Fast Formation Dip Angle Estimation Systems And Methods
Abstract:
Tools , systems and methods for fast formation dip angle estimation ,at least some of which include a logging tool that includes at least one transmit antenna , at least one receive antenna and a controller. The controller measures coupling parameters between the transmit and receive antennas , with at least one of the coupling parameters being measured as a function of depth and azimuthal angle. The controller further determines if a surrounding formation is anisotropic and heterogeneous based at least in part on at least one of the coupling parameters , and if so ,derives a dip angle from a partial derivative with respect to depth and artificial dip angle of the coupling parameter(s).
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Notices, Deadlines & Correspondence
FAST FORMATION DIP ANGLE ESTIMATION SYSTEMS AND METHODS
BACKGROUND
Modern petroleum drilling and production operations demand a great quantity of
information relating to the parameters and conditions downhole. Such information typically
includes the location and orientation of the borehole and drilling assembly, earth formation
properties, and parameters of the downhole drilling environment. The collection of
information relating to formation properties and downhole conditions is commonly referred
to as "logging", and can be performed during the drilling process itself (hence the term
"logging while drilling" or "LWD," frequently used interchangeably with the term
"measurement while drilling" or "MWD").
Various measurement tools exist for use in LWD. One such tool is the resistivity tool,
which includes one or more antennas for transmitting an electromagnetic signal into the
formation and one or more antennas for receiving a formation response. When operated at
low frequencies, the resistivity tool may be called an "induction" tool, and at high frequencies
it may be called an electromagnetic wave propagation tool. Though the physical phenomena
that dominate the measurement may vary with frequency, the operating principles for the tool
are consistent. In some cases, the amplitude and/or the phase of the receive signals are
compared to the amplitude and/or phase of the transmit signals to measure the formation
resistivity. In other cases, the amplitude and/or phase of multiple receive signals are
compared to each other to measure the formation resistivity.
When plotted as a function of depth or tool position in the borehole, the logging tool
measurements are termed "logs." Such logs may provide indications of hydrocarbon
concentrations and other information useful to drillers and completion engineers. In
particular, azimuthally-sensitive logs may provide information useful for steering the drilling
assembly because they can inform the driller of the bit's direction relative to the orientation of
the current bed and nearby bed boundaries, thereby enabling modifications to the drilling
program that will provide much more value and higher success than would be the case using
only seismic data. However, such information is of limited utility if it cannot be made available
to the driller in an expeditious fashion.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
A better understanding of the various disclosed embodiments can be obtained when
the following detailed description is considered in conjunction with the attached drawings, in
which:
FIG. 1 shows an illustrative logging while drilling (LWD) environment.
FIG. 2 shows an illustrative LWD tool mounted along a drillstring.
FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of two logging tool modules and a surface system.
FIG. 4 shows an illustrative method for fast formation dip angle estimation.
It should be understood that the drawings and corresponding detailed description do
not limit the disclosure, but on the contrary, they provide the foundation for understanding all
modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the scope of the appended claims.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
The paragraphs that follow describe illustrative apparatuses, systems and methods for
fast formation dip angle estimation. An illustrative drilling environment suitable for using
such apparatuses, systems and methods is first described, followed by a description of an
illustrative drillstring with a logging while drilling (LWD) tool. The positional relationships
between antennas housed within the LWD tool modules are also described and expressed
mathematically, as are the effects of these relationships on received signals propagated
through the surrounding formation. Several illustrative fast formation dip angle calculations
are then described, as well as formulas that produce parameters indicative of the applicability
of the fast formation dip angle calculations. The calculations and formulas are presented with
the context of an illustrative system and a software-based method implemented by the system
that perform the described calculations together with a decision tree that operates to decide
which calculations are used to estimate the formation dip angle.
The disclosed apparatuses, systems and methods are best understood in the context of
the larger systems in which they operate. Accordingly, FIG. 1 shows an illustrative LWD
environment. A drilling platform 2 supports a derrick 4 having a traveling block 6 for raising
and lowering a drill string 8. A top drive 10 supports and rotates the drill string 8 as it is
lowered through the wellhead 12. A drill bit 14 is driven by a downhole motor and/or rotation
of the drill string 8. As bit 14 rotates, it creates a borehole 16 that passes through various
formations. A pump 18 circulates drilling fluid 20 through a feed pipe 22, through the interior
of the drill string 8 to drill bit 14. The fluid exits through orifices in the drill bit 14 and flows
upward through the annulus around the drill string 8 to transport drill cuttings to the surface,
where the fluid is filtered and recirculated.
The drill bit 14 is just one piece of a bottom-hole assembly 24 that includes a mud
motor and one or more "drill collars" (thick-walled steel pipe) that provide weight and
rigidity to aid the drilling process. Some of these drill collars include built-in logging
instruments to gather measurements of various drilling parameters such as location,
orientation, weight-on-bit, borehole diameter, etc. The tool orientation may be specified in
terms of a tool face angle (rotational orientation), an inclination angle (the slope), and
compass direction, each of which can be derived from measurements by magnetometers,
inclinometers, and/or accelerometers, though other sensor types such as gyroscopes may
alternatively be used. In one specific embodiment, the tool includes a 3-axis fluxgate
magnetometer and a 3-axis accelerometer. As is known in the art, the combination of those
two sensor systems enables the measurement of the tool face angle, inclination angle, and
compass direction. Such orientation measurements can be combined with gyroscopic or
inertial measurements to accurately track tool position.
Also included in bottom-hole assembly 24 is a telemetry sub that maintains a
communications link with the surface. Mud pulse telemetry is one common telemetry
technique for transferring tool measurements to surface receivers and receiving commands
from the surface, but other telemetry techniques can also be used. For some techniques (e.g.,
through-wall acoustic signaling) the drill string 8 includes one or more repeaters 30 to detect,
amplify, and re-transmit the signal. At the surface, transducers 28 convert signals between
mechanical and electrical form, enabling a network interface module 36 to receive the uplink
signal from the telemetry sub and (at least in some embodiments) transmit a downlink signal
to the telemetry sub. A data processing system 50 receives a digital telemetry signal,
demodulates the signal, and displays the tool data or well logs to a user. Software
(represented in FIG. 1 as non-transitory information storage media 52) governs the operation
of system 50. A user interacts with system 50 and its software 52 via one or more input
devices 54 and 55 and one or more output devices 56. In some system embodiments, a driller
employs the system to make geosteering decisions and communicate appropriate commands
to the bottom-hole assembly 24.
The bottom-hole assembly 24 may still further include a steering mechanism which
the driller can employ to change the borehole's trajectory in response to their analysis of the
logging measurements. Illustrative steering mechanisms include controllable fins, drilling
plows, or bent subs. A rotary steerable system (RSS) may be coupled to such steering
mechanisms to enable geosteering even as the drillstring continues rotating.
One formation parameter of interest to drillers making geosteering decisions is the
true dip of a formation. As is well known in the art, the dip is the steepest angle of descent of
a tilted bed or other formation feature relative to a horizontal plane. True dip is the dip
measured perpendicular to the formation's strike line (i.e., a line marking the intersection of
the bed or feature with a horizontal plane). (It can also be expressed as the angle between the
vertical axis and a vector normal to the formation bedding plane.) A related parameter is the
relative dip, which is the angle measured between the borehole axis and the vector normal to
the formation bedding plane. For example, the driller may measure the relative dip of the
formation and employ that information to maintain the borehole trajectory within the
formation bed as much as possible (relative dip angle near 90°) or to exit the bed as
expeditiously as possible (relative dip angle near 0° or 180°).
As shown in more detail below, true and/or relative dip can be estimated based on
multi-component/tri-axial resistivity measurements. In at least some illustrative
embodiments, such measurements are obtained using LWD tools that incorporate tri-axial
transmit and receive coils and/or azimuthally sensitive transmit and receive antennas that
transmit and receive signals that can be decomposed into and modeled as orthogonal
components. In general, coupling between the transmit and receive antennas of such LWD
tools can be expressed as a tensor of the form:
wherein each component T Rj represents a theoretical signal at a receive antenna with a -axis
orientation (x, y or z) in response to a signal from a transmit antenna with an -axis orientation
(also x,y z).
In at least some illustrative embodiments, the above-described x, y and z orientations
are defined by coordinate system axes that are aligned with the axis of the drillstring and with
other formation features (e.g., the strike and dip of the formation). FIG. 2 shows a drillstring
with an illustrative LWD tool together with coordinate systems corresponding to each of the
transmit and receive antennas. The LWD tool includes two modules 202 and 206 separated
by a rotary steering system 204 and coupled to a drill bit 208. LWD module 202 includes a
receive antenna 212 and LWD module 206 includes a transmit antenna 216, although either
module may either a transmit or a receive antenna, as well as any number of additional
transmit and/or receive antennas. The z-axis of the right-handed coordinate system of FIG. 2
is aligned with the drillstring axis with x and y axes as shown. It should be noted that
although it is possible for receive antenna 212 and transmit antenna 216 to become
misaligned with respect to each other because of twisting of the drillstring or positional and
orientation changes deliberately introduced by a rotary steering system 204, such
misalignments can be corrected using known matrix rotations that mathematically re-align
the two antenna coordinate systems and adjust the tensor components appropriately. Thus, the
systems and methods described herein may also be used with multi-module LWD tools even
in the presence of such misalignment.
As the drillstring and LWD tool modules rotate, a rotational or azimuthal angle f
describes the orientation of the antennas within a plane defined by the x and y axes, as
illustrated by the azimuthal angle graph of FIG. 2. To facilitate acquisition and processing of
the measured receive antenna data, in at least some illustrative embodiments the borehole is
divided into azimuthal bins (i.e., rotational angle ranges). In the azimuthal angle graph of
FIG. 2, the circumference has been divided into eight bins numbered 242 through 256,
though larger or smaller numbers of bins may be employed. As the rotating tool gathers
azimuthally sensitive measurements, the measurements can be associated with one of these
bins and with a depth value. Typically LWD tools rotate much faster than they progress along
the borehole, so that each bin at a given depth can be associated with a large number of
measurements. Within each bin at a given depth, these measurements can be combined (e.g.,
averaged) to improve their reliability.
For dipping heterogeneous formations (e.g., a dipping formation near a bed boundary)
wherein the z-axis represents the LWD tool axis along a drillstring, it is known that if the
j-axis of the tool coordinate system is parallel to the formation's strike line, cross-coupling
between x-y and y-z transmitter/receiver pairs is negligible. This situation is represented by
the tensor of equation (2),
T = 0 TyRy 0 (2)
0 TZ Z
which provides a basis for determining the dip angle as described in more detail below.
It should be noted that because the TyRy component for a tool at an azimuthal angle of
0° is equal to the TXR X component for a tool at 90° at a given borehole depth z, equation (2)
may be alternatively expressed as equation (3):
The coupling tensor may thus be expressed in terms of measurements by the tool antennas
providing only x and z measurements, reducing the number of antennas needed to identify the
tensor components. Nonetheless, for simplicity the equations below refer to the center tensor
component as TyRy , with all components values corresponding to an azimuthal angle f equal
to zero.
The coupling tensor can be evaluated for all azimuthal orientations of the tool to find
the orientation at which the tensor form most closely approximates equation (2). (Hereafter,
this tensor is termed the "strike-aligned" tensor.) Alternatively, the dip azimuth can be
calculated from an arbitrarily-oriented tensor as:
and the tensor rotated by that angle to achieve a form that approximates equation (2).
In at least some illustrative embodiments, once a strike-aligned tensor has been
identified, a rotation operation over a range of artificial dip angles a is performed about the
j-axis to produce rotated tensor TR, as expressed in equation (5):
s oc 0 —sin oc TxRx 0 TX RZ cos oc 0 —sin oc
0 1 0 TyyRRy 0 0 1 0 (5)
sin oc 0 cos oc TZ . 0
Z Z
sin oc 0 cos oc
Because rotated tensor is computed for a sweep of artificial dip angles a between 0° and
180° for all logged depths z , the rotated tensor components are each a function of both a and
z , except for TyRy which is only a function of z since the rotation is performed about the
j-axis. Rotated tensor may thus alternatively be expressed as shown in equation (6):
Tx Rx x , z 0 Tx Rz x , z
0 TyRy z ) 0 (6)
L¾(oc,z) 0 Tz Rz