Reservoir stress path and induced seismic anisotropy: Results from linking coupled fluid-flow/geomechanical simulation with seismic modelling

We present a workflow linking coupled fluid-flow and geomechanical simulation with seismic modelling to predict seismic anisotropy induced by nonhydrostatic stress changes. We generate seismic models from coupled simulations to examine the relationship between reservoir geometry, stress path and seismic anisotropy. The results indicate that geometry influences the evolution of stress, which leads to stress-induced seismic anisotropy. Although stress anisotropy is high for the small reservoir, the effect of stress arching and the ability of the side-burden to support the excess load limit the overall change in effective stress and hence seismic anisotropy. For the extensive reservoir, stress anisotropy and induced seismic anisotropy are high. The extensive and elongate reservoirs experience significant compaction, where the inefficiency of the developed stress arching in the side-burden cannot support the excess load. The elongate reservoir displays significant stress asymmetry, with seismic anisotropy developing predominantly along the long-edge of the reservoir. We show that the link between stress path parameters and seismic anisotropy is complex, where the anisotropic symmetry is controlled not only by model geometry but also the nonlinear rock physics model used. Nevertheless, a workflow has been developed to model seismic anisotropy induced by non-hydrostatic stress changes, allowing field observations of anisotropy to be linked with geomechanical models

Seismic and electric crosshole tomography for fracture detection and characterization

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A comparison of cross-hole electrical and seismic data in fractured rock

Cross-hole anisotropic electrical and seismic tomograms of fractured metamorphic rock have been obtained at a test site where extensive hydrological data were available. A strong correlation between electrical resistivity anisotropy and seismic compressional-wave velocity anisotropy has been observed. Analysis of core samples from the site reveal that the shale-rich rocks have fabric-related average velocity anisotropy of between 10% and 30%. The cross-hole seismic data are consistent with these values, indicating that observed anisotropy might be principally due to the inherent rock fabric rather than to the aligned sets of open fractures. One region with velocity anisotropy greater than 30% has been modelled as aligned open fractures within an anisotropic rock matrix and this model is consistent with available fracture density and hydraulic transmissivity data from the boreholes and the cross-hole resistivity tomography data. However, in general the study highlights the uncertainties that can arise, due to the relative influence of rock fabric and fluid-filled fractures, when using geophysical techniques for hydrological investigations

Anisotropic resistivity tomography

Geophysical tomographic techniques have the potential to remotely detect and characterize geological features, such as fractures and spatially varying lithologies, by their response to signals passed through these features. Anisotropic behaviour in many geological materials necessitates the generalization of tomographic methods to include anisotropic material properties in order to attain high-quality images of the subsurface. In this paper, we present a finite element (FE) based direct-current electrical inversion method to reconstruct the conductivity tensor at each node point of a FE mesh from electrical resistance measurements. The inverse problem is formulated as a functional optimization and the non-uniqueness of the electrical inverse problem is overcome by adding penalty terms for structure and anisotropy. We use a modified Levenberg-Marquardt method for the functional optimization and the resulting set of linear equation is solved using pre-conditioned conjugate gradients. The method is tested using both synthetic and field experiments in cross-well geometry. The acquisition geometry for both experiments uses a cross-well experiment at a hard-rock test site in Cornwall, southwest England. Two wells, spaced at 25.7 m, were equipped with electrodes at a 1 m spacing at depths from 21-108 m and data were gathered in pole-pole geometry. The test synthetic model consists of a strongly anisotropic and conductive body underlain by an isotropic resistive formation. Beneath the resistive formation, the model comprises a moderately anisotropic and moderately conductive half-space, intersected by an isotropic conductive layer. This model geometry was derived from the interpretation of a seismic tomogram and available geological logs and the conductivity values are based on observed conductivities. We use the test model to confirm the ability of the inversion scheme to recover the (known) true model. We find that all key features of the model are recovered. However, the inversion model is smoother than the true model and the difference in absolute value of anisotropy and conductivity between features is slightly underestimated. Using an anisotropic conductivity distribution aggravates the problem of non-uniqueness of the solution of the inverse electrical problem. This problem can be overcome by applying appropriate structural and anisotropy constraints. We find that running a suite of inversions with varying constraint levels and subsequent examination of the results (including the inspection of residual maps) offers a viable method for choosing appropriate numerical values for the imposed constraints. Inversion of field data reveals a strongly anisotropic subsurface with marked spatial variations of both magnitude of anisotropy and conductivity. Average conductivities range from 0.001 S m -1 (= 1000 Ω m) to 0.003 S m -1 (= 333 Ω m) and anisotropy values range from 0 per cent to more than 300 per cent. As an independent test of the reliability of the structures revealed by anisotropic electric tomography, anisotropic seismic traveltime tomograms were calculated. We find a convincing structural agreement between the two independently derived images. Areas of high electric anisotropy coincide with seismically anisotropic areas and we observe an anticorrelation between electric conductivity and seismic velocity. Both observations are consistent with anisotropy anomalies caused by fracturing or layering. © 2004 RAS