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Wellbore Resonance
W.L. Medlin, SPE, and D.P. Schmitt, Mobil R&D Corp.
Fig. 2VDL display of excitation logs run in cored intervals of two wells with contrasting lithologies.
The log of Fig. 7 shows a variety of tube wave reflections. The ori- the tool, provide a leaky confinement of tube waves within the re-
gins of reflections such as these are fully discussed in Ref. 8. Of par- gion of the tool.
ticular interest is the very strong reflection trace labeled 1, which Thus, the logging tool and wellbore form a leaky resonant cavity
is the direct reflection from the bottom of the hole. The weaker reflec- for tube waves. Standing waves, which are characteristic of this cav-
tion, labeled 2, is the first multiple of this direct reflection. It repre- ity, can be generated by using the SMAL method to drive the trans-
sents tube wave energy that was reflected from the bottom and trav- mitter for prolonged periods at the appropriate frequency.
eled back up to the tool, where it was reflected back downhole to Standing tube waves, generated by the SMAL method, have a
travel the same path a second time. The slope of this trace is exactly very practical application in measuring a Q associated with damping
half that of the strong trace, confirming that the reflected energy trav- properties of the formation. Q data are useful for seismic modeling
eled twice as far. The much weaker reflection, labeled 3, corre- and formation evaluation. A measure of Q can be obtained from the
sponds to tube waves which have made three traverses. The slope of decay of standing tube waves following the end of the SMAL excita-
tion period. We assume that this decay occurs in accordance with the
this trace is exactly one-third that of the strong trace. Results similar
damping of free vibrations. The method of determining Q from such
to these can be observed in open-hole logging experiments as well.
decay data is well known.10 In applying this method to wellbore
These results clearly show that the logging tool acts as a partial
measurements, we assume that damping is mainly the result of the
reflector of tube waves. We can assume that the reflections are absorption of tube wave energy by the formation material within the
associated with the change in liquid volume produced by the body tool boundaries and immediately surrounding the wellbore.
of the tool. This change occurs at each end of the tool. Therefore, Fig. 8 shows tube wave decline data produced by the SMAL
each end must act as a partial reflector of tube waves. This means method. These results were obtained with a tool similar to that of
that some fraction of the tube wave energy produced by the transmit- Fig. 1 in a shallow Eagle Ford shale interval in a laboratory test well.
ter is internally reflected by the ends of the tool. It is well known that In this case, the transmitter was driven by a 17 cycle tone burst at a
tube waves, being interface waves, are largely confined to the region frequency of 1,200 Hz. During the excitation period provided by the
of the wellbore wall.9 There is little radial loss of energy by radiation tone burst, the tube wave amplitude in Fig. 8 builds up to approach
into the earth, provided the tube wave velocity is lower than any of steady state conditions. The tone burst ends just past the cycle peak
the body wave velocities in the surrounding medium. This radial labeled 0. Starting at this time, the tube wave vibrations are assumed
containment, combined with the internal reflections at the ends of to decay in accordance with formation damping of free tube wave
vibrations. This assumption neglects the leakage of tube wave energy. where i and j are cycle numbers, counted from the time excitation
It also implies that the end of the tone burst represents an instanta- ends, with jui.
neous removal of all tube wave driving forces. In reality, the driving Fig. 9 shows a logarithmic plot of the decline in tube wave ampli-
force does not cease at the end of the tone burst, but decays at a rate tude in Fig. 8 vs. the labeled cycle numbers. The fit to a straight line
determined by the Q of the transmitter. For our measurements, we is excellent, with a correlation coefficient of 0.9993. This good fit
used a flexure disk transmitter with Q+8. We assume that, in forma- supports the assumption that the decaying tube waves behave in ac-
tions with Q >> 8, the effects of source damping can be ignored. cordance with damping of free vibrations. The value of d can be
By neglecting these source-damping and leakage effects, we can used to compute Q from the relation
make use of the simple relations for damping of free vibrations.10
In particular, we can take Q + pd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (3)
d + * log eA i)1A i, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (1) The data of Fig. 9 give Q+17, a reasonable value for the shallow
Eagle Ford shale interval.
where Xn and Xn )1 are the amplitudes of successive maxima and We have evaluated this method in a series of open-hole logging
d is a constant called the logarithmic decrement. It follows from Eq. tests. For these tests we modified the tool of Fig. 1 to provide an
1 that array of three receivers spaced approximately 18 in. apart. The ad-
vantages of the receiver array will be discussed later. For the logging
d + log e A i * log e X j j * i, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (2) tests, we selected three types of formations, which were expected to
lar to the Gulf-Coast sand of Fig. 10. Samples 4-7 are competent
sandstones similar to the Dakota sandstone of Fig. 10. Samples 8-10
are hard limestones similar to the Edwards limestone of Fig. 10. QC
in Table 1 is the damping factor associated with compressional wave
Fig. 6Shear wave logs obtained by the conventional broad- propagation. The QC values were derived from measurements made
band method, on the left, and by the SMAL method on the right. with spring-mass oscillator systems.11 They were computed from
QE and QG, which were the measured quantities. QE , the component
provide a large range of Q values. They included a weakly consoli- of Q associated with pure longitudinal displacements, was mea-
dated sand in a Gulf-Coast well, a competent Dakota sandstone in sured with a longitudinal oscillator system. QG , the component
a mid-continent well, and a well-cemented Edwards limestone in a associated with pure shear displacements, was measured with a tor-
central-Texas well. Examples of the SMAL-generated waveforms sional oscillator system. QS , the damping factor associated with
obtained in each of these formations are shown in Fig. 10 with corre- shear wave propagation, is equal to QG .12 The longitudinal and tor-
sponding Q values. In these examples, we used very long tone bursts sional oscillator measurements also provided the listed values of
to assure reaching steady state conditions. Later studies showed that Youngs Modulus E and Shear Modulus G, which are given in units
the duration of the tone burst is not critical. Tube wave decay data of millions of psi. All the oscillator measurements were made under
were found to be independent of the length of the tone burst as long a confining pressure of 1,000 psi and at the indicated water satura-
as it extends beyond a few cycles. tions, which fall in the range 0.7 to 0.8. Under these conditions, Q
The Q values of Fig. 10 are consistent with laboratory Q data re- changes little with changes in confining stress and water saturation.
ported in the literature.11 Some laboratory data, which illustrate this Oscillator frequencies were in the 100 to 500 Hz range, close
consistency, are given in Table 1. These results were obtained in
core and quarry materials representing a range of lithologies similar
to those of Fig. 10. Samples 1-3 are weakly consolidated sands simi-
Fig. 8Tube wave buildup and decline data obtained by the Fig. 9Logarithmic plot of the decline in peak amplitude vs.
SMAL method in a shallow Eagle Ford shale zone. cycle number from the waveform data of Fig. 8.