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Joint inversion method of formation shear-wave anisotropy from logging-while-drilling acoustic data

  • Borehole Geophysics and Rock Properties
  • Published:
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Abstract

Most sedimentary formations with fine layers can be characterized as transversely isotropic media. The evaluation of shear-wave anisotropy is critical in logging-while-drilling (LWD) applications. We developed a joint method to simultaneously invert formation shear-wave anisotropy and vertical shear velocity using LWD monopole and dipole dispersion data. Theoretical analysis demonstrates that formation shear-wave anisotropy significantly affects the dispersion characteristics of Stoneley and formation flexural waves. The inversion objective function was constructed based on the change in dispersion characteristics and was weighted by the spectra of multipole waves. Numerical results using synthetic examples demonstrate that the joint inversion method can not only alleviate the non-uniqueness problem but also help improve the accuracy of the inversion results. The comparison of different signal-to-noise ratio inversion results proved that the weighted inversion method is more accurate and stable.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank the reviewers for their comments and suggestions that helped to improve the manuscript. This study is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 12174421) and the Hubei Key Laboratory of Advanced Aerospace Propulsion Technology (Grant No. KFJJ2020-02).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Acoustics, State Key Laboratory of Acoustics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Bei**g, 100190, China

    Jia-Cheng Li, **ao He & Jiang Can

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Bei**g, 100049, China

    Jia-Cheng Li & **ao He

  3. Bei**g Engineering Research Center of Sea Deep Drilling and Exploration, Institute of Acoustics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Bei**g, 100190, China

    Jia-Cheng Li, **ao He & Jiang Can

Authors
  1. Jia-Cheng Li
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  2. **ao He
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  3. Jiang Can
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to **ao He.

Additional information

Li Jia-Cheng is a postgraduate student majoring in Geodetection and Information Technology at the Institute of Acoustics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He received his B.E. in Exploration Technology and Engineering from the China University of Petroleum (East China) in June 2020. His main research interests are acoustic logging and imaging.

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Li, JC., He, X. & Can, J. Joint inversion method of formation shear-wave anisotropy from logging-while-drilling acoustic data. Appl. Geophys. 19, 503–512 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11770-022-0947-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11770-022-0947-1

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