A numerical 1.5D method for the rapid simulation of geophysical resistivity measurements

Mostafa Shahriari, Sergio Rojas, David Pardo, Angel Rodríguez-Rozas, Shaaban A. Bakr, Victor M. Calo, Ignacio Muga

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

11 Scopus citations

Abstract

In some geological formations, borehole resistivity measurements can be simulated using a sequence of 1D models. By considering a 1D layered media, we can reduce the dimensionality of the problem from 3D to 1.5D via a Hankel transform. The resulting formulation is often solved via a semi-analytic method, mainly due to its high performance. However, semi-analytic methods have important limitations such as, for example, their inability to model piecewise linear variations on the resistivity. Herein, we develop a multi-scale finite element method (FEM) to solve the secondary field formulation. This numerical scheme overcomes the limitations of semi-analytic methods while still delivering high performance. We illustrate the performance of the method with numerical synthetic examples based on two symmetric logging-while-drilling (LWD) induction devices operating at 2 MHz and 500 KHz, respectively.

Original languageEnglish
Article number225
JournalGeosciences (Switzerland)
Volume8
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2018
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Finite element method
  • Hankel transform
  • Logging-while-drilling (LWD)
  • Multi-scale method
  • Resistivity measurements
  • Secondary field

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