Deep azimuthal inspection of wellbore pipes

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016160629-A1
Application number	US-201514888753-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 25, 2015
Priority date	Jul 11, 2014
Publication date	Jun 9, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Methods including conveying a pipe inspection tool into a wellbore having at least a first pipe positioned within a second pipe, the pipe inspection tool including an electromagnetic sensor. A first excitation signal is transmitted from a first x-coil of the electromagnetic sensor, and a first response signal derived from the first excitation signal is received at the first x-coil or a second x-coil of the electromagnetic sensor. A second excitation signal is then transmitted from a first y-coil of the electromagnetic sensor, and a second response signal derived from the second excitation signal is received at the first y-coil or a second y-coil of the electromagnetic sensor. The first and second response signals are then compared to determine an azimuthal characteristic of the second pipe.

First claim

1 . A method, comprising:
conveying a pipe inspection tool into a wellbore having at least a first pipe positioned within a second pipe, the pipe inspection tool including an electromagnetic sensor having one or more x-, y-, or z-coils; transmitting at least one excitation signal from the one or more x-, y-, or z-coils of the electromagnetic sensor; receiving and measuring a first response signal derived from the first excitation signal at an x-coil of the electromagnetic sensor; receiving and measuring a second response signal derived from the first excitation signal at a y-coil; and processing the first and second response signals to determine at least one azimuthal characteristic of the second pipe.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
transmitting the at least one excitation signal as a first excitation signal from a first x-coil of the electromagnetic sensor; receiving and measuring the first response signal at the first x-coil or a second x-coil of the electromagnetic sensor; transmitting a second excitation signal from a first y-coil of the electromagnetic sensor; and receiving and measuring a third response signal derived from the second excitation signal at the first y-coil or a second y-coil of the electromagnetic sensor.

3 . The method of claim 2 , further comprising transmitting the first and second excitation signals at the same frequency.

4 . The method of claim 2 , further comprising transmitting the first and second excitation signals as a rectangular pulse signal or a sinusoidal pulse signal.

5 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the first x-coil and the first y-coil comprise a first antenna and the second x-coil and the second y-coil comprise a second antenna, and wherein the first and second antennas are collocated.

6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
transmitting the at least one excitation signal from at least one of a first x-coil, a first y-coil, and a z-coil, each of the electromagnetic sensor; receiving and measuring the first response signal by at least one of the first x-coil, the first y-coil, a second x-coil of the electromagnetic sensor, and a second y-coil of the electromagnetic sensor; and processing the first response signal to determine the at least one azimuthal characteristic of the second pipe.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein transmitting the at least one excitation signal comprises transmitting at least two excitation signals, the method further comprising transmitting the at least two excitation signals at the same frequency.

8 . The method of claim 7 , further comprising transmitting the at least two excitation signals as a rectangular pulse signal or a sinusoidal pulse signal.

9 . The method of claim 6 , wherein processing the response signal comprises:
comparing the response signal to modeled signals from a computer model, the computer model being created as a function of one or more characteristics of the second pipe; undertaking a numerical inversion of the response signal in view of the modeled signals; and selecting the azimuthal characteristic based on a pipe characteristic of the one or more characteristics of the second pipe that produces a smallest difference between the modeled signals and the response signal.

10 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the first x-coil, the first y-coil, and the z-coil comprise a first antenna and the second x-coil and the second y-coil comprise a second antenna, and wherein the first and second antennas are collocated.

11 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
transmitting the at least one excitation signal as a first excitation signal from each of a first x-coil, a first y-coil, and a first z-coil, each of the electromagnetic sensor; receiving and measuring the first response signal derived from the first excitation signals by at least one of a second x-coil and a second y-coil, each of the electromagnetic sensor; transmitting a second excitation signal from one of a third x-coil, a third y-coil, and a second z-coil, each of the electromagnetic sensor; receiving and measuring a third response signal derived from the second excitation signal by at least one of a fourth x-coil and a fourth y-coil, each of the electromagnetic sensor; and processing the first and third response signals to determine azimuthal characteristics of the first and second pipes.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the first x-coil, the first y-coil, and the first z-coil comprise a first antenna, the second x-coil and the second y-coil comprise a second antenna, the third x-coil, the third y-coil, and the second z-coil x coil comprise a third antenna, and the fourth x-coil and the fourth y-coil comprise a fourth antenna, and wherein an axial separation distance between the third and fourth antennas is greater than an axial separation distance between the first and second antennas.

13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the first and second antennas are collocated and the third and fourth antennas are collocated.

14 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising transmitting the first and second excitation signals at the same frequency.

15 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising transmitting the first and second excitation signals as a rectangular pulse signal or a sinusoidal pulse signal.

16 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
transmitting the at least one excitation signal from a z-coil of the electromagnetic sensor; receiving and measuring the first response signal derived from the at least one excitation signal by at least one of an x-coil and a y-coil, each of the electromagnetic sensor; calculating a defect angle based on the response signal received by the at least one of the x-coil and the y-coil; and plotting the defect angle as a log.

17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the x-coil, the y-coil, and the z-coil are collocated.

18 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the x-coil, the y-coil, and the z-coil are staggered.

19 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
transmitting the at least one excitation signal from one of a first x-coil, a first y-coil, or a first z-coil, each of the electromagnetic sensor; receiving and measuring the first response signal derived from the at least one excitation signal by at least one of the first x-coil, the first y-coil, a second x-coil of the electromagnetic sensor, and a second y-coil of the electromagnetic sensor; synthesizing the first response signals to an antenna oriented at a selected azimuth angle with respect to the wellbore and thereby obtaining synthesized response signals; and generating a two-dimensional (2D) image of the synthesized response signals by looping over a set of azimuth angles, where a first dimension of the 2D image represents axial position along the wellbore and a second dimension of the 2D image represents azimuth angle.

20 . The method of claim 19 , wherein synthesizing the response signals comprises:
synthesizing the response signals that correspond to different rotation angles of the pipe inspection tool; and calculating the synthesized response signals as a function of azimuth angle and depth within the wellbore.

21 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
transmitting the at least one excitation signal from one of a first x-coil, a first y-coil, or a first z-coil, each of the electromagnetic sensor; receiving and measuring the first response signal derived from the at least one excitation signal by at least one of the first x-coil, the first y-

Assignees

• Haliliburton Energy Services Iinc
• Halliburton Energy Services Inc

Inventors

• Donderici Burkay
• Sanmartin Luis
• Khalaj Amineh Reza

Classifications

• G01N27/9046

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