US-12625292-B2 - Slim sonic logging tool with multiple modules for borehole resonance mode and pitch-catch measurement

US12625292B2US 12625292 B2US12625292 B2US 12625292B2US-12625292-B2

Abstract

The invention relates to a slim sonic logging tool with multiple modules for borehole resonance mode and pitch-catch measurement, comprising a cylindrical housing, a monopole transmitter, a pair of cross-dipole transmitters and a ring of receivers disposed between the monopole transmitter and the pair of cross-dipole transmitters within the cylindrical housing, the ring of receivers, being axially around a circumference of the first cylindrical housing.

Inventors

Chung Chang
Gary Wayne KAINER
Jing Jin
Ruijia Wang
Xiang Wu
Keith BELLMAN

Assignees

HALLIBURTON ENERGY SERVICES, INC.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20220624

Claims (20)

1 . A borehole acoustic logging tool, comprising: a resonance mode measurement module including: a first cylindrical housing including a longitudinal axis; a first monopole transmitter disposed within the first cylindrical housing; a pair of cross-dipole transmitters disposed within the first cylindrical housing; and at least one ring of receivers disposed between the first monopole transmitter and at least one cross-dipole transmitter of the pair of cross-dipole transmitters within the first cylindrical housing, the ring of receivers being azimuthally arranged around a circumference of the first cylindrical housing, and the receivers, the first monopole transmitter and the pair of cross-dipole transmitters are placed to ensure a quasi-vertical resolution with respect to the logging tool.
2 . The borehole acoustic logging tool of claim 1 , further comprising: a pitch-catch measurement module including: a second cylindrical housing including the longitudinal axis; a second monopole transmitter disposed within the second cylindrical housing; and a receiver array including a plurality of receivers disposed within the second cylindrical housing, each receiver of the plurality of receivers being positioned at a different distance from the second monopole transmitter; a motor to rotate the resonance mode measurement module relative to the pitch-catch measurement module; a synchronization link between the motor and the resonance mode measurement module; and one or more processors that use the synchronization link to control the motor and track an angular position of an axis of the motor to synchronize firing of the first monopole transmitter of the resonance mode measurement module with capture by the receiver array of the pitch-catch measurement module to receive acoustic logging data at the receiver array at a selected angular sampling rate.
3 . The borehole acoustic logging tool of claim 2 , wherein the synchronization link comprises one or more wires passing from the motor to pitch-catch measurement module through a slip ring.
4 . The borehole acoustic logging tool of claim 2 , wherein the first monopole transmitter of the resonance mode measurement module is operable to excite borehole guided waves including at least one of flexural waves for wireline (WL) logging, screw waves for logging while drilling (LWD) logging, and leaky-P waves for logging a soft formation, and wherein the receiver array is operable to capture the borehole guided waves to measure acoustic properties of a formation.
5 . The borehole acoustic logging tool of claim 2 , wherein the second monopole transmitter is angled with respect to the longitudinal axis within a range of about 15 degrees to about 45 degrees.
6 . The borehole acoustic logging tool of claim 2 , wherein the second monopole transmitter has a bandwidth between about 1 kHz and 150 kHz.
7 . The borehole acoustic logging tool of claim 2 , wherein the receiver array includes twenty-three unipolar receivers spaced one inch apart along the longitudinal axis.
8 . The borehole acoustic logging tool of claim 2 , further comprising at least one acoustic isolator positioned between the second monopole transmitter and a first receiver of the receiver array.
9 . The borehole acoustic logging tool of claim 2 , further comprising a plurality of acoustic isolators having an L-shaped cross-section, each acoustic isolator isolating a respective one of the plurality of receivers from the second monopole transmitter.
10 . The borehole acoustic logging tool of claim 2 , further comprising an acoustic collimator that wraps around at least a portion of the second monopole transmitter, the acoustic collimator having a high impedance contrast to convert the second monopole transmitter into a directional transmitter.
11 . The borehole acoustic logging tool of claim 2 , wherein the motor rotates the pitch-catch measurement module around the longitudinal axis to facilitate azimuthal acoustic measurements using the second monopole transmitter and the receiver array.
12 . The borehole acoustic logging tool of claim 2 , wherein the first cylindrical housing and the second cylindrical housing are less than or equal to 2.25 inches in diameter.
13 . The borehole acoustic logging tool of claim 2 , wherein the resonance mode measurement module and pitch-catch measurement module are independently operable to obtain resonance mode measurements and pitch-catch measurements, respectively.
14 . The borehole acoustic logging tool of claim 2 , wherein the resonance mode measurement module and pitch-catch measurement module are each operable to identify a through tubing cement condition (TTCE).
15 . The borehole acoustic logging tool of claim 1 , wherein the first monopole transmitter is to excite a casing compressional breathing mode, and wherein the pair of cross-dipole transmitters is to excite a casing flexural mode.
16 . The borehole acoustic logging tool of claim 1 , wherein the pair of cross-dipole transmitters include two cross-dipole transmitters.
17 . The borehole acoustic logging tool of claim 1 , wherein a center of the ring of receivers is positioned equidistantly from a center of the first monopole transmitter and the pair of cross-dipole transmitters.
18 . The borehole acoustic logging tool of claim 1 , wherein the ring of receivers is acoustically isolated from the first monopole transmitter and the pair of cross-dipole transmitters.
19 . The borehole acoustic logging tool of claim 1 , wherein the first monopole transmitter has a bandwidth between about 10 kHz to about 45 kHz.
20 . The borehole acoustic logging tool of claim 1 , wherein each of the pair of cross-dipole transmitters comprises a metal substrate between two rectangular lead zirconate titanate (PZT) plates.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims the benefit of PCT Application NO. PCT/US2022/035000 filed Jun. 24, 2022, which claims benefit of Provisional Application No. 63/271,773, filed Oct. 26, 2021, for “SONIC LOGGING TOOLS FOR SLIM HOLE TOOLS AND PULSE-ECHO MEASUREMENTS,” which are incorporated herein by reference. FIELD Sonic logging tools adapted for operation in slim holes and sonic logging tools for operating in pulse-echo resonant modes. BACKGROUND There are many engineering challenges associated with operation of a slim hole sonic tool. One engineering challenge is that the number of azimuthal receivers of a slim hole sonic tool is limited by available space depending upon the tool outer diameters. As a result, fewer azimuthal receivers limit the measurement azimuthal sampling and corresponding angular resolution. Another engineering challenge is that even if a slim hole sonic tool includes more than one receiver, it is still difficult to match receivers that have identical sensitivity of amplitude and spectrum. This is important, as matched receivers are often needed in order to attribute the response differences as borehole environmental changes and adequately interpret the results. Further, there are many borehole resonant modes that are applicable for sonic logging tools. Such resonant modes can depend on numerous factors including the well configurations with tubing, casing, or an absence of tubing and casing, as well as transmitter and receiver positioning. Most of the borehole modes can propagate along the depth directions. However, there are various applications where it is desirable to propagate along other directions and measure other conditions. For example, to map the through tubing cement condition (TTCE) it is desirable to measure those borehole modes that not only are localized for a better vertical resolution but also sensitive to cement conditions. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Implementations of the present technology will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the attached figures, wherein: FIG. 1 illustrates a diagrammatic view of an exemplary logging while drilling (LWD) and/or measurement while drilling (MWD) borehole operating environment in which the present disclosure can be implemented, in accordance with some examples. FIG. 2 illustrates a diagrammatic view of a conveyance logging borehole operating environment, in accordance with some examples. FIG. 3 illustrates a diagrammatic view of a borehole operating environment model which may be used by the methods of the present disclosure, in accordance with some examples. FIG. 4 illustrate a perspective view of a borehole resonance mode measurement module, in accordance with some examples. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the borehole resonance mode measurement module, in accordance with some examples. FIGS. 6A and 6B show plots of monopole calibration test results, in accordance with some examples. FIG. 7 is the simulated dual bender bar pressure output for the pulse-echo borehole resonance mode measurement module, in accordance with some examples. FIGS. 8A and 8B show the typical test results of hydrophones, in accordance with some examples. FIG. 9 shows a perspective view of a pitch-catch measurement module having a dense acoustic array that can be integrated with the borehole resonance mode measurement module, in accordance with some examples. FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view of the pitch-catch measurement module. FIG. 11 illustrates a slim sonic logging tool that combines the borehole resonance mode measurement module and the pitch-catch measurement module. FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram of an example computing device architecture, in accordance with some examples. DETAILED DESCRIPTION It will be appreciated that for simplicity and clarity of illustration, where appropriate, reference numerals have been repeated among the different figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements. In addition, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments described herein. However, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that the embodiments described herein can be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, methods, procedures, and components have not been described in detail so as not to obscure the related relevant feature being described. Also, the description is not to be considered as limiting the scope of the embodiments described herein. The drawings are not necessarily to scale and the proportions of certain parts can be exaggerated to better illustrate details and features of the present disclosure. Sonic logging tools can have a longer transmitter to receiver distance in order to separate different traveling speed events in the time domain recording. In turn, each measured event can be extracted and evaluated for well mechanical property interpretations. However, there are wel