Assessing Leak Paths in the Cement Sheath of a Cased Borehole by Analysis of Monopole Wavefield Modes

Assessing Leak Paths in the Cement Sheath of a Cased Borehole by Analysis of Monopole Wavefield Modes

Year:    2020

Author:    Hua Wang, Michael Fehler, Aimé Fournier

Communications in Computational Physics, Vol. 28 (2020), Iss. 1 : pp. 424–441

Abstract

Evaluation of possible leakage pathways of CO2 injected into geological formations for storage is essential for successful Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS). A channel in the borehole cement, which secures the borehole casing to the formation, may allow CO2 to escape. Risk assessment and remediation decisions about the presence of such channels depend on channel parameters: radial position $r$ from the center of the borehole; channel thickness $d$; azimuthal position $φ$ of the channel; and azimuthal extent $θ$ of the channel. Current state-of-the-art cement-bond logging technology, which uses only the first arrival at a centralized borehole receiver, can diagnose limited details about CO2 leak channels. To accurately characterize the possible leak paths in the cement, we use a 3-dimensional finite-difference method to investigate the use of the abundant data collected by a modernized monopole sonic tool that contains an array of azimuthally distributed receivers. We also investigate how to improve the tool design to acquire even more useful information. For cases where borehole fluid is either water or supercritical CO2, we investigate various receiver geometries, multimodal analyses of multi-frequency data to discover the type of logging tool that provides the best information for CCS management. We find that an appropriate choice of wave modes, source frequencies, source polarities, and receiver locations and offsets provides sensitivity to $d$, $φ$, $θ$. The amplitude of the first arrival from a monopole source is sensitive to $θ$. Amplitudes at receivers at different azimuths are sensitive to $φ$. The slow Stoneley mode (ST2) velocity is sensitive to $d$, but ST2 is not easy to pick when $θ$ and $d$ are small. Further improvement is necessary to provide comprehensive information about possible flow channels in casing cement.

You do not have full access to this article.

Already a Subscriber? Sign in as an individual or via your institution

Journal Article Details

Publisher Name:    Global Science Press

Language:    English

DOI:    https://doi.org/10.4208/cicp.OA-2018-0102

Communications in Computational Physics, Vol. 28 (2020), Iss. 1 : pp. 424–441

Published online:    2020-01

AMS Subject Headings:    Global Science Press

Copyright:    COPYRIGHT: © Global Science Press

Pages:    18

Keywords:    Greenhouse effect CO$_2$ leak channel cement bond evaluation borehole acoustic logging casing wave Stoneley waves.

Author Details

Hua Wang

Michael Fehler

Aimé Fournier

  1. Transfer learning for acoustic cement bond evaluation: An image classification approach using acoustic variable Density log

    Abdollahian, Amirhossein | Wang, Hua | Liu, Heng | Zheng, Xiaomin

    Geoenergy Science and Engineering, Vol. 239 (2024), Iss. P.212960

    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoen.2024.212960 [Citations: 1]
  2. Comparison and research of multidimensional analysis for array acoustic logging in fractured formations

    Min, Xiang | Zhuwen, Wang | Xinghua, Qi

    Interpretation, Vol. 8 (2020), Iss. 3 P.SL89

    https://doi.org/10.1190/INT-2019-0212.1 [Citations: 1]
  3. Study on the whole life cycle integrity of cement interface in heavy oil thermal recovery well under circulating high temperature condition

    Han, Xu | Feng, Fuping | Zhang, Jianwei

    Energy, Vol. 278 (2023), Iss. P.127873

    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2023.127873 [Citations: 6]
  4. Better Automatic Interpretation of Cement Evaluation Logs through Feature Engineering

    Viggen, Erlend Magnus | Løvstakken, Lasse | Måsøy, Svein-Erik | Merciu, Ioan Alexandru

    SPE Journal, Vol. 26 (2021), Iss. 05 P.2894

    https://doi.org/10.2118/204057-PA [Citations: 13]