Remote-field eddy current characterization of pipes
AssigneeHalliburton Energy Services, Inc.
InventorsReza Khalaj Amineh, Luis Emilio San Martin, Burkay Donderici
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Described are various approaches for estimating the total thickness of a set of pipes from the phase of the mutual impedance between transmitter and receiver measured with an eddy-current logging tool disposed interior to the pipes, in conjunction with a simulated functional relationship between the phase and the total thickness.
Claims20
A method comprising:
- using an eddy-current logging tool disposed interior to a set of nested pipes, measuring a phase of a mutual impedance between a transmitter and a receiver of the tool for a nominal section of the pipes and for a defective section of the pipes, the nominal section having an associated nominal total thickness;
- obtaining a simulated functional relationship, computed based on a model of the set of nested pipes, between a change in the phase of the mutual impedance measurable for the pipes relative to the phase of the mutual impedance measurable for the nominal section and a change in total thickness of the pipes relative to the nominal total thickness;
- and
- computing a reduction in total thickness of the pipes in the defective section relative to the nominal total thickness based on the simulated functional relationship and a difference between values of the phase measured for the nominal and defective sections.
A system comprising:
- an eddy-current logging tool for disposal interior to a set of nested pipes, the tool comprising a transmitter, at least one receiver, and circuitry for measuring a phase of a mutual impedance between the transmitter and the at least one receiver;
- and
- a processing facility configured to compute a reduction in total thickness of the pipes in a defective section relative to a nominal total thickness of a nominal section based on (i) a difference between values of the phase of the mutual impedance measured for the nominal and defective sections, respectively, and (ii) a simulated functional relationship, computed based on a model of the set of nested pipes, between a change in the phase of the mutual impedance measurable for the pipes relative to the phase of the mutual impedance measurable for the nominal section and a change in total thickness of the pipes relative the nominal total thickness.
A tangible machine-readable medium for processing measurements, by an eddy-current logging tool disposed interior to a set of nested pipes, of a phase of a mutual impedance between a transmitter and a receiver of the tool, the tangible machine-readable medium having embodied thereon instructions that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to:
- compute a reduction in total thickness of the set of nested pipes in a defective section thereof relative to a nominal total thickness of a nominal section of the set of nested pipes based on (i) a difference between values of the phase of the mutual impedance measured for the nominal and defective sections, respectively, and (ii) a simulated functional relationship, computed based on a model of the set of nested pipes, between a change in the phase of the mutual impedance measurable for the pipes relative to the phase of the mutual impedance measurable for the nominal section and a change in total thickness of the pipes relative to the nominal total thickness.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.