Model based inversion of acoustic impedance of annulus behind casing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9829597-B2
Application number	US-201514887653-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 20, 2015
Priority date	Oct 20, 2014
Publication date	Nov 28, 2017
Grant date	Nov 28, 2017

Abstract

Techniques involve obtaining acoustic data from an acoustic logging tool, where the acoustic data includes waves reflected from the casing, the annular fill material, the formation, and/or interfaces between any of the casing, the annular fill material, and the formation. A crude casing thickness, tool position (e.g., eccentering), mud sound velocity may be estimated using the acoustic data. A specular reflection signal may also be estimated based on the acoustic data. A modeled waveform may be generated using the estimated specular reflection signal and one or more model parameters, such as an estimated crude casing thickness, an estimated tool position, an estimated sound velocity of mud between the acoustic logging tool and the casing, an estimated impedance of the annular fill material, and an estimated impedance of the mud. The modeled waveform may be calibrated in some embodiments. Furthermore, a casing thickness may be estimated by matching the modeled waveform with the corresponding measured acoustic data. The techniques may output one or more of a thickness of the casing, an apparent impedance of the annular fill material, and the impedance of mud.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of determining properties of a wellbore in a formation, the wellbore comprising a casing and an annular fill material between the casing and the formation, the method comprising:
obtaining from an acoustic logging tool, acoustic data comprising acoustic waves reflected from the casing, the annular fill material, the formation, one or more interfaces between any of the casing, the annular fill material, and the formation, or combinations thereof;
estimating a specular reflection signal based on the acoustic data;

generating a modeled waveform using the estimated specular reflection signal and one or more model parameters comprising an estimated crude casing thickness, an estimated tool position, an estimated sound velocity of mud between the acoustic logging tool and the casing, an estimated impedance of the annular fill material, and an estimated impedance of the mud;
matching the modeled waveform with the acoustic data; and
determining one or more of a thickness of the casing, an apparent impedance of the annular fill material, and the impedance of mud, based on the match of the modeled waveform with the acoustic data.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising estimating the crude casing thickness, the tool position, and the sound velocity in the mud, or combinations thereof, based on the acoustic data.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the crude casing thickness is determined based on a resonant frequency of the acoustic data.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein estimating the crude casing thickness is based on

f
res

∼

v

p
,
cas

2
⁢

⁢
casH

where f res is the resonant frequency, ν p,cas is the casing compressional wave velocity, and casH is the casing thickness.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein the estimated tool position, the estimated mud sound velocity, or both, are estimated based on a time of flight estimation based on a time envelope of an initial reflection from an inner surface of the casing.

6. The method of claim 2 , wherein the estimated tool position, the estimated mud sound velocity, or both, are estimated using a Kalman filter.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein estimating the specular reflection signal comprises:
using a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) to obtain a spectrum magnitude and phase from the acoustic data;
identifying notches in the spectrum magnitude;
removing the notches from the spectrum magnitude; and
transform the spectrum magnitude and phase back to a time domain.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the modeled waveform comprises using the estimated crude casing thickness, the estimated tool position, the estimated sound velocity in mud, and the estimated specular reflection signal.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising estimating a modeled specular reflection signal with the modeled waveform.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising calibrating the modeled waveform based on the estimated specular reflection signal and the modeled specular reflection signal.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein calibrating the modeled waveform is based on the relationship

Calibrated
⁢

⁢
model
⁢

⁢
waveform

=

FFT

-
1

⁡

(

FFT
⁡

(

Data
⁢

⁢
specular

)

FFT
⁡

(

Model
⁢

⁢
specular

)

·

FFT
⁡

(

Model
⁢

⁢
waveform

)

)

,

where Data specular is the estimated specular reflection signal, Model specular is the modeled specular reflection signal, Model waveform is the modeled waveform, and Calibrated model waveform is a calibrated modeled waveform.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein matching the modeled waveform with the acoustic data comprises selecting a time window for data fitting.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein matching the modeled waveform with the acoustic data comprises conducting a cross correlation of the modeled waveform and the acoustic data and identifying a peak of the cross correlation.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein determining the thickness of the casing based on a correlation comprises using a cross-correlation-based cost function to estimate the casing thickness based on a relationship E(casH)=P(casH)−N, where P(casH) corresponds to a location of the peak, N is a length of each of the modeled waveform and the acoustic data, and casH is the estimated casing thickness.

15. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining an apparent acoustic impedance of the annular material and an apparent acoustic impedance of mud adjacent to the acoustic logging tool in the casing.

Assignees

• Schlumberger Technology Corp

Inventors

• Zeroug Smaine
• Yang Jiaqi
• Bose Sandip

Classifications

• E21B47/0005

  Fixed Constructions · mapped topic

• G01V1/50 Primary

  Analysing data · CPC title

• E21B47/005

  Monitoring or checking of cementation quality or level · CPC title