Bayesian seismic inversion for estimating fluid content and fracture parameters in a gas-saturated fractured porous reservoir

Understanding the effects of in situ fluid content and fracture parameters on seismic characteristics is important for the subsurface exploration and production of fractured porous rocks. The ratio of normal-to-shear fracture compliance is typically utilized as a fluid indicator to evaluate anisotropy and identify fluids filling the fractures, but it represents an underdetermined problem because this fluid indicator varies as a function of both fracture geometry and fluid content. On the bases of anisotropic Gassmann's equation and linear-slip model, we suggest an anisotropic poroelasticity model for fractured porous reservoirs. By combining a perturbed stiffness matrix and asymptotic ray theory, we then construct a direct relationship between the PP-wave reflection coefficients and characteristic parameters of fluids(P-and S-wave moduli) and fractures(fracture quasi-weaknesses), thereby decoupling the effects of fluid and fracture properties on seismic reflection characterization.By incorporating fracture quasi-weakness parameters, we propose a novel parameterization method for elastic impedance variation with offset and azimuth(EIVOA). By incorporating wide-azimuth observable seismic reflection data with regularization constraints, we utilize Bayesian seismic inversion to estimate the fluid content and fracture parameters of fractured porous rocks. Tests on synthetic and real data demonstrate that fluid and fracture properties can be reasonably estimated directly from azimuthal seismic data and the proposed approach provides a reliable method for fluid identification and fracture characterization in a gas-saturated fractured porous reservoir.     

Model of a porous medium with an elastic fractured skeleton

The model of a saturated porous medium with a brittle deformable skeleton is formulated in an isothermal approximation. The general form of governing equations is found, which is necessary and sufficient to fulfill the principles of objectivity and thermodynamic consistency. It is shown that the kinetics of developing the ensemble of microcracks, determined by the derivative of the elastic potential of the skeleton with respect to the fracture parameter, results in a nonnegative dissipation of the scattered destruction with any type of loading. For small deviations from the initial state, a new elastic potential is proposed which has made it possible to describe the main irregularities of the behavior of the medium in question. The solution of the problem about the consolidation of a saturated porous half-space with a brittle skeleton under a normal load has been constructed.     

Estimation of water cloud model vegetation parameters using a genetic algorithm

Abstract

The water cloud model is used to account for the effect of vegetation water content on radar backscatter data. The model generally comprises two parameters that characterize the vegetated terrain, A and B, and two bare soil parameters, C and D. In the present study, parameters A and B were estimated using a genetic algorithm (GA) optimization technique and compared with estimates obtained by the sequential unconstrained minimization technique (SUMT) from measured backscatter data. The parameter estimation was formulated as a least squares optimization problem by minimizing the deviations between the backscatter coefficients retrieved from the ENVISAT ASAR image and those predicted by the water cloud model. The bias induced by three different objective functions was statistically analysed by generating synthetic backscatter data. It was observed that, when the backscatter coefficient data contain no errors, the objective functions do not induce any bias in the parameter estimation and the true parameters are uniquely identified. However, in the presence of noise, these objective functions induce bias in the parameter estimates. For the cases considered, the objective function based on the sum of squares of normalized deviations with respect to the computed backscatter coefficient resulted in the best possible estimates. A comparison of the GA technique with the SUMT was undertaken in estimating the water cloud model parameters. For the case considered, the GA technique performed better than the SUMT in parameter estimation, where the root mean squared error obtained from the GA was about half of that obtained by the SUMT.

Editor D. Koutsoyiannis; Associate editor L. See

Citation Kumar, K., Hari Prasad, K.S. and Arora, M.K., 2012. Estimation of water cloud model vegetation parameters using a genetic algorithm. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 57 (4), 776–789.     

双相介质中地震波衰减的物理机制

High-frequency seismic attenuation is conventionally attributed to anelastic absorption. In this paper, I present three studies on high-frequency seismic attenuation and propose that the physical mechanism results from the interference of elastic microscopic multiple scattering waves. First, I propose a new theory on wave propagation in a two-phase medium which is based on the concept that the basic unit for wave propagation is a nano- mass point. As a result of the elasticity variations of pore fluid and rock framework, micro multiple scattering waves would emerge at the wavelength of the seismic waves passing through the two-phase medium and their interference and overlap would generate high- frequency seismic attenuation. Second, I present a study of the frequency response of seismic transmitted waves by modeling thin-layers with thicknesses no larger than pore diameters. Results indicate that high-frequency seismic waves attenuate slightly in a near-surface water zone but decay significantly in a near-surface gas zone. Third, I analyze the seismic attenuation characteristics in near-surface water and gas zones using dual-well shots in the Songliao Basin, and demonstrate that the high-frequency seismic waves attenuate slightly in water zones but in gas zones the 160-1600 Hz propagating waves decay significantly. The seismic attenuation characteristics from field observations coincide with the modeling results. Conclusions drawn from these studies theoretically support seismic attenuation recovery.     

A numerical method for two-phase flow in fractured porous media with non-matching grids

We propose a novel computational method for the efficient simulation of two-phase flow in fractured porous media. Instead of refining the grid to capture the flow along the faults or fractures, we represent the latter as immersed interfaces, using a reduced model for the flow and suitable coupling conditions. We allow for non matching grids between the porous matrix and the fractures to increase the flexibility of the method in realistic cases. We employ the extended finite element method for the Darcy problem and a finite volume method that is able to handle cut cells and matrix-fracture interactions for the saturation equation. Moreover, we address through numerical experiments the problem of the choice of a suitable numerical flux in the case of a discontinuous flux function at the interface between the fracture and the porous matrix. A wrong approximate solution of the Riemann problem can yield unphysical solutions even in simple cases.     

Upscaling of a dual-permeability Monte Carlo simulation model for contaminant transport in fractured networks by genetic algorithm parameter identification

The transport of radionuclides in fractured media plays a fundamental role in determining the level of risk offered by a radioactive waste repository in terms of expected doses. Discrete fracture networks methods can provide detailed solutions to the problem of modeling the contaminant transport in fractured media. However, within the framework of the performance assessment (PA) of radioactive waste repositories, the computational efforts required are not compatible with the repeated calculations that need to be performed for the probabilistic uncertainty and sensitivity analyses of PA. In this paper, we present a novel upscaling approach, which consists in computing the detailed numerical fractured flow and transport solutions on a small scale and use the results to derive the equivalent continuum parameters of a lean, one-dimensional dual-permeability, Monte Carlo simulation model by means of a genetic algorithm search. The proposed upscaling procedure is illustrated with reference to a realistic case study of $ {}^{239}{\text{Pu}} $ migration taken from literature.     

裂缝介质旋转交错网格正演模拟

油气勘探实践表明, 裂缝是油气的储存空间或运移通道, 裂缝介质地震波场的研究越来越受到关注. 实际地层中裂缝形成受多种因素控制, 物理属性比较复杂, 表现出强烈的各向异性. 由于上覆地层的压力使得水平或低陡倾角裂缝存在较少, 大多数为高陡倾角裂缝, 利用线性滑动裂缝介质的等效理论将高陡倾角裂缝介质等效为横向各向同性介质, 便于实际应用. 本文采用各向异性弹性波旋转交错网格模拟方法对含裂缝介质单炮记录进行模拟与分析. 结果表明: 裂缝的存在相当于人为增加反射界面; 裂缝密度越大, 裂缝纵横比越小, 裂缝充填物与背景介质弹性性质差别越大, 引起的反射波能量变化越大. 本文模拟结果为利用地震数据进行裂缝介质参数反演与储层识别及油气预测提供了依据.      

改进的模拟退火算法及其在叠前储层参数反演中的应用

快速模拟退火算法中,要求扰动后新的模型参数必须在取值范围内,对此,人们通常采用两种方法:(1)反复扰动直到新的模型参数满足要求;(2)当新的模型参数超过最大值时,参数等于最大值;新的模型参数小于最小值时,参数等于最小值.研究发现,方法1在计算过程中增加了寻找新模型参数的时间开销,计算效率明显降低;方法2当目标函数在边界或边界的小邻域存在多个极小值时,在有限的时间内,其陷入局部极小的概率大大增加,优化效果明显下降.本文在前人研究的基础上提出了改进的模拟退火算法,同时利用改进的算法反演了地层泊松比、纵波速度和密度.结果表明,改进的算法加快了模拟退火算法的收敛速度,提高了模拟退火算法的效率和精度.     

An efficient numerical model for incompressible two-phase flow in fractured media

Various numerical methods have been used in the literature to simulate single and multiphase flow in fractured media. A promising approach is the use of the discrete-fracture model where the fracture entities in the permeable media are described explicitly in the computational grid. In this work, we present a critical review of the main conventional methods for multiphase flow in fractured media including the finite difference (FD), finite volume (FV), and finite element (FE) methods, that are coupled with the discrete-fracture model. All the conventional methods have inherent limitations in accuracy and applications. The FD method, for example, is restricted to horizontal and vertical fractures. The accuracy of the vertex-centered FV method depends on the size of the matrix gridcells next to the fractures; for an acceptable accuracy the matrix gridcells next to the fractures should be small. The FE method cannot describe properly the saturation discontinuity at the matrix–fracture interface. In this work, we introduce a new approach that is free from the limitations of the conventional methods. Our proposed approach is applicable in 2D and 3D unstructured griddings with low mesh orientation effect; it captures the saturation discontinuity from the contrast in capillary pressure between the rock matrix and fractures. The matrix–fracture and fracture–fracture fluxes are calculated based on powerful features of the mixed finite element (MFE) method which provides, in addition to the gridcell pressures, the pressures at the gridcell interfaces and can readily model the pressure discontinuities at impermeable faults in a simple way. To reduce the numerical dispersion, we use the discontinuous Galerkin (DG) method to approximate the saturation equation. We take advantage of a hybrid time scheme to alleviate the restrictions on the size of the time step in the fracture network. Several numerical examples in 2D and 3D demonstrate the robustness of the proposed model. Results show the significance of capillary pressure and orders of magnitude increase in computational speed compared to previous works.     

Seismic waves in cracked two-phase anisotropic medium with fourfold rotation symmetry

IntroductionBasedontheresearchresultSofmanyintemalandextemalseismologiSts,mediuminseis-mogeniczonemaybethecrackedinordermediumsaturatedwithfluid(airorwater),namely,two-phaseanisotropicmedium.Inseismicprospecting,oilorgasreservoirrockmayaPproachtothecrackedtwo-phaseanisotropicmediumtoo.Therefore,thefiJrtherstudyonpropagaiontheoryofseismicwavesintWo-phaseanisotropicmediumpossessestheoreticalsignificanceandaPPlicationprospects-Inthispaper,onthebasisofthetheoryofseismicwavesinanuid-sbedporousso…     

Using a hybrid genetic algorithm–simulated annealing algorithm for fuzzy programming of reservoir operation

We present a novel approach for optimizing reservoir operation through fuzzy programming and a hybrid evolution algorithm, i.e. genetic algorithm (GA) with simulated annealing (SA). In the analysis, objectives and constraints of reservoir operation are transformed by fuzzy programming for searching the optimal degree of satisfaction. In the hybrid search procedure, the GA provides a global search and the SA algorithm provides local search. This approach was investigated to search the optimizing operation scheme of Shihmen Reservoir in Taiwan. Monthly inflow data for three years reflecting different hydrological conditions and a consecutive 10‐year period were used. Comparisons were made with the existing M‐5 reservoir operation rules. The results demonstrate that: (1) fuzzy programming could effectively formulate the reservoir operation scheme into degree of satisfaction α among the users and constraints; (2) the hybrid GA‐SA performed much better than the current M‐5 operating rules. Analysis also found the hybrid GA‐SA conducts parallel analyses that increase the probability of finding an optimal solution while reducing computation time for reservoir operation. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A mixed-dimensional finite volume method for two-phase flow in fractured porous media

We present a vertex-centered finite volume method for the fully coupled, fully implicit discretization of two-phase flow in fractured porous media. Fractures are discretely modeled as lower dimensional elements. The method works on unstructured, locally refined grids and on parallel computers with distributed memory. An implicit time discretization is employed and the nonlinear systems of equations are solved with a parallel Newton-multigrid method. Results from two-dimensional and three-dimensional simulations are presented.     

Regional flow simulation in fractured aquifers using stress-dependent parameters

A model function relating effective stress to fracture permeability is developed from Hooke's law, implemented in the tensorial form of Darcy's law, and used to evaluate discharge rates and pressure distributions at regional scales. The model takes into account elastic and statistical fracture parameters, and is able to simulate real stress-dependent permeabilities from laboratory to field studies. This modeling approach gains in phenomenology in comparison to the classical ones because the permeability tensors may vary in both strength and principal directions according to effective stresses. Moreover this method allows evaluation of the fracture porosity changes, which are then translated into consolidation of the medium.     

利用叠前地震数据预测裂缝储层的应用研究

叠前地震资料储层预测技术是在Zoeppritz方程基础上发展起来的,通过处理地震数据随着不同入射角地震反射属性,得到地震属性随着入射角变化而改变,研究分析得到反映岩性变化的纵波速度、横波速度、泊松比和截距与梯度剖面,预测裂缝储层的发育及分布.同时根据不同方位角地震资料属性,计算得到不同方位角目的层的属性差异,使用各向异性椭圆公式作拟合,求出背景趋势A和各向异性因子B,利用最大振幅包络方位和对应θ,求出裂缝发育优势方向,及B/A各向异性因子,实现对裂缝储层预测.     

Applying a real‐coded multi‐population genetic algorithm to multi‐reservoir operation

The primary objective of this study is to propose a real‐coded hypercubic distributed genetic algorithm (HDGA) for optimizing reservoir operation system. A conventional genetic algorithm (GA) is often trapped into local optimums during the optimization procedure. To prevent premature convergence and to obtain near‐global optimal solutions, the HDGA is designed to have various subpopulations that are processed using separate and parallel GAs. The hypercubic topology with a small diameter spreads good solutions rapidly throughout all of the subpopulations, and a migration mechanism, which exchanges chromosomes among the subpopulations, exchanges information during the joint optimization to maintain diversity and thus avoid a systematic premature convergence toward a single local optimum. Three genetic operators, i.e. linear ranking selection, blend‐α crossover and Gaussian mutation, are applied to search for the optimal reservoir releases. First, a benchmark problem, the four‐reservoir operation system, is considered to investigate the applicability and effectiveness of the proposed approach. The results show that the known global optimal solution can be effectively and stably achieved by the HDGA. The HDGA is then applied in the planning of a multi‐reservoir system in northern Taiwan, considering a water reservoir development scenario to the year 2021. The results searched by an HDGA minimize the water deficit of this reservoir system and provide much better performance than the conventional GA in terms of obtaining lower values of the objective function and avoiding local optimal solutions. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Determining hypocentral parameters for local earthquakes under ill conditions using genetic algorithm

We demonstrate that GA-MHYPO determines accurate hypocentral parameters for local earthquakes under ill conditions, such as limited number of stations (phase data), large azimuthal gap, and noisy data. The genetic algorithm (GA) in GA-MHYPO searches for the optimal 1-D velocity structure which provides the minimum traveltime differences between observed (true) and calculated P and S arrivals within prescribed ranges. GA-MHYPO is able to determine hypocentral parameters more accurately in many circumstances than conventional methods which rely on an a priori (and possibly incorrect) 1-D velocity model. In our synthetic tests, the accuracy of hypocentral parameters obtained by GA-MHYPO given ill conditions is improved by more than a factor of 20 for error-free data, and by a factor of five for data with errors, compared to that obtained by conventional methods such as HYPOINVERSE. In the case of error-free data, GA-MHYPO yields less than 0.1 km errors in focal depths and hypocenters without strong dependence on azimuthal coverage up to 45°. Errors are less than 1 km for data with errors of a 0.1-s standard deviation. To test the performance using real data, a well-recorded earthquake in the New Madrid seismic zone and earthquakes recorded under ill conditions in the High Himalaya are relocated by GA-MHYPO. The hypocentral parameters determined by GA-MHYPO under both good and ill conditions show similar computational results, which suggest that GA-MHYPO is robust and yields more reliable hypocentral parameters than standard methods under ill conditions for natural earthquakes.     

Effects of pore fluid pressure on the seismic response of a fractured carbonate reservoir

An effective medium model for the stress-dependent seismic properties of fractured reservoirs is developed here on the basis of a combination of a general theory of viscoelastic waves in rock-like composites with recently published formulae for deformation of communicating and interacting cavities (interconnected pores/cracks and fractures at finite concentration) under drained loading. The inclusion-based model operates with spheroidal cavities at two different length scales; namely, the microscopic scale of the pores and (grain-boundary) cracks, and the mesoscopic scale of the fractures (controlling the flow of fluid). The different cavity types can in principle have any orientation and aspect ratio, but the microscopic pores/cracks and mesoscopic fractures were here assumed to be randomly and vertically oriented, respectively. By using three different aspect ratios for the relatively round pores (representing the stiff part of the pore space) and a distribution of aspect ratios for the relatively flat cracks (representing the compliant part of the pore space), we obtained a good fit between theoretical predictions and ultrasonic laboratory measurements on an unfractured rock sample under dry conditions. By using a single aspect ratio for the mesoscopic fractures, we arrived at a higher-order microstructural model of fractured porous media which represents a generalization of the first-order model developed by Chapman et al. (2002,2003). The effect of cavity size was here modelled under the assumption that the characteristic time for wave-induced (squirt) flow at the scale of a particular cavity (pore/crack vs. fracture) is proportional with the relevant scale-size. In the modelling, we investigate the effect of a decreasing pore pressure with constant confining pressure (fixed depth), and hence, increasing effective pressure. The analysis shows that the attenuation-peak due to the mesoscopic fractures in the reservoir will move downward in frequency as the effective pressure increases. In the range of seismic frequencies, our modelling indicates that the P-wave velocities may change by more than 20% perpendicular to the fractures and close to 10% parallel to the fractures. In comparison, the vertical S-wave velocities change by only about 5% for both polarization directions (perpendicular and parallel to the fractures) when the effective pressure increases from 0 to 15 MPa. This change is mainly due to the overall change in porosity with pressure. The weak pressure dependence is a consequence of the fact that the S waves will only sense if the fractures are open or not, and since all the fractures have the same aspect ratio, they will close at the same effective pressure (which is outside the analysed interval). Approximate reflection coefficients were computed for a model consisting of the fractured reservoir embedded as a layer in an isotropic shale and analysed with respect to variations in Amplitude Versus Offset and aZimuth (AVOZ) properties at seismic frequencies for increasing effective pressure. For the P-P reflections at the top of the reservoir, it is found that there is a significant dependence on effective pressure, but that the variations with azimuth and offset are small. The lack of azimuthal dependence may be explained from the approximate reflection coefficient formula as a result of cancellation of terms related to the S-wave velocity and the Thomson’s anisotropy parameter δ. For the P-S reflection, the azimuthal dependence is larger, but the pressure dependence is weaker (due to a single aspect ratio for the fractures). Finally, using the effective stiffness tensor for the fractured reservoir model with a visco-elastic finite-difference code, synthetic seismograms and hodograms were computed. From the seismograms, attenuation changes in the P wave reflected at the bottom of the reservoir can be observed as the effective pressure increases. S waves are not much affected by the fractures with respect to attenuation, but azimuthal dependence is stronger than for P waves, and S-wave splitting in the bottom reservoir P-S reflection is clearly seen both in the seismograms and hodograms. From the hodograms, some variation in the P-S reflection with effective pressure can also be observed.     

Anisotropic effective conductivity in fractured rocks by explicit effective medium methods

In this work, we assess the use of explicit methods for estimating the effective conductivity of anisotropic fractured media. Explicit methods are faster and simpler to use than implicit methods but may have a more limited range of validity. Five explicit methods are considered: the Maxwell approximation, the T‐matrix method, the symmetric and asymmetric weakly self‐consistent methods, and the weakly differential method, where the two latter methods are novelly constructed in this paper. For each method, we develop simplified expressions applicable to flat spheroidal “penny‐shaped” inclusions. The simplified expressions are accurate to the first order in the ratio of fracture thickness to fracture diameter. Our analysis shows that the conductivity predictions of the methods fall within known upper and lower bounds, except for the T‐matrix method at high fracture densities and the symmetric weakly self‐consistent method when applied to very thin fractures. Comparisons with numerical results show that all the methods give reliable estimates for small fracture densities. For high fracture densities, the weakly differential method is the most accurate if the fracture geometry is non‐percolating or the fracture/matrix conductivity contrast is small. For percolating conductive fracture networks, we have developed a scaling relation that can be applied to the weakly self‐consistent methods to give conductivity estimates that are close to the results from numerical simulations.     

An equivalent medium model for wave simulation in fractured porous rocks

Seismic wave propagation in reservoir rocks is often strongly affected by fractures and micropores. Elastic properties of fractured reservoirs are studied using a fractured porous rock model, in which fractures are considered to be embedded in a homogeneous porous background. The paper presents an equivalent media model for fractured porous rocks. Fractures are described in a stress‐strain relationship in terms of fracture‐induced anisotropy. The equations of poroelasticity are used to describe the background porous matrix and the contents of the fractures are inserted into a matrix. Based on the fractured equivalent‐medium theory and Biot's equations of poroelasticity, two sets of porosity are considered in a constitutive equation. The porous matrix permeability and fracture permeability are analysed by using the continuum media seepage theory in equations of motion. We then design a fractured porous equivalent medium and derive the modified effective constants for low‐frequency elastic constants due to the presence of fractures. The expressions of elastic constants are concise and are directly related to the properties of the main porous matrix, the inserted fractures and the pore fluid. The phase velocity and attenuation of the fractured porous equivalent media are investigated based on this model. Numerical simulations are performed. We show that the fractures and pores strongly influence wave propagation, induce anisotropy and cause poroelastic behaviour in the wavefields. We observe that the presence of fractures gives rise to changes in phase velocity and attenuation, especially for the slow P‐wave in the direction parallel to the fracture plane.     

地球介质的非定常参数黏弹模型

用开尔文黏弹模型对实验蠕变曲线和冰后期地面抬升观测曲线进行反演,得到相关的黏弹参数,发现所有的黏弹参数都随实验（或观测）时间长度发生有规律的变化, 表明黏弹参数是实验(或观测)时间的函数.在此基础上提出非定常参数的黏弹模型,将通常采用的剪切模量μ2、弛豫时间τ 和黏度η 相应地从常数修正为时间的函数μ2(t)、τ(t) 和η（t）,检验表明修正后的开尔文模型可以更好地符合实测蠕变曲线.用修正后的μ2(t)对软流层的黏度进行估算,其值约为4.6×1020 Pa·s.