Elastic wave scattering to characterize heterogeneities in the borehole environment

Abstract

Scattering due to small-scale heterogeneities in the rock formation surrounding a wellbore can significantly change the acoustic waveform from a logging measurement which in turn can be used to characterize the formation heterogeneities. This study simulates the elastic heterogeneity scattering in monopole and dipole acoustic logging and analyse the resulting effects on the waveforms. The results show that significant coda waves are generated in both monopole and dipole waveforms and the dipole coda is dominated by S-to-S scattering, which can be effectively utilized to diagnose the heterogeneity in the rock formation. The coda wave modelling and analysis were used to characterize dipole acoustic data logged before and after fracturing a reservoir interval, with significant coda wave in the after-fracturing data indicating fracturing-induced heterogeneous property change in the rock volume surrounding the borehole.