Seismic inversion and fracture prediction in tilted transversely isotropic media

Abstract

The conventional Amplitude variation with offset (AVO) inversion has been mainly developed for the isotropic media and therefore it is generally inapplicable to the anisotropic fractured formations. A set of tilted fractures in isotropic medium can be regarded as a transversely isotropic (TTI) medium. The reflection coefficient equation in TTI media contains many parameters such as anisotropic parameters, velocities, azimuth and dip angles. The selection of objective functions can significantly affect its performance in searching for the optimal solution. The seismic inversion of the TTI medium remains challenging because of its many parameters, and is very complicated after conversion into solving function problems. The genetic algorithm (GA) provides a universal framework to solve the optimization problem in complex systems, and it is independent of the types and disciplines of problems. In this study, the GA-based seismic prestack inversion of the TTI medium is implemented by constructing the objective functions of anisotropic parameters based on the TTI medium reflection coefficient approximation. The inversion performance is shown to be satisfactory on the one-dimensional well logging model, modified Hess model and the field datum. Furthermore, fracture filling materials are well predicted according to the theories of the equivalent medium for fractured materials and fracture weakness. The inversion results demonstrate the proposed method to be feasible and robust. The findings of this research are expected to provide theoretical guidance for the inversion of elastic parameters of anisotropic media and fracture type identification in hydrocarbon reservoirs.