基于“剪切+张裂”一般位错模型频率域求解微震震源机制

研究微地震的震源机制,获得压裂区域的破裂方向、尺度和应力状态等信息,在非常规油气开采过程中具有重要意义.对于微震,通常采用剪切位错或者矩张量模型对震源进行描述.本文从其实际发震机制出发,使用了"剪切+张裂"的一般位错点源模型,并基于此模型发展了一种利用全波形信息,通过波形振幅谱相关和初至约束,在频率域求解微震震源机制的方法.该方法适用于地面和井中观测,能够在得到常规震源参数（断层走向、倾角和滑动角）的同时给出裂缝断层剪切和张裂错动的距离信息,更直观体现破裂程度.理论数值测试证明方法有效、可行,在未滤波的情况下,实际数据的波形拟和结果仍较为一致,同时还发现错动距离与应力降等常规破裂参数并不严格相关,说明剪切、张裂错距可作为独立的新参数来定量评估水压致裂效果,指导工程开发进行.     

水力压裂对速度场及微地震定位的影响

水力压裂是页岩气开发过程中的核心增产技术,微地震则广泛用于压裂分析、水驱前缘监测和储层描述.微地震反演过程中,用于反演的速度模型往往基于测井、地震或标定炮资料构建,忽略了压裂过程中裂缝及孔隙流体压力变化对地层速度的影响.本文首先基于物质守恒、渗流理论和断裂力学模拟三维水力压裂过程,得到地下裂缝发育特征和孔隙压力分布.继而根据Coates-Schoenberg方法和裂缝柔量参数计算裂缝和孔隙压力对速度场的影响,得到压裂过程中的实时速度模型.最后利用三维射线追踪方法正演微地震走时和方位信息,并采用常规微地震定位方法反演震源位置及进行误差分析.数值模拟结果表明,检波器空间分布影响定位精度,常规方法的定位误差随射线路径在压裂带中传播距离增加而变大,且不同压裂阶段的多点反演法与单点极化法精度相当.     

基于波动方程的微地震震源位置、震源时间及VTI介质各向异性参数联合反演

对于非常规油气开发,水力压裂监控的效果取决于对微地震事件的分析、解释。准确的微地震震源位置是关乎施工成败的重要因素。微地震震源位置的准确性与多个参数相关,其不仅依赖于微地震事件的激发时间,同时也依赖于储层介质参数信息,因此进行微地震震源位置、震源时间、储层介质参数的联合反演尤为重要。页岩气储层通常表现出较强的各向异性,VTI介质可对其进行较好的近似描述。基于VTI介质波动方程,本文提出了同时反演微地震震源位置、震源时间以及VTI介质各向异性参数的联合反演方法。数值算例结果表明,该联合反演方法可以通过迭代反演同时得到高精度的微地震震源位置、震源激发时间以及VTI介质各向异性参数信息。     

Determination of Stress State from Focal Mechanisms of Microseismic Events Induced During Hydraulic Injection at the Hijiori Hot Dry Rock Site

—?The stress state at the Hijiori hot dry rock site was estimated based on the inversion from focal mechanisms of microseismic events induced during hydraulic injection experiments. The best fit stress model obtained by inverting 58 focal mechanisms of seismic events simultaneously indicates that the maximum principal stress σ₁ is vertical, while the minimum principal stress σ₃ is horizontal and trends north-south. The average misfit between the stress model and all the data is 6.8°. The inversion results show that the average misfit is small enough to satisfy the assumption of homogeneity in the focal mechanism data and that the 95% confidence regions of σ₁ and σ₃ are well constrained, i.e., they do not overlap, suggesting that the inversion results are acceptable. The stress estimates obtained by the focal mechanism inversion essentially agree with other stress estimates previously obtained. It is therefore concluded that the focal mechanism inversion method provides a useful tool for estimating the stress state. The hypocentral distributions of microseismic events associated with the hydraulic fracturing experiments are distributed around the plane that spreads to almost east–west from the injection wells and declines to the north at a high angle. The vertical orientation and east–west strike of the seismic events are essentially coplanar with the caldera ring-fault structure in the southern portion of the Hijiori Caldera. This indicates that tensile fractures of intact rock were not being created, but pre-existing fractures were being re-opened and developed in the direction of the maximum horizontal principal stress, although microseismic events were caused by shear failures.     

3D waveform inversion of downhole microseismic data for transversely isotropic media

3D anisotropic waveform inversion could provide high-resolution velocity models and improved event locations for microseismic surveys. Here we extend our previously developed 2D inversion methodology for microseismic borehole data to 3D transversely isotropic media with a vertical symmetry axis. This extension allows us to invert multicomponent data recorded in multiple boreholes and properly account for vertical and lateral heterogeneity. Synthetic examples illustrate the performance of the algorithm for layer-cake and ‘hydraulically fractured’ (i.e. containing anomalies that simulate hydraulic fractures) models. In both cases, waveform inversion is able to reconstruct the areas which are sufficiently illuminated for the employed source-receiver geometry. In addition, we evaluate the sensitivity of the algorithm to errors in the source locations and to band-limited noise in the input displacements. We also present initial inversion results for a microseismic data set acquired during hydraulic fracturing in a shale reservoir.     

Fault detection based on microseismic events

In unconventional reservoirs, small faults allow the flow of oil and gas as well as act as obstacles to exploration; for, (1) fracturing facilitates fluid migration, (2) reservoir flooding, and (3) triggering of small earthquakes. These small faults are not generally detected because of the low seismic resolution. However, such small faults are very active and release sufficient energy to initiate a large number of microseismic events (MEs) during hydraulic fracturing. In this study, we identified microfractures (MF) from hydraulic fracturing and natural small faults based on microseismicity characteristics, such as the time–space distribution, source mechanism, magnitude, amplitude, and frequency. First, I identified the mechanism of small faults and MF by reservoir stress analysis and calibrated the ME based on the microseismic magnitude. The dynamic characteristics (frequency and amplitude) of MEs triggered by natural faults and MF were analyzed; moreover, the geometry and activity types of natural fault and MF were grouped according to the source mechanism. Finally, the differences among time–space distribution, magnitude, source mechanism, amplitude, and frequency were used to differentiate natural faults and manmade fractures.     

Microseismic Full Waveform Modeling in Anisotropic Media with Moment Tensor Implementation

Seismic anisotropy which is common in shale and fractured rocks will cause travel-time and amplitude discrepancy in different propagation directions. For microseismic monitoring which is often implemented in shale or fractured rocks, seismic anisotropy needs to be carefully accounted for in source location and mechanism determination. We have developed an efficient finite-difference full waveform modeling tool with an arbitrary moment tensor source. The modeling tool is suitable for simulating wave propagation in anisotropic media for microseismic monitoring. As both dislocation and non-double-couple source are often observed in microseismic monitoring, an arbitrary moment tensor source is implemented in our forward modeling tool. The increments of shear stress are equally distributed on the staggered grid to implement an accurate and symmetric moment tensor source. Our modeling tool provides an efficient way to obtain the Green’s function in anisotropic media, which is the key of anisotropic moment tensor inversion and source mechanism characterization in microseismic monitoring. In our research, wavefields in anisotropic media have been carefully simulated and analyzed in both surface array and downhole array. The variation characteristics of travel-time and amplitude of direct P- and S-wave in vertical transverse isotropic media and horizontal transverse isotropic media are distinct, thus providing a feasible way to distinguish and identify the anisotropic type of the subsurface. Analyzing the travel-times and amplitudes of the microseismic data is a feasible way to estimate the orientation and density of the induced cracks in hydraulic fracturing. Our anisotropic modeling tool can be used to generate and analyze microseismic full wavefield with full moment tensor source in anisotropic media, which can help promote the anisotropic interpretation and inversion of field data.     

Consistency of stress state,locations and source mechanisms of events induced by hydraulic fracturing: downhole monitoring

We present results of processed microseismic events induced by hydraulic fracturing and detected using dual downhole monitoring arrays. The results provide valuable insight into hydraulic fracturing. For our study, we detected and located microseismic events and determined their magnitudes, source mechanisms and inverted stress field orientation. Event locations formed a distinct linear trend above the stimulated intervals. Source mechanisms were only computed for high‐quality events detected on a sufficient number of receivers. All the detected source mechanisms were dip‐slip mechanisms with steep and nearly horizontal nodal planes. The source mechanisms represented shear events and the non‐double‐couple components were very small. Such small, non‐double‐couple components are consistent with a noise level in the data and velocity model uncertainties. Strikes of inverted mechanisms corresponding to the nearly vertical fault plane are (within the error of measurements) identical with the strike of the location trend. Ambient principal stress directions were inverted from the source mechanisms. The least principal stress, σ₃, was determined perpendicular to the strike of the trend of the locations, indicating that the hydraulic fracture propagated in the direction of maximum horizontal stress. Our analysis indicated that the source mechanisms observed using downhole instruments are consistent with the source mechanisms observed in microseismic monitoring arrays in other locations. Furthermore, the orientation of the inverted principal components of the ambient stress field is in agreement with the orientation of the known regional stress, implying that microseismic events induced by hydraulic fracturing are controlled by the regional stress field.     

Local stress field inverted for a shale gas play based on focal mechanisms determined from the joint source scanning algorithm

The joint source scanning algorithm (SSA) scans locations and focal mechanisms of microseismic events simultaneously. Compared to the traditional source scanning algorithm, it yields much more events with extra information of focal mechanisms. The availability of more events and focal mechanisms make it possible to invert for a 2D gridded stress field. As a byproduct of hydrofracturing monitoring, the method offers a new way to extract stress field as a substitute to other more expensive technologies. This method is applied to a hydraulic fracturing dataset collected from one shale gas production field in the southeast of the Sichuan basin. A damped stress inversion is conducted to obtain a 2D stress field. five hydraulic-fracturing induced fractures can be determined from the result. The events associated with these fractures generally have relatively low stacked energy and are limited to the depth of horizontal well. One existing fault (possibly associated with the axis of the central Sichuan uplift) is also determined and the events associated with the existing fault generally have higher stacked energy and are more densely populated. The existing fault may also serve as a structural boundary where the rocks to the NW side are easier to be fractured while events on the other side are sparse with low stacked energy. The existing fault also divides the stress field into two regimes: the maximum compressional stress field to the NW and SE of the fault line are dominantly in NW-SE and N-S directions, respectively.     

Assessment of focal mechanisms of microseismic events computed from two three‐component receivers: application to the Arkema‐Vauvert field (France)

We have developed a method that enables computing double‐couple focal mechanisms with only a few sensors. This method is based on a non‐linear inversion of the P, Sv and Sh amplitudes of microseismic events recorded on a set of sensors. The information brought by the focal mechanism enables determining the geometry of the rupture on the associated geological structure. It also provides a better estimate of the conventional source parameters. Full analysis has been performed on a data set of 15 microseismic events recorded in the brine production field of Vauvert. The microseismic monitoring network consisted of two permanent tools and one temporary borehole string. The majority of the focal mechanisms computed from both permanent tools are similar to those computed from the whole network. This result indicates that the double‐couple focal mechanism determination is reliable for both permanent 3C receivers in this field.     

Interpretation of Microseismicity Resulting from Gel and Water Fracturing of Tight Gas Reservoirs

We provide a comparative analysis of the spatio-temporal dynamics of hydraulic fracturing-induced microseismicity resulting from gel and water treatments. We show that the growth of a hydraulic fracture and its corresponding microseismic event cloud can be described by a model which combines geometry- and diffusion-controlled processes. It allows estimation of important parameters of fracture and reservoir from microseismic data, and contributes to a better understanding of related physical processes. We further develop an approach based on this model and apply it to data from hydraulic fracturing experiments in the Cotton Valley tight gas reservoir. The treatments were performed with different parameters such as the type of treatment fluid, the injection flow rate, the total volume of fluid and of proppant. In case of a gel-based fracturing, the spatio-temporal evolution of induced microseismicity shows signatures of fracture volume growth, fracturing fluid loss, as well as diffusion of the injection pressure. In contrast, in a water-based fracturing the volume creation growth and the diffusion controlled growth are not clearly separated from each other in the space-time diagram of the induced event cloud. Still, using the approach presented here, the interpretation of induced seismicity for the gel and the water treatments resulted in similar estimates of geometrical characteristics of the fractures and hydraulic properties of the reservoir. The observed difference in the permeability of the particular hydraulic fractures is probably caused by the different volume of pumped proppant.     

三维地震与地面微地震联合校正方法

由于地面微地震监测台站布设在地表,会受到地表起伏、低降速带厚度和速度变化的影响,降低了微地震事件的识别准确度和定位精度,限制了地面微地震监测技术在复杂地表地区的应用.因此,将三维地震勘探技术的思路引入到地面微地震监测中,提出了三维地震与地面微地震联合校正方法,将油气勘探和开发技术更加紧密地结合在一起.根据三维地震数据和低降速带测量数据,通过约束层析反演方法建立精确的近地表速度模型,将地面微地震台站从起伏地表校正到高速层中的平滑基准面上,有效消除复杂近地表的影响.其次,根据射孔数据和声波测井速度信息,通过非线性反演方法建立最优速度模型,由于已经消除复杂近地表的影响,在进行速度模型优化时不需要考虑近地表的影响,因而建立的速度模型更加准确.最后,在精确速度模型的基础上,通过互相关方法求取剩余静校正量,进一步消除了复杂近地表和速度模型近似误差的影响.三维地震与地面微地震联合校正方法采用逐步校正的思路,能够有效消除复杂近地表的影响,提高微地震数据的品质和速度模型的精确度,保证了微地震事件的定位精度,具有良好的应用前景.     

Analysis of induced seismicity for stress field determination and pore pressure mapping

The focal mechanisms of some one hundred microseismic events induced by various water injections have been determined. Within the same depth interval, numerous stress measurements have been conducted with the HTPF method. When inverted simultaneously, the HTPF data and the focal plane solutions help determine the complete stress field in a fairly large volume of rock (about 15×10⁶ m³). These results demonstrate that hydraulically conductive fault zones are associated with local stress heterogeneities. Some of these stress heterogeneities correspond to local stress concentrations with principal stress magnitudes much larger than those of the regional stress field. They preclude the determination of the regional stress field from the sole inversion of focal mechanisms. In addition to determining the regional stress field, the integrated inversion of focal mechanisms and HTPF data help identify the fault plane for each for each of the focal mechanisms. These slip motions have been demonstrated to be consistent with Terzaghi's effective stress principle and a Coulomb friction law with a friction coefficient ranging from 0.65 to 0.9. This has been used for mapping the pore pressure in the rock mass. This mapping shows that induced seismicity does not outline zones of high flow rate but only zones of high pore pressure. For one fault zone where no significant flow has been observed, the local pore pressure has been found to be larger than the regional minimum principal stress but no hydraulic fracturing has been detected there.     

Detailed Fracture System of the Soultz-sous-Forêts HDR Field Evaluated Using Microseismic Multiplet Analysis

—?The reservoir structure of the Soultz HDR field has been investigated by examining induced microearthquake multiplets. Microseismic events with similar waveforms have been selected from microseismic data obtained during a 1993 hydraulic fracturing experiment. Precise relative arrival times and source locations have been determined by cross-spectrum analysis. The cross-spectrum analysis decreased the residual from 0.75?ms to 0.1?ms. The estimated orientations of the multiplet planes are consistent with fracture orientations detected in Soultz boreholes. A comparison between the stress field and the orientation of structural planes suggests that the structural planes were under a critical condition of frictional slip.     

Research Note: Sparsity‐Aware Multiple Microseismic Event Localization Blind to the Source Time‐Function

We consider the problem of simultaneously estimating three parameters of multiple microseimic events, i.e., the hypocenter, moment tensor, and origin time. This problem is of great interest because its solution could provide a better understanding of reservoir behavior and can help to optimize the hydraulic fracturing process. The existing approaches employing spatial source sparsity have advantages over traditional full‐wave inversion‐based schemes; however, their validity and accuracy depend on the knowledge of the source time‐function, which is lacking in practical applications. This becomes even more challenging when multiple microseimic sources appear simultaneously. To cope with this shortcoming, we propose to approach the problem from a frequency‐domain perspective and develop a novel sparsity‐aware framework that is blind to the source time‐function. Through our simulation results with synthetic data, we illustrate that our proposed approach can handle multiple microseismic sources and can estimate their hypocenters with an acceptable accuracy. The results also show that our approach can estimate the normalized amplitude of the moment tensors as a by‐product, which can provide worthwhile information about the nature of the sources.     

邻近算法在微地震震源位置和一维速度模型同时反演中的应用

微地震事件的空间分布可以用来监测水力压裂过程中裂缝的发育情况。因此,震源定位是微震监测中重要的环节。震源定位依赖准确的速度模型,而震源位置和速度模型的耦合易导致线性迭代的同时反演方法陷入局部极小值。邻近算法作为一种非线性全局优化算法,能够最大程度地避免陷入局部最优解。本文将邻近算法应用于单井监测的微震定位和一维速度模型同时反演,首先利用邻近算法搜索一维速度模型,再使用网格搜索方法进行震源定位,并根据定位的走时残差产生新的速度模型,最后通过若干次迭代使其收敛到最优解。理论和实际数据结果均表明该方法能够避免局部最优解,得到较为可靠的震源位置和一维速度模型。     

微地震方法的裂缝监测与储层评价

在油田水力压裂微地震事件定位结果的基础上,结合有效微地震事件的时空分布、震级大小、地震矩、震源半径、应力降和b值等地震学参数进行综合研究,并结合研究区域的地质背景和测井资料对水力压裂诱发的裂缝网络进行几何形态分析和应力解释.本文提出的微地震综合分析解释方法可对压裂后储层物性进行综合评价,有利于对储层改造效果进行预测,对油田的水力压裂施工具有指导意义.     

Effective anisotropic velocity model from surface monitoring of microseismic events

We develop a methodology to obtain a consistent velocity model from calibration shots or microseismicity observed on a buried array. Using a layered 1D isotropic model derived from checkshots as an initial velocity model, we invert P‐wave arrival times to obtain effective anisotropic parameters with a vertical axis of symmetry (VTI). The nonlinear inversion uses iteration between linearized inversion for anisotropic parameters and origin times or depths, which is specific to microseismic monitoring. We apply this technique to multiple microseismic events from several treatments within a buried array. The joint inversion of selected events shows a largely reduced RMS error indicating that we can obtain robust estimates of anisotropic parameters, however we do not show improved source locations. For joint inversion of multiple microseismic events we obtained Thomsen anisotropic parameters ε of 0.15 and δ of 0.05, which are consistent with values observed in active seismic surveys. These values allow us to locate microseismic events from multiple hydraulic fracture treatments separated across thousands of metres with a single velocity model. As a result, we invert the effective anisotropy for the buried array region and are able to provide a more consistent microseismicity mapping for past and future hydraulic fracture stimulations.     

卷积神经网络在地面微地震多道P波极性分类中的应用

微地震监测技术是监测水力压裂过程、评价压裂效果的重要手段。对于地面监测,P波极性能够直接、快速地反演震源机制,同时极性校正能够提高绕射叠加定位方法的成像精度。因此,准确而迅速地确定P波极性对地面微地震实时监测具有重要意义。卷积神经网络是一种深度学习算法,具有强大的特征学习与分类能力,可用来确定微地震事件的P波极性。地面监测多采用星型、网格型等规则观测系统,本文使用目标道及其相邻检波器记录作为输入样本,构建基于卷积神经网络的多道P波极性分类网络模型。实际数据应用结果表明,相比于单道记录的网络模型,多道的网络模型能够将目标道与相邻道相结合来预测目标道的极性,提高规则观测系统下地面微地震P波极性分类的准确率。     

Imaging pre‐existing natural fractures using microseismic data

In hydraulic fracturing treatments, locating not only hydraulic fractures but also any pre‐existing natural fractures and faults in a subsurface reservoir is very important. Hydraulic fractures can be tracked by locating microseismic events, but to identify the locations of natural fractures, an additional technique is required. In this paper, we present a method to image pre‐existing fractures and faults near a borehole with virtual reverse vertical seismic profiling data or virtual single‐well profiling data (limited to seismic reflection data) created from microseismic monitoring using seismic interferometry. The virtual source data contain reflections from natural fractures and faults, and these features can be imaged by applying migration to the virtual source data. However, the imaging zone of fractures in the proposed method is strongly dependent on the geographic extent of the microseismic events and the location and direction of the fracture. To verify our method, we produced virtual reverse vertical seismic profiling and single‐well profiling data from synthetic microseismic data and compared them with data from real sources in the same relative position as the virtual sources. The results show that the reflection travel times from the fractures in the virtual source data agree well with travel times in the real‐source data. By applying pre‐stack depth migration to the virtual source data, images of the natural fractures were obtained with accurate locations. However, the migrated section of the single‐well profiling data with both real and virtual sources contained spurious fracture images on the opposite side of the borehole. In the case of virtual single‐well profiling data, we could produce correct migration images of fractures by adopting directional redatuming for which the occurrence region of microseismic events is divided into several subdivisions, and fractures located only on the opposite side of the borehole are imaged for each subdivision.