Well-velocity survey

From SEG Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Problem 5.14a

Figure 5.14a shows data from a well-velocity survey tabulated on a standard calculation form. Calculate the average velocity and interval velocity, and plot graphs of time, average velocity, and interval velocity versus depth using a sea-level datum.

Solution

Figure 5.14a shows only the measured data on a standard form whereas Figure 5.14b shows also calculated values. The successive columns in this form list

1 - Record number

2 - Source (shothole) location

3 - , geophone depth with respect to well datum

4 - , depth of source

5 - , uphole time

6 -, arrival time at reference geophone

7 - , arrival time at well geophone plus polarity and quality grades

8 - , geophone depth with respect to source elevation;

9 - , horizontal distance of source from wellhead

10,11 - tangent, cosine of angle between straight raypath and vertical;

12 - , vertical traveltime from source to geophone

13 - , source to datum elevation difference: ; a minus sign means that the shot was above datum

14 - time correction for

15 - , vertical traveltime from datum to geophone

17 - , depth of geophone below datum

18 - , depth difference between successive geophone depths

19 - , time difference between successive geophone arrivals

20 - , interval velocity

21 - , vertical traveltime from source to geophone

Figure 5.14a.  Data from a well-velocity survey.
Figure 5.14b.  Velocity calculations for data in Figure 5.14a.
Figure 5.14c.  Results of well velocity survey.

Depths below the datum are positive. The velocity used to correct is (also obtainable from ). Note that the column headed is in milliseconds whereas all other times are in seconds. Column #16 headed average is not used.

Figure 5.14c shows average velocity, interval velocity, and time plotted against depth.

Problem 5.14b

How much error in average velocity and interval velocity values would result from (i) time-measurement errors of 1 ms, and (ii) depth-measurement errors of 1 m?

Solution

  1. A 1-ms time error produces an error in the average velocity of 0.1% to 1.5% and an error in the interval velocity of 1.5% to 8.3%.
  2. A depth error of 1 m produces an error in the average velocity of 0.03% to 0.9% and an error in the interval velocity of 0.5% to 1.5%.
Table 5.14a. Data for least-squares calculation of and .
236 2200 255 1970 5400 65
441 2400 155 2038 3700 70
551 2600 65 2118 3900 90
661 2500 155 2228 6500 130
820 3100 165 2360 4000 135
973 2700 140 2506 4400 155
1101 3600 115 2643 4300 120
1203 2400 90 2783 4100 160
1350 4800 205 2928 4500 130
1508 4200 110 3043 4800 100
1603 2200 80 3145 5200 105
1730 7600 175 3243 6000 90
1878 5000 120

Problem 5.14c

Determine and for a velocity-function fit to the data in (a) assuming the functional form , where is the interval velocity and the depth.

Solution

We can find and by (i) plotting the data and measuring the slope and intercept of the best-fit straight line, or (ii) using the least-squares method (see problem 9.33). The former method is difficult because of the large, irregularly spaced jumps in the curve, and therefore we shall use the latter method. We take as the depth in meters below datum to the center of each interval and give each data pair the weight (see problem 9.33b) . Using the data in Table 5.14a, we get , as shown in Figure 5.14c.

Continue reading

Previous section Next section
Quick-look velocity analysis and effects of errors Interval velocities
Previous chapter Next chapter
Geometry of seismic waves Characteristics of seismic events

Table of Contents (book)

Also in this chapter

External links

find literature about
Well-velocity survey
SEG button search.png Datapages button.png GeoScienceWorld button.png OnePetro button.png Schlumberger button.png Google button.png AGI button.png