Estimation of quality factors by energy ratio method

Abstract

The quality factor Q, which reflects the energy attenuation of seismic waves in subsurface media, is a diagnostic tool for hydrocarbon detection and reservoir characterization. In this paper, we propose a new Q extraction method based on the energy ratio before and after the wavelet attenuation, named the energy-ratio method (ERM). The proposed method uses multipoint signal data in the time domain to estimate the wavelet energy without invoking the source wavelet spectrum, which is necessary in conventional Q extraction methods, and is applicable to any source wavelet spectrum; however, it requires high-precision seismic data. Forward zero-offset VSP modeling suggests that the ERM can be used for reliable Q inversion after nonintrinsic attenuation (geometric dispersion, reflection, and transmission loss) compensation. The application to real zero-offset VSP data shows that the Q values extracted by the ERM and spectral ratio methods are identical, which proves the reliability of the new method.