Abstract
We perform wave experiments using a vertical shock tube setup. Shock waves are generated by the rupture of a thin membrane. In the test section, the incident pressure waves generate borehole-guided waves along water-saturated samples. The tube is equipped with side wall gages and a mobile pressure probe, so that the attenuation and reflection of the wave can be measured. The computation for a single horizontal fracture intersecting a vertical borehole gives a quantitative prediction of reflection and transmission of borehole-guided waves. Three different fracture apertures are used for the calculation. Fracture aperture significantly affects both reflection and transmission coefficients. Large fractures increase reflectivity and decrease transmissivity. In the experiment, we found that both pressures above and below the fracture are influenced by the fracture aperture indeed, thus indicating the potential for fracture detection by borehole waves.
Highlights
Fractured reservoir is ubiquitous in hydrocarbon reservoir engineering (Chilingarian et al 1992; Naimi-Tajdar et al 2007; Ramirez et al 2009)
Van der Grinten et al (1985, 1987), Sniekers et al (1989), and Smeulders and Van Dongen (1997) performed shock-tube experiments on water-saturated and partially saturated samples, but here we focus on borehole wave along water-saturated samples
The computation for a single horizontal fracture intersecting a vertical borehole gives a quantitative prediction of reflection and transmission of borehole-guided waves
Summary
Fractured reservoir is ubiquitous in hydrocarbon reservoir engineering (Chilingarian et al 1992; Naimi-Tajdar et al 2007; Ramirez et al 2009). We will introduce a new experimental technique for fracture detection by means of borehole wave propagation. We use a vertical shock tube to generate a borehole wave in a core sample in the test section of the tube. A cylinder which has a centralized borehole is mounted in the test section of the shock tube. A probe inside the borehole can record the pressures at different positions. Van der Grinten et al (1985, 1987), Sniekers et al (1989), and Smeulders and Van Dongen (1997) performed shock-tube experiments on water-saturated and partially saturated samples, but here we focus on borehole wave along water-saturated samples. The shock wave travels downward, partially reflecting, and partially transmitting into the water layer on top of the sample. P2 is used to trigger the data recording system (see Fig. 1)
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