Evaluation of rock boundaries and acoustic velocities using drill bit sound during vertical drilling
AssigneeSaudi Arabian Oil Company
InventorsMaher I. Almarhoon, Yunlai Yang
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Implementations provide identification of rock boundaries and evaluation of rock interval velocities in subterranean zones. Actions can include receiving acoustic signals associated with sounds produced by a well tool implemented to perform a well operation by contacting a portion of a subterranean zone, the acoustic signals being composed of source acoustic signals and reflected acoustic signals produced in response to the source acoustic signals, processing the acoustic signals to determine the source acoustic signals and the reflected acoustic signals and determining properties of the subterranean zone based on the source acoustic signals and the reflected acoustic signals.
Claims19
A method comprising:
- receiving an acoustic signal associated with a sound produced by a well tool implemented to perform a well operation by contacting a portion of a subterranean zone, the acoustic signal encoding a source acoustic signal and a reflected acoustic signal, the reflected acoustic signal produced in response to the source acoustic signal;
- processing the acoustic signal to determine the source acoustic signal and the reflected acoustic signal;
- and
- determining properties of the subterranean zone based on a correspondence between the source acoustic signal and the reflected acoustic signal.
A system for identifying properties of the subterranean zone in real-time during drilling, the system comprising one or more computer systems and a computer-readable medium storing instructions executable by the one or more computer systems to perform operations comprising:
- receiving an acoustic signal associated with a sound produced by a well tool implemented to perform a well operation by contacting a portion of a subterranean zone, the acoustic signal encoding a source acoustic signal and a reflected acoustic signal, the reflected acoustic signal being produced in response to the source acoustic signal;
- processing the acoustic signal to determine the source acoustic signal and the reflected acoustic signal;
- and
- determining properties of the subterranean zone based on a correspondence between the source acoustic signal and the reflected acoustic signal.
A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions executable by one or more computer systems to perform operations comprising:
- receiving an acoustic signal associated with a sound produced by a well tool implemented to perform a well operation by contacting a portion of a subterranean zone, the acoustic signal encoding a source acoustic signal and a reflected acoustic signal, the reflected acoustic signal being produced in response to the source acoustic signal;
- processing the acoustic signal to determine the source acoustic signal and the reflected acoustic signal;
- and
- determining properties of the subterranean zone based on a correspondence between the source acoustic signal and the reflected acoustic signal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.