he Acoustic Borehole Televiewer is an imagining sonde that uses sound waves to scan 360 degrees of the borehole wall.

The sound waves bounce off the borehole wall at specific energy levels that are received by the transducer. Features such as fractures, vugs, bedding planes and intrusions can easily be identified as an acoustic image. The resulting image is oriented to the magnetic north as a two dimensional presentation of depth and direction: the horizontal axis north is to the far right and the far left, the vertical axis is depth. From left to right the quadrants run north, east, south, west and back to north (see Figure 11-1). The tool was designed in the 60s by Mobil Oil Company. The principle of operation is similar to the medical devices used for imagining body parts. The sonde is comprise of a downhole transducer that pulses approximately 500 times per second with a burst of sound at 1.3 mHz while rotating 3 rps (revolutions per second). The sound burst leaves the transducer, travels to the borehole wall and reflects back to the transducer that then receives the echo as a vibration and sends it uphole to be processed. Also accompanying the returned signal from the borehole is a pulse from the magnetometer that senses and orients the returned acoustic signal to magnetic north. The surface panel then processes the signal and then the data is gathered by the data acquistion equipment for display on API log paper. The final image is a continuous picture of the borehole with depths to the far right and the image, laid flat, to the left. The image is constructed from each revolution of the transducer, that is each line is a representation of the transducer scanning the borehole wall in one revolution. The resolution of the tool is dependent on various factors such as hole size, mud viscosity and rugosity of the borehole wall,and can be considered as 1/4 inch. Each line is then referenced to depth and constructs the full image of the borehole. The amplitude of the return signal (i.e. the acoustic reflective energy from the borehole) is primarily a function of rock rigidity, borehole roughness and geometry. The greater the lithification of the rock the higher the return amplitude of the reflective wave which in turn creates a lighter image on the log. As the tool encounters fractures or formations of lesser rigidity the

lower amplitude signal is received. So it is a function of contrast in which structural features are discerned by the televiewer. On the other hand, formations that display gradations are not readily seen because the contrasting rigidities are not great enough to change the resulting amplitude of the reflective wave. Features of great contrast, like a fracture in competent granite, will be seen as a black and white image where as a fracture that is altered at its face will have tones of gray surrounding the dark open fracture. As the borehole becomes rough, the signal, despite the narrow bandwidth, will be dispersed and the reflection will be displayed as a grainy image. If the borehole geometry is other than a circle the incident wave will be reflected back at an angle other than 180 and either the wave will not intersect the transducer or will be reduced in amplitude and outside the time frame of a round borehole. These conditions are often displayed as longitudinal dark lines in two opposite quadrants of the log indicating ellipticity of the borehole. Since the image of the borehole is split along the north axis and laid flat, fractures and other features that insect and traverse the borehole will be displayed as sinusoidal waves. Determining the angle of these features is a matter of taking the arc tangent of height divided by the borehole diameter. Height is the distance between where the feature enters the borehole and where it leaves the borehole. The direction is determined from the down dip side of the feature. Applications of the televiewer have been primarily directed to fracture indexing, orientation and determining fracture angle. Using the televiewer as a dipmeter can be done but with limited results that are a function of the aforementioned limits of the tool. Casing inspection is also a viable use when well fluids preclude the use of video. The televiewer requires a fluid filled borehole for the acoustic signal to couple with the formation. Borehole conditions obviously influence the results, so drilling techniques must be considered when planning on using televiewer data. Angle holes up to the critical angle of when the tool becomes decentralized are possible with proper consideration. The best results with the televiewer are in hard lithified rock strata that have fractures with little weathering. 93

Borehole Televiewer Tool

Borehole Televiewer Log

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Chapter 11 Borehole Televiewer Analytical Software

The software is a collection of executable programs for processing data from the welenco Borehole Televiewers. 3. A least-squares best-fit plane, taking (1) and (2) into account. This part of the calculation is identical to that used in the dipmeter pattern recognition algorithm.

Interactive Dip Calculation

The amplitude of the signal returned to the transducer, after reflection off the borehole wall depends on: 1. The nature of the borehole fluid. 2. Borehole radius. 3. Acoustic impedance at the fluid/borehole wall interface. 4. Sonde centralization in the borehole. 5. Borehole shape and rugosity. Sonde decentralization and borehole shape mean that in certain directions the signal hits the borehole wall at angles other than 90, so it is not reflected straight back to the transducer. Complete loss of signal in these directions results in sets of sub-vertical dark bands on the amplitude image, and corresponding variations on the travel-time plot. Planar features oblique to the borehole axis, either bedding planes or fractures, intersect a cylindrical borehole to form elliptic shapes. If the borehole wall is unzipped down the North direction and unrolled to form a flat surface, the elliptic shapes become sinusoidal traces. The low point on the sinusoid occurs in the dip direction of the plane, the amplitude of the trace is a function of borehole radius and the dip of the plane. It follows that the orientation of the plane, in well axis coordinates, can be calculated by digitizing at least 3 points on the trace. If borehole deviation data is available, the dip can be corrected to give true geographic dip. These are essentially the calculations performed by the program. In practice the calculation is not quite as simple as outlined above. Sonde decentralization and borehole shape mean that the traces resulting from planar surfaces are not exactly sinusoidal. The plane calculation algorithm converts travel-times at digitized points to radius values (see below), then estimates: 1. Sonde decentralization from the borehole axis, Xoff (North) and Yoff (East). A least squares best-fit elliptical shape for the borehole, , = long, short semi-axis, = long axis orientation. 94

Bedding planes are identified, normally on the color-coded amplitude image, as sets of sub-parallel traces, frequently separating layers of differing amplitude as different lithologies result in differing acoustic impedance at the fluid/borehole wall interface. Fractures are identified as distinct planes oblique to bedding. As observed in outcrops, fractures often occur in geometrically preferred orientations. They may traverse the borehole completely, resulting in complete traces on the imagery, or they may terminate at bed boundaries or against other fractures, resulting in segmented traces on the imagery. These intersection relationships may be of significance in the case of rock strength or porosity/permeability studies. Traces can be digitized as either complete or segmented, and assigned a flag indicating probable bedding or fracture. Traces digitized as segmented traces are recorded as such in the dip data files, and drawn showing correct intersection relationships by subsequent programs. Bedding planes can be associated with a neighbor to identify a bed. In this case the bed is shown shaded on the output log, mean dip of the bed and true bed thickness are also shown. On execution of the program a number of parameters are user-defined at the keyboard: 1. 2. Depth range in the borehole to be processed. Vertical scale for processing (normally this will be 1/5 - 1/10 on a standard 14 inch monitor). It is only an initial choice, vertical scale can be halved or doubled during the processing. Horizontal scale for processing. There are 2 options: a. Set horizontal scale = vertical, in which case sinusoid amplitude is a correct function of radius and dip, but slim boreholes produce narrow images at 1/10. Fixed horizontal format, occupying as much of the screen as available. In this case the radius of the borehole generally exaggerated and sinusoid amplitudes Continued on page 97.......

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Borehole Televiewer Output

Figure 11 - 1 95

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Typical Borehole Teleview (BHTV) Log

Figure 11 - 2

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........Continued from page 94 show this. 4. 5. Selection of parameters for c a l c u l a t i o n o f borehole radius from travel-time. Verification or redefinition of default symmetric nearest neighbor filter parameters (see below). data quite efficiently, while preserving edges of features. It is very time consuming.

OUTPUT BHTV CORE LOG

This program outputs a log of the results of interactive dip calculation, to the screen or hard copy device, at any required vertical scale. From left to right the log shows: 1. An hypothetic core in orthographic projection, with nominal borehole diameter. The direction in the core facing the observer is selected at run time. Traces of planes for the calculated dips are shown on the surface of the core. A plot of the sinusoidal traces for the calculated depths. An arrow-plot showing calculated dips. These are corrected for borehole deviation if the deviation data is present. Two stick-plots. The orientation of the 1st is selected at run time, the 2nd is drawn at + 90. A well deviation plot.

From then on, all operations are mouse-driven. Selection of procedures and various choices, including accept / reject of results, is performed by picking menu boxes. Digitization of traces is generally performed on the amplitude imagery, though the display can be toggled to travel time and vice versa at will. The program works upwards through the selected depth range as a series of frames. In general, the base of the next frame is the top of the previous frame, though a depth line can be set prior to selecting the next frame for processing, so that features exiting the top of the frame need not be truncated. The previous frame can be selected at any stage after the first frame has been processed. The program can be executed any number of times on the same data set, traces of any dips already calculated are shown in red. Any existing trace, and its associated dip, can be deleted or recalculated. Amplitude or travel-time values are represented by color-coding on the image, dark gray/blue colors represent low values at one end of the palette, pale yellows represent high values at the other end. A utility program is available, to create other palettes according to taste. The histogram equalization technique is used, on a frame-by-frame basis, to exploit the color-coding to a maximum. This analyzes the distribution of amplitude and travel-time values, then creates histograms with 13 class intervals to control the color-coding. The class intervals are not linear, rather they are organized such that all intervals represent approximately the same number of data. Whole frame histogram equalization may be inappropriate at changes in lithology resulting in very dark and very pale colors. Any depth range on the current screen can be selected for histograms equalization, in order to enhance detail in that depth range. Symmetric Nearest Neighbor Filtering (SNN) can also be selected for any frame. This passes a 3 x 3 matrix over the entire image, at each data point the value at the center of the matrix is replaced by the mean of its symmetric neighbors. This is repeated either for a preset number of passes, or until the number of data sets changing value during a pass become less than some preset number. The SNN filter technique smoothes spotty

2.

3.

4.

5.

Bedding planes are shown in red on the screen, or as solid lines and symbols on hard copy output. Fractures are shown in green on the screen, or as broken lines and open symbols on hard copy output. Traces digitized as segmented traces are shown as such, so that intersection relationships are correctly reproduced. Beds formed by linked traces are shown as shaded units. True thickness on the well-axis, and mean dip and strike for the unit are shown. The core, sinusoids and stick-plots are drawn with the same horizontal scale as vertical. This effectively limits the choice of vertical scale, slim boreholes plotted at less than 1/10 give diagrams too slender to be legible. If there is insufficient space for all diagrams, for the selected scale, the stick-plots are not drawn. On execution of the program, the user selects the following parameters: 1. Depth range in the borehole to be plotted. 2. Plot to the screen or hard copy device. 3. Vertical scale. 97

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borehole is drawn in orthographic projection, at any required vertical scale. Individual lines are shown at regular intervals of depth and azimuth, 5cm and 10 intervals are appropriate for a vertical scale of 1/10. For clarity the log is drawn in two parts: 1. 2. An external view of the front (southern) surface. An internal view of the back (northern) surface.

4. Direction in the core to face the observer. 5. Azimuth for the 1st stick-plot. The log is output as a series of frames. The 1st is a header frame, showing borehole information, scaling, symbols and orientations. Subsequent frames show the log with increasing depth.

OUTPUT AMPLITUDE AND TRAVEL TIME LOG

This program outputs the amplitude and traveltime logs, to the screen or hard copy device, at any required vertical scale. The horizontal scale can be set equal to vertical, using nominal borehole radius, unless this would result in plots too wide for the display space, or too narrow, in which case the horizontal scale is automatically adjusted, resulting in some distortion of sinusoidal features relative to calculated dips. Alternatively the log can be plotted using the full width of the display space, regardless of nominal borehole diameter and selected vertical scale. Histogram equalization (see above) is performed over the complete depth range selected for plotting. Horizontal and vertical decimation factors can be set to speed up plotting, at the cost of decreased data resolution. On execution of the program the user selects the following parameters: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Depth range in the borehole to be plotted. Plot to the screen or hard copy device. Vertical scale. Horizontal scale option. Horizontal and vertical decimation factors for plotting. The log is output as a series of frames. The 1st is a header frame, showing borehole information and color-coding of amplitude and travel-time values (shown as gray/scales on hard copy output). Subsequent frames show the log with increasing depth.

The log is most useful in combination with the hypothetic core showing traces of calculated planes . Washout of particular beds and breakout along particular fractures or bedding-fracture and fracture-fracture intersections are clearly shown. Cross-sections of the borehole, one for each horizontal line in the wire frame log, are drawn over 1 meter intervals. Sonde decentralization is calculated at each level, the center of the diagrams is the borehole axis. The following phenomena is clearly shown: 1. Lengths of pristine borehole result in superposed circular sections of constant radius. Borehole ovalization results in elliptical crosssections, from whichthe magnitude and orientation can be measured directly. Washout results in some sondes having increased radius, which gives the diagram an annular appearance. Breakout along fractures oblique to the borehole axis gives an increased radius in particular directions that change systematically with depth. This is best seen on the screen. The diagram is built up with increasing depth as the wire frame log is drawn, and the patterns of increased radius in changing directions can be seen as they develop with depth.

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OUTPUT BREAKOUT / OVALIZATION LOG

The high resolution travel-time data is used to calculate high resolution borehole radius data, from which a 3d wire frame diagram of the 98