Imaging ahead of and around the bit in a desert environment: DrillCAM field trial with wireless geophones and top-drive sensor

Aldawood, Ali; Hemyari, Emad; Silvestrov, Ilya; Bakulin, Andrey

doi:10.1190/tle40050374.1

Cited by 3 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Borehole ahead-of-the-bit imaging has successfully been conducted for several drilling operations (Aldawood et al, 2021;Bakulin et al, 2020;Goertz et al, 2021;Ivandic et al, 2022;Poletto et al, 2022;Wang et al, 2019). SWD has also proven useful for imaging the shallow subsurface (Aldawood et al, 2021;Asgharzadeh et al, 2019;Bakulin et al, 2020). Chamarczuk et al (2021) presented the applicability of using signals generated by drilling operations other than drilling itself (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This was followed by many developments, including a numerical study on locating scatterers during tunnelling without a pilot trace (Harmankaya et al., 2018). Borehole ahead‐of‐the‐bit imaging has successfully been conducted for several drilling operations (Aldawood et al., 2021; Bakulin et al., 2020; Goertz et al., 2021; Ivandic et al., 2022; Poletto et al., 2022; Wang et al., 2019). SWD has also proven useful for imaging the shallow subsurface (Aldawood et al., 2021; Asgharzadeh et al., 2019; Bakulin et al., 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Unlike vibroseis correlation, the resulting signal does not represent the actual travel times, but a relative travel time of the drill‐bit energy recorded at the pilot and the receivers. Other drill‐bit signal retrieval methods are deconvolution (Aldawood et al., 2021; Aldawood et al., 2021; Haldorsen et al., 1995; Poletto et al., 2020), cross‐coherence (Wang et al., 2015) or Roth correlation (Sun et al., 2016). Deconvolution is generally considered an essential processing step to remove the anticausal pilot cross‐correlation effects (Poletto & Miranda, 2004; Poletto et al., 2014; Rector & Marion, 1991).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Cross‐correlation is a standard procedure performed for signal retrieval regardless of the type of drilling. It has been used for roller‐cone and polycrystalline diamond bits (PDC) (Aldawood et al., 2021; Bakulin et al., 2020; Goertz et al., 2021; Poletto et al., 2022), rotational diamond bits (Sun et al., 2016) and hammer drilling (Asgharzadeh et al., 2019; Chamarczuk et al., 2021; Ivandic et al., 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Drill‐bit position monitoring using seismic‐while‐drilling data; numerical and field examples from Sweden

Wilczynski

Kaslilar

Ivandic

et al. 2023

Geophysical Prospecting

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The undesired drill‐bit deviation is a source of drilling risks and requires monitoring. Seismic‐while‐drilling is one potential method to achieve this and has been tested in a number of previous studies. In August 2020 in Örebro, Sweden, we conducted an experiment to test the feasibility of seismic‐while‐drilling drill‐bit positioning and other applications of the method. We used the hammer drill‐bit signal generated while drilling a 200 m deep well in hardrock conditions and implemented vertical stacking of the subsequent impulsive signals from the hammer source, generating enhanced direct arrivals from the drill‐bit. Then, we used the relative arrival times to estimate the drill‐bit position for selected bit depths, confirming our methodology with two numerical studies. We successfully estimated the position of the drill‐bit for the numerical examples and for several of the real data examples, with the accuracy dependent on the receiver array geometry and the quality of the data. We conclude that this drill‐bit positioning method shows potential for near‐real‐time monitoring in drilling operations that could be applicable for both impulsive and noise‐retrieved drill‐bit signals.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Drill‐bit position monitoring using seismic‐while‐drilling data; numerical and field examples from Sweden

Wilczynski

Kaslilar

Ivandic

et al. 2023

Geophysical Prospecting

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Improving shallow and deep seismic-while-drilling with a downhole pilot in a desert environment

et al. 2022

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Processing seismic data from drillbit-generated vibrations requires a reliable source signature for correlation and deconvolution purposes. Recently, a land field trial has been conducted in a desert environment. A memory-based downhole vibration accelerometer has been used together with a more conventional top-drive sensor to continuously record the pilot signal from 590 to 8600 ft (180–2621 m). Past results indicate that seismic-while-drilling (SWD) data processed using the top-drive accelerometer exhibit good quality in the middle sections of the well but a reduced signal-to-noise ratio for shallow and deep sections. One of the main challenges in using the downhole pilot is a substantial drift of the downhole clock time. To resolve it, a novel automated time-alignment procedure using the GPS-synchronized signal of the top-drive sensor as a reference is applied. The downhole recording provides a source signature of better quality. In shallow sections of the well, it helps to overcome the intense surface-related vibrational noise, whereas, in deeper sections, it provides a cleaner extraction of weaker signals from the polycrystalline diamond compact bits. Processing with the downhole pilot results in better surface seismic data quality than with a conventional top-drive sensor. Therefore, enabling the use of the synchronized downhole pilot signal is of crucial importance for SWD applications. Modern cost-effective near-bit vibrational sensors widely used for different nonseismic applications could be an effective acquisition solution, as shown in this study.

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Characterizing shallow subsurface using 3D seismic while drilling with a downhole pilot

et al. 2022

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Seismic while drilling (SWD) can provide high-resolution subsurface information and characterize near-surface geology. We present a case study of SWD analysis using a data set from a desert environment acquired over a complex overburden. The data were acquired with a system composed of wireless surface geophones as well as top-drive and downhole sensors. The drill-bit noise data were reprocessed using a specialized workflow with two essential elements. First, a downhole pilot from a near-bit sensor was used for deconvolution, which led to improved data quality, particularly in the shallow subsurface. Second, nonlinear beamforming leveraged the 3D carpet of geophones to enhance signal quality and enable picking 3D traveltimes. A simple workflow for building a 1D velocity model used 3D traveltimes from an offset of 180 to 500 m. We vertically projected and averaged all 3D traveltimes to obtain a robust checkshot profile for the section from 190 to 1855 m. For the shallow subsurface (0–800 m), we further applied an advanced workflow with 3D traveltime inversion that more accurately handled mid- and far-offset data using a ray-tracing engine. More than 100,000 offset traveltime picks were inverted for a 1D velocity model. The model closely ties with the geology of the near surface, namely the formation tops associated with major impedance and lithologic contrasts. Amplitude signatures of 3D SWD gathers also correlate with the velocity model and lithologic changes, showing weak energy associated with soft formations and higher-energy first-arrival waveforms associated with compacted formations. Finally, we used the data extracted from a 2D line to reconstruct a migrated image of the back-propagated drill-bit sources. Joint use of kinematic and dynamic signatures helps characterize markers associated with loss circulation zones and target layers.

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Imaging ahead of and around the bit in a desert environment: DrillCAM field trial with wireless geophones and top-drive sensor

Cited by 3 publications

References 20 publications

Drill‐bit position monitoring using seismic‐while‐drilling data; numerical and field examples from Sweden

Drill‐bit position monitoring using seismic‐while‐drilling data; numerical and field examples from Sweden

Improving shallow and deep seismic-while-drilling with a downhole pilot in a desert environment

Characterizing shallow subsurface using 3D seismic while drilling with a downhole pilot

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