Facial Features of an Air Gun Array Wavelet in the Time-Frequency Domain Based on Marine Vertical Cables

Air gun arrays are often used in marine energy exploration and marine geological surveys.The study of the single bubble dynamics and multibubbles produced by air guns interacting with each other is helpful in understanding pressure signals.We used the van der Waals air gun model to simulate the wavelets of a sleeve gun of various offsets and arrival angles.Several factors were taken into account,such as heat transfer,the thermodynamically open quasi-static system,the vertical rise of the bubble,and air gun post throttling.Marine vertical cables are located on the seafloor,but hydrophones are located in seawater and are far away from the air gun array vertically.This situation conforms to the acquisition conditions of the air gun far-field wavelet and thus avoids the problems of ship noise,ocean surges,and coupling.High-quality 3D wavelet data of air gun arrays were collected during a vertical cable test in the South China Sea in 2017.We proposed an evaluation method of multidimensional facial features,including zeropeak amplitude,peak-peak amplitude,bubble period,primary-to-bubble ratio,frequency spectrum,instantaneous amplitude,instantaneous phase,and instantaneous frequency,to characterize the 3D air gun wave field.The match between the facial features in the field and simulated data provides confidence for the use of the van der Waals air gun model to predict air gun wavelet and facial features to evaluate air gun array.

Simulation and verifi cation of an air-gun array wavelet in time-frequency domain based on van der waals gas equation

An air gun generates acoustic signals for seismic exploration by releasing a high-pressure gas.A large error is always gradually introduced into the ideal-gas model when the pressure in the air-gun chamber exceeds 100 atm.In the van der Waals non-ideal-gas theory,the gas in the air gun can be regarded as an actual gas,and the error is less than 2%.The van der Waals model is established in combination with the quasi-static open thermodynamic system and bubble-motion equation by considering the bubble rise,bubble interaction,and throttling eff ect.The mismatch between the van der Waals and ideal-gas models is related to the pressure.Theoretically,under high-pressure conditions,the van der Waals air-gun model yields results that are closer to the measured results.Marine vertical cables are extended to the seafl oor using steel cables that connect the cement blocks,but the corresponding hydrophones are suspended in the seawater.Thus,noise associated with ships,ocean surges,and coupling problems is avoided,and the signal-to-noise ratio and resolution of marine seismic data are improved.This acquisition method satisfies the conditions of recording air-gun far-fi eld wavelets.According to an actual vertical-cable observation system,the van der Waals air-gun model is used to model the wavelet of different azimuth and take-off angles.The characteristics of the experimental and simulated data demonstrate good agreement,which indicates that the van der Waals method is accurate and reliable.The accuracy of the model is directly related to the resolution,thus aff ecting the resolution ability of the stratum.