopole measurements and the one or more multipole receivers receive the one or more signals as one or more multipole measurements;
compute a weighted sum the one or more signals received at the plurality of receivers rotated to a first receiver azimuthal angle of the plurality of receiver azimuthal angles;
determine an amplitude of the weighted sum of the one or more signals at each azimuthal angle of the plurality of receiver azimuthal angles; and
determine a cement-bond condition of a casing of a borehole based, at least in part, on the amplitude.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the one or more instructions that, when executed by the processor, further cause the processor to store in a memory of the downhole tool one or more of the one or more monopole measurements and the one or more multipole measurements.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the one or more instructions that, when executed by the processor, further cause the processor to apply a pre-filter to the one or more signals to filter out an interference of a guided wave in a borehole.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the source comprises a first transmitter, a second transmitter and a third transmitter.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17 , wherein the first transmitter comprises a monopole, the second transmitter comprises a cross-dipole source and the third transmitter comprises a quadrupole source.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17 ,
wherein the one or more instructions that, when executed by the processor, further cause the processor to:
rotate the second transmitter and the third transmitter to one or more transmitter azimuthal angles to generate one or more resulting signals; and
determine a resulting amplitude of the one or more resulting signals, wherein the cement-bond co

Assignees

• Halliburton Energy Services Inc

Inventors

• Wang Ruijia
• Ge Yao
• Jin Jing
• Wu Xiang

Classifications

• E21B47/0228

  using electromagnetic energy or detectors therefor · CPC title

• E21B47/13

  by electromagnetic energy, e.g. radio frequency · CPC title

• E21B47/26

  Storing data down-hole, e.g. in a memory or on a record carrier · CPC title

• E21B47/107

  using acoustic means · CPC title

• E21B47/10

  Locating fluid leaks, intrusions or movements · CPC title