A pseudospectral method for the simulation of 3-D ultrasonic and seismic waves in heterogeneous poroelastic borehole environments

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Serval ID
serval:BIB_2581D79D48CA
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
A pseudospectral method for the simulation of 3-D ultrasonic and seismic waves in heterogeneous poroelastic borehole environments
Journal
Geophysical Journal International
Author(s)
Sidler R., Carcione J.M., Holliger K.
ISSN
0956-540X
ISSN-L
1365-246X
Publication state
Published
Issued date
2014
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
196
Number
2
Pages
1134-1151
Language
english
Abstract
We present a novel approach for the comprehensive, flexible and accurate simulation of poroelastic wave propagation in 3-D cylindrical coordinates. An important application of this method is the realistic modelling of complex seismic wave phenomena in fluid-filled boreholes, which represents a major, as of yet largely unresolved, problem in exploration geophysics. To this end, we consider a numerical mesh consisting of three concentric domains representing the borehole fluid in the centre followed by the mudcake and/or casing, and the surrounding porous formation. The spatial discretization is based on a Chebyshev expansion in the radial direction and Fourier expansions in the vertical and azimuthal directions as well as a Runge–Kutta integration scheme for the time evolution. Trigonometric interpolation and a domain decomposition method based on the method of characteristics are used to match the boundary conditions at the fluid/porous-solid and porous-solid/porous-solid interfaces as well as to reduce the number of gridpoints in the innermost domain for computational efficiency. We apply this novel modelling approach to the particularly challenging scenario of near-surface borehole environments. To this end, we compare 3-D heterogeneous and corresponding rotationally invariant simulations, assess the sensitivity of Stoneley waves to formation permeability in the presence of a casing and evaluate the effects of an excavation damage zone behind a casing on sonic log recordings. Our results indicate that only first arrival times of fast modes are reasonably well described by rotationally invariant approximations of 3-D heterogenous media. We also find that Stoneley waves are indeed remarkably sensitive to the average permeability behind a perforated PVC casing, and that the presence of an excavation damage zone behind a casing tends to dominate the overall signature of recorded seismograms.
Keywords
Numerical solutions, Interface waves, Seismic attenuation, Computational seismology, Wave scattering and diffraction, Wave propagation
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Publisher's website
Open Access
Yes
Create date
16/07/2018 14:45
Last modification date
14/02/2022 7:54
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