Estimation of fracture density and orientation from azimuthal elastic impedance difference through singular value decomposition

Accurate estimation of fracture density and orientation is of great significance for seismic characterization of fractured reservoirs.Here,we propose a novel methodology to estimate fracture density and orientation from azimuthal elastic impedance(AEI)difference using singular value decomposition(SVD).Based on Hudson's model,we first derive the AEI equation containing fracture density in HTI media,and then obtain basis functions and singular values from the normalized AEI difference utilizing SVD.Analysis shows that the basis function changing with azimuth is related to fracture orientation,fracture density is the linearly weighted sum of singular values,and the first singular value contributes the most to fracture density.Thus,we develop an SVD-based fracture density and orientation inversion approach constrained by smooth prior elastic parameters.Synthetic example shows that fracture density and orientation can be stably estimated,and the correlation coefficient between the true value and the estimated fracture density is above 0.85 even when an S/N ratio of 2.Field data example shows that the estimated fracture orientation is consistent with the interpretation of image log data,and the estimated fracture density reliably indicates fractured gas-bearing reservoir,which could help to guide the exploration and development of fractured reservoirs.

Seismic fluid identification using a nonlinear elastic impedance inversion method based on a fast Markov chain Monte Carlo method

Elastic impedance inversion with high efficiency and high stability has become one of the main directions of seismic pre-stack inversion. The nonlinear elastic impedance inversion method based on a fast Markov chain Monte Carlo （MCMC） method is proposed in this paper, combining conventional MCMC method based on global optimization with a preconditioned conjugate gradient （PCG） algorithm based on local optimization, so this method does not depend strongly on the initial model. It converges to the global optimum quickly and efficiently on the condition that effi- ciency and stability of inversion are both taken into consid- eration at the same time. The test data verify the feasibility and robustness of the method, and based on this method, we extract the effective pore-fluid bulk modulus, which is applied to reservoir fluid identification and detection, and consequently, a better result has been achieved.

Nonlinear simultaneous inversion of pore structure and physical parameters based on elastic impedance

Carbonate reservoirs have complex pore structures,which not only significantly affect the elastic properties and seismic responses of the reservoirs but also affect the accuracy of the prediction of the physical parameters.The existing rockphysics inversion methods are mainly designed for clastic rocks,and the inversion objects are generally porosity and water saturation.The data used are primarily based on the elastic parameters,and the inversion methods are mainly linear approximations.To date,there has been a lack of a simultaneous pore structure and physical parameter inversion method for carbonate reservoirs.To solve these problems,a new Bayesian nonlinear simultaneous inversion method based on elastic impedance is proposed.This method integrates the differential effective medium model of multiple-porosity rocks,Gassmann equation,Amplitude Versus Offset(AVO)theory,Bayesian theory,and a nonlinear inversion algorithm to achieve the simultaneous quantitative prediction of the pore structure and physical parameters of complex porous reservoirs.The forward modeling indicates that the contribution of the pore structure,i.e.,the pore aspect ratio,to the AVO response and elastic impedance is second only to that of porosity and is far greater than that of water saturation.The application to real data shows that the new inversion method for determining the pore structure and physical parameters directly from pre-stack data can accurately predict a reservoir's porosity and water saturation and can evaluate the pore structure of the effective reservoir.

Complex spherical-wave elastic inversion using amplitude and phase reflection information

Unlike the real-valued plane wave reflection coefficient(PRC)at the pre-critical incident angles,the frequency-and depth-dependent spherical-wave reflection coefficient(SRC)is more accurate and always a complex value,which contains more reflection amplitude and phase information.In near field,the imaginary part of complex SRC(phase)cannot be ignored,but it is rarely considered in seismic inversion.To promote the practical application of spherical-wave seismic inversion,a novel spherical-wave inversion strategy is implemented.The complex-valued spherical-wave synthetic seismograms can be obtained by using a simple harmonic superposition model.It is assumed that geophone can only record the real part of complex-valued seismogram.The imaginary part can be further obtained by the Hilbert transform operator.We also propose the concept of complex spherical-wave elastic impedance(EI)and the complex spherical-wave EI equation.Finally,a novel complex spherical-wave EI inversion approach is proposed,which can fully use the reflection information of amplitude,phase,and frequency.With the inverted complex spherical-wave EI,the velocities and density can be further extracted.Synthetic data and field data examples show that the elastic parameters can be reasonably estimated,which illustrate the potential of our spherical-wave inversion approach in practical applications.

Dynamic response of bilayered saturated porous media based on fractional thermoelastic theory

Considering the thermal contact resistance and elastic wave impedance at the interface,in this paper we theoretically investigate the thermo-hydro-mechanical(THM)coupling dynamic response of bilayered saturated porous media.Fractional thermoelastic theory is applied to porous media with imperfect thermal and mechanical contact.The analytical solutions of the dynamic response of the bilayered saturated porous media are obtained in frequency domain.Furthermore,the effects of fractional derivative parameters and thermal contact resistance on the dynamic response of such media are systematically discussed.Results show that the effects of fractional derivative parameters on the dynamic response of bilayered saturated porous media are related to the thermal contact resistance at the interface.With increasing thermal contact resistance,the displacement,pore water pressure,and stress decrease gradually.