Generating a complete borehole image using transformation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2026099894-A1
Application number	US-202519416062-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 11, 2025
Priority date	Jul 30, 2021
Publication date	Apr 9, 2026
Grant date	—

Abstract

A system can receive downhole acquisition data relating to a wellbore. The system can pre-process the downhole acquisition data. The system can generate an incomplete borehole image using the downhole acquisition data. The system can determine a sparse representation based on the incomplete borehole image by performing an optimization with respect to the incomplete borehole image. The system can generate a complete borehole image based on an inverse of the sparse representation.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A system comprising:
a processor; and a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that are executable by the processor to cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
processing downhole acquisition data relating to a wellbore by replicating data from at least two azimuthally oriented positions to represent a 2D-image that resembles the wellbore;
generating a first borehole image using the downhole acquisition data, at least a first portion of first known data of the first borehole image corresponding to at least a second portion of second known data of the first borehole image, wherein the first known data are at a first position of the first borehole image and the second known data are at a second position of the first borehole image;
determining a sparse representation based on the first borehole image; and
generating a second borehole image based on an inverse of the sparse representation.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise using the second borehole image to control a treatment operation with respect to the wellbore.

3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the operation of generating the first borehole image using the downhole acquisition data includes generating a plot that is a plot of depth versus azimuth, and wherein the first borehole image includes unknown data interspersed between known data.

4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the operation of determining a sparse representation based on the first borehole image comprises determining the sparse representation via a transformation.

5 . The system of claim 4 , wherein the transformation includes a one-dimensional discrete cosine transformation, a two-dimensional discrete cosine transformation, or a two-dimensional discrete Fourier transformation.

6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the first borehole image is an incomplete borehole image, wherein the operation of generating the second borehole image comprises generating a complete borehole image by applying an inverse transformation to the sparse representation based on the incomplete borehole image.

7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the operation of determining the sparse representation based on the first borehole image comprises minimizing the sparse representation of the first borehole image in an L p space subject to one or more constraints.

8 . A method comprising:
processing downhole acquisition data relating to a wellbore by replicating data from at least two azimuthally oriented positions to represent a 2D-image that resembles the wellbore; generating a first borehole image using the downhole acquisition data, at least a first portion of first known data of the first borehole image corresponding to at least a second portion of second known data of the first borehole image, wherein the first known data are at a first position of the first borehole image and the second known data are at a second position of the first borehole image; determining a sparse representation based on the first borehole image; and generating a second borehole image based on an inverse of the sparse representation.

9 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising using the second borehole image to control a treatment operation with respect to the wellbore.

10 . The method of claim 8 , wherein generating the first borehole image using the downhole acquisition data comprises generating a plot that is a plot of depth versus azimuth, and wherein the first borehole image includes unknown data interspersed between known data.

11 . The method of claim 8 , wherein determining a sparse representation based on the first borehole image comprises determining the sparse representation via a transformation.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the transformation includes a one-dimensional discrete cosine transformation, a two-dimensional discrete cosine transformation, or a two-dimensional discrete Fourier transformation.

13 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the first borehole image is an incomplete borehole image, wherein generating the second borehole image comprises generating a complete borehole image by applying an inverse transformation to the sparse representation based on the incomplete borehole image.

14 . The method of claim 8 , wherein determining the sparse representation based on the first borehole image comprises minimizing the sparse representation of the first borehole image in an L p space subject to one or more constraints.

15 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that are executable by a processing device for causing the processing device to perform operations comprising:
processing downhole acquisition data relating to a wellbore by replicating data from at least two azimuthally oriented positions to represent a 2D-image that resembles the wellbore; generating a first borehole image using the downhole acquisition data, at least a first portion of first known data of the first borehole image corresponding to at least a second portion of second known data of the first borehole image, wherein the first known data are at a first position of the first borehole image and the second known data are at a second position of the first borehole image; determining a sparse representation based on the first borehole image; and generating a second borehole image based on an inverse of the sparse representation.

16 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the operations further comprise using the second borehole image to control a treatment operation with respect to the wellbore.

17 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the operation of generating the first borehole image using the downhole acquisition data includes generating a plot that is a plot of depth versus azimuth, and wherein the first borehole image includes unknown data interspersed between known data.

18 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the operation of determining a sparse representation based on the first borehole image comprises determining the sparse representation via a transformation, and wherein the transformation includes a one-dimensional discrete cosine transformation, a two-dimensional discrete cosine transformation, or a two-dimensional discrete Fourier transformation.

19 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the first borehole image is an incomplete borehole image, wherein the operation of generating the second borehole image comprises generating a complete borehole image by applying an inverse transformation to the sparse representation based on the incomplete borehole image.

20 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the operation of determining the sparse representation based on the first borehole image comprises minimizing the sparse representation of the first borehole image in an L p space subject to one or more constraints.

Assignees

• Halliburton Energy Services Inc

Inventors

• Ma Ho Yin
• Tu Ning
• Wu Xiang

Classifications

• G06T11/26

  Drawing of charts or graphs · CPC title

• G06T3/04

  Context-preserving transformations, e.g. by using an importance map (panospheric to cylindrical image transformations G06T3/12) · CPC title

• G06T11/00

  Two-dimensional [2D] image generation · CPC title

• E21B47/0025 Primary

  generating an image of the borehole wall using down-hole measurements, e.g. acoustic or electric · CPC title

• G06T2207/30184

  Infrastructure · CPC title