Source measurement effect on high fidelity vibratory seismic separation

High Fidelity Vibratory Seismic (HFVS) acquisition and separation can play an important role in today's land acquisition schemes. The method – in which multiple vibrators are swept simultaneously using sweeps with known phase encoding and then the data are inverted and separated into individual records – can improve productivity in the field and at the same time improve signal characteristics in the data. It relies on the measured weighted sum of accelerations (base plate and reaction mass) to invert the acquired data and separate the individual vibrator responses. Separation can be sub-optimal if the measured motions vary from the 'true source' input into the ground. Differences in true source and measured source can arise due to poor coupling between vibrators and ground, soil compaction or other factors. Using both a synthetic model and real data, we show that if the true source changes between sweeps but is not measured, vibrator responses can leak into adjacent vibrator responses upon separation. In a recent survey with HFVS acquisition, we observed a 25–30 dB separation between adjacent vibrators, which could be improved with greater reliability of the source measurement. The vibrator leakage can reduce the data quality considerably. We discuss the results of this survey and show that separation is affected by source measurement error. Further, we conclude that it is necessary either 1) to use source measurements that can capture the variability of the true source between sweeps or 2) to compensate for the source measurement variations in processing or in acquisition.     

Marine vibrators: the new phase of seismic exploration

Marine seismic vibrators are generally considered to be less intrusive than airguns from an environmental perspective. This is because they emit their energy spread out in time, rather than in a single, high-intensity pulse. There are also significant geophysical benefits associated with marine vibrators, and they stem from the ability to specify in detail the output acoustic waveform. The phase can be specified independently at each frequency. Such detailed control cannot be achieved with conventional airgun sources, where the phase can only be modified using simple overall time delays. The vibrator phase can be employed in several different ways: it can be applied to the overall source phase in a sequence so that it varies from one source point to the next; it can be applied to the individual vibrators within the source array so the source directivity is changed; it can be applied to the overall source phase of each source in a simultaneous source acquisition. Carefully designed phase sequences can attenuate the residual source noise, and this in turn allows extra source points to be interleaved between the conventional ones. For these extra source points, the relative phase of the vibrators within the array can be chosen to create a transverse gradient source, which illuminates the earth predominantly in directions out of the plane of the sail line without left/right ambiguity. If seismic vibrator data are acquired using interleaved conventional and transverse gradient sweeps, more information is collected per kilometre of vessel travel than is the case in conventional acquisition. This richer data acquisition leads to the possibility of acquiring all the necessary seismic data in a shorter time. Three-dimensional reconstruction techniques are used to recover the same image quality that would have been obtained using the conventional, more time-consuming acquisition. For a marine vibrator to be suitable for these techniques it must, in general terms, have ‘high fidelity’. The precise device specifications are defined through realistic end-to-end simulations of the physical systems and the processing. The specifications are somewhat more onerous than for a conventional vibrator, but they are achievable. A prototype vibrator that satisfies these requirements has been built. In a simulated case study of a three-dimensional deep-water ocean bottom node survey, the seismic data could have been acquired using marine vibrators in one third of the time that it would have taken using airguns.     

消除滑动扫描地震数据中谐波干扰的反相关方法(英文)

滑动扫描技术是高效、高保真、环保的可控震源勘探技术之一,是下一组震源不必等待上一组震源震动结束即可开始震动的高效采集方法。该技术由于缩短了相邻两炮的等待时间,使得生产效率得到显著提高。但是后一炮的谐波畸变与前一炮的基波信号混叠在一起,不易分离,在相关后的地震记录上形成了严重的谐波干扰,降低了地震资料的质量。本文提出一种反相关方法来压制滑动扫描地震数据中的谐波干扰。该方法首先把地面力信号分解为基波和各阶谐波分量;然后将后一炮的相关前数据分别与各分量相关,只选取正时间轴中对应分量的自相关部分,利用各分量的反相关算子提取各阶谐波信息;最后从前一炮数据中减去提取出的高阶谐波,得到压制谐波后的地震记录。该方法对有效信号影响小,可同时处理相关前和相关后数据,而且算法简单稳定,计算效率高。本文分别对理论模型和实际数据进行处理,验证了该方法消除谐波干扰的有效性。     

Orthogonal vibroseis sweeps

Vibroseis is a method that imparts coded seismic energy into the ground. The energy is recorded with geophones and then processed using the known (coded) input signal. The resulting time‐domain representation of vibroseis data is an impulsive wavetrain with wavelet properties consistent with the coded input signal convolved with the earth's reflectivity series. Historically, vibratory seismic surveys collect data from one source location at a time, summing one or more sources at each location. We present a method of designing orthogonal sweeps using the concept of combisweeps. The orthogonal sweeps allow simultaneous recording and later separation of two or more unique source locations. Orthogonality of sweeps permits separation of the data into unique source‐location field records by a conventional correlation procedure. The separation power of the orthogonal sweeps is demonstrated by a comparison between separated data and data acquired with one vibrator. Separation noise was at a negligible level for our demonstration data sets when two vibrators were located 50 m to 200 m apart. Coincident generation and recording of two vibroseis sweeps at different locations would allow almost double the amount of data to be recorded for a given occupation time and requires only half the storage medium.     

COMBISWEEP—A CONTRIBUTION TO SWEEP TECHNIQUES*

Nonlinear sweeps have often successfully been employed in the 1960s. However, this area of sweep technology has been neglected since the introduction of digital recording techniques in the Vibroseis system. Now the advent of computerized recording instruments yields a new economical possibility of forming approximately nonlinear sweeps by combining several linear sweeps with or without time gaps to a “Combisweep”. The total duration of a Combisweep may be as long as the maximum available recording time, for example 32 s. Beside the attenuation of correlation noise, the new method has further merits, such as the weighting of predetermined frequency ranges, in order to effect a certain kind of optimum filtering on the emitter side, or in order to compensate to some degree for frequency dependent absorption. In all these applications the Combisweep is considered as one signal in the correlation process. But by correlating with the individual sweeps or a partial combination of them and by applying automatic switching at predetermined times within the gaps between the individual sweeps additional possibilities arise, such as obtaining in one run with a twenty-four channel recording unit twenty-four traces with small distances between vibrators and geophones for shallow reflections and another twenty-four traces with larger distances for deeper reflections. Various Combisweeps and their applications are presented.     

Filtering vibroseis data in the precorrelation domain

Vibroseis data recorded at short source–receiver offsets can be swamped by direct waves from the source. The signal-to-noise ratio, where primary reflections are the signal and correlation side lobes are the noise, decreases with time and late reflection events are overwhelmed. This leads to low seismic resolution on the vibroseis correlogram. A new precorrelation filtering approach is proposed to suppress correlation noise. It is the ‘squeeze-filter-unsqueeze’ (SFU) process, a combination of ‘squeeze’ and ‘unsqueeze’ (S and U) transformations, together with the application of either an optimum least-squares filter or a linear recursive notch filter. SFU processing provides excellent direct wave removal if the onset time of the direct wave is known precisely, but when the correlation recognition method used to search for the first arrival fails, the SFU filtering will also fail. If the tapers of the source sweeps are badly distorted, a harmonic distortion will be introduced into the SFU-filtered trace. SFU appears to be more suitable for low-noise vibroseis data, and more effective when we know the sweep tapers exactly. SFU requires uncorrelated data, and is thus cpu intensive, but since it is automatic, it is not labour intensive. With non-linear sweeps, there are two approaches to the S,U transformations in SFU. The first requires the non-linear analytical sweep formula, and the second is to search and pick the zero nodes on the recorded pilot trace and then carry out the S,U transformations directly without requiring the algorithm or formula by which the sweep was generated. The latter method is also valid for vibroseis data with a linear sweep. SFU may be applied to the removal of any undesired signal, as long as the exact onset time of the unwanted signal in the precorrelation domain is known or determinable.     

Pushing the vibrator ground-force envelope towards low frequencies

Several mechanical and hydraulic limitations hinder the ground-force energy output of a seismic vibrator at low frequencies. The hydraulic pump flow, pump response time, reaction mass stroke, servo valve stroke, engine horsepower, accumulator size, harmonic distortion and vehicle chassis isolation each play a role in limiting the ground-force energy output of vibrators. In addition, the peak-decoupling force – which is defined as the smaller value of either the maximum peak force or the hold-down weight – also plays a role in limiting ground-force energy production. A model useful for simulating seismic vibrator dynamics is developed to evaluate the impact of these parameters on the vibrator fundamental force envelope at low frequencies. Model data show that among these factors the reaction mass stroke and the peak-decoupling force are key parameters for setting the target fundamental force that can be achieved at low frequencies. Formulas are derived to estimate fundamental force, peak force and the reaction mass displacement. These formulas can serve as guidelines for sweep designers who plan to design low frequency sweeps with considerable dwell time in the lower frequency ranges. Test data show that formulas can be used to profile the vibrator envelope at low frequencies.     

Review of vibroseis data acquisition and processing for better amplitudes: adjusting the sweep and deconvolving for the time-derivative of the true groundforce

The goal of vibroseis data acquisition and processing is to produce seismic reflection data with a known spatially-invariant wavelet, preferably zero phase, such that any variations in the data can be attributed to variations in geology. In current practice the vibrator control system is designed to make the estimated groundforce equal to the sweep and the resulting particle velocity data are cross-correlated with the sweep. Since the downgoing far-field particle velocity signal is proportional to the time-derivative of the groundforce, it makes more sense to cross-correlate with the time-derivative of the sweep. It also follows that the ideal amplitude spectrum of the groundforce should be inversely proportional to frequency. Because of non-linearities in the vibrator, bending of the baseplate and variable coupling of the baseplate to the ground, the true groundforce is not equal to the pre-determined sweep and varies not only from vibrator point to vibrator point but also from sweep to sweep at each vibrator point. To achieve the goal of a spatially-invariant wavelet, these variations should be removed by signature deconvolution, converting the wavelet to a much shorter zero-phase wavelet but with the same bandwidth and signal-to-noise ratio as the original data. This can be done only if the true groundforce is known. The principle may be applied to an array of vibrators by employing pulse coding techniques and separating responses to individual vibrators in the frequency domain. Various approaches to improve the estimate of the true groundforce have been proposed or are under development; current methods are at best approximate.     

REDUCTION OF HARMONIC DISTORTION IN VIBRATORY SOURCE RECORDS*

Due to non-linear effects, the swept frequency signals (sweeps) transmitted into the subsurface by vibrators are contaminated by harmonics. Upon correlation of the recorded seismograms, these harmonics lead to noise trains which are particularly disturbing in the case of down-sweeps. The method described in this paper—which can be regarded as a generalization of Sorkin's approach to the suppression of even order harmonics—allows elimination, from the final vibratory source seismogram, of harmonics of the sweep up to any desired order. It requires that not one single signal but rather a series of M signals is employed where each signal has an initial phase differing from that of the previous one of the series by the phase angle 2πM. Prior to stacking, the seismograms generated with the different signals have to be brought into the form they would have if they had been generated with the same signal. The method seems also to be capable of reducing the correlation noise if sign-bit recording techniques are used.     

Effective elimination of subharmonic ghost events from vibroseis data

Harmonic or subharmonic noise is often present in vibroseis data as reverberation‐like, laterally coherent bands occurring parallel to and before or after, the main events. Such periodic noise is typically generated during the standard correlation process when the actual source signal travelling through the subsurface is, for whatever reason, different from the desired source signal, i.e., the pilot‐sweep controlling the baseplate and used for correlation. A typical cause can be that harmonic or subharmonic frequency partials are generated in addition to the vibroseis sweep's desired fundamental frequencies. These harmonics produce strong ‘ghost events’ during correlation of the geophone trace with the pilot‐sweep, originating from additional correlations between the fundamental and harmonic frequencies. Especially subharmonic ‘ghosts’ will overlap with ‘good’ fundamental signals, since for typically used up‐sweeps they are folded to later traveltimes, where the signal/noise‐ratio is already lower, thus aggravating or preventing a reliable interpretation of possible later reflections. Here, a method is introduced to remove these unwanted noise trains (with only negligible impact on the fundamental signal) by transforming the seismogram traces into a so‐called ‘(sub)harmonic domain’. In this domain, the respective harmonic noise portions are focused and separated from the fundamental signals, enabling easier detection and appropriate suppression. After back‐transformation to the x‐T domain, the records are free from the corresponding harmonic contamination and can then be processed as usual. The method operates in a data‐driven fashion, i.e., the traces are not uniformly processed but are processed depending upon their actual (sub)harmonic content. The decontamination procedure can be applied universally, i.e., to uncorrelated/correlated and/or vertically unstacked/stacked data either in a manual, semiautomated or fully automated manner. The method works perfectly for synthetic vibroseis traces with or without harmonic/subharmonic portions. The application to real, crustal‐scale vibroseis records that were acquired in 2006 in the Dead Sea region, Israel and that were severely contaminated by subharmonic ground‐roll ghosts covering reflectivity from the basement to the Moho, shows the robustness and success of the presented method.     

地震勘探中相控阵震源的方向特性研究

电磁驱动式可控震源在城市浅层地震勘探中所面临的最突出的困难是微弱的反射信号常常淹没在很强的背景噪声之中.为了提高地震记录的信噪比,可以利用多台可控震源阵列实施相位控制形成定向地震波束以增强地震波的能量.本文讨论这种相控阵震源的波束形成机制.引入了地震波场的边际能量密度的概念,利用地震波场的时间切片技术,对模型空间各个方向上的能量强度进行了定量分析.用有限差分法对相控阵震源Chirp信号扫描的地震响应进行了数值模拟.当定向地震波束的汇聚带与观测排列的空间范围相一致时,相控阵震源合成地震记录的能量强度要显著高于单个可控震源情形的能量强度,波形振幅的均匀性要明显优于常规组合激发震源情形波形振幅的均匀性.     

Field testing of modular borehole monitoring with simultaneous distributed acoustic sensing and geophone vertical seismic profiles at Citronelle,Alabama

A modular borehole monitoring concept has been implemented to provide a suite of well‐based monitoring tools that can be deployed cost effectively in a flexible and robust package. The initial modular borehole monitoring system was deployed as part of a CO₂ injection test operated by the Southeast Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership near Citronelle, Alabama. The Citronelle modular monitoring system transmits electrical power and signals, fibre‐optic light pulses, and fluids between the surface and a reservoir. Additionally, a separate multi‐conductor tubing‐encapsulated line was used for borehole geophones, including a specialized clamp for casing clamping with tubing deployment. The deployment of geophones and fibre‐optic cables allowed comparison testing of distributed acoustic sensing. We designed a large source effort (>64 sweeps per source point) to test fibre‐optic vertical seismic profile and acquired data in 2013. The native measurement in the specific distributed acoustic sensing unit used (an iDAS from Silixa Ltd) is described as a localized strain rate. Following a processing flow of adaptive noise reduction and rebalancing the signal to dimensionless strain, improvement from repeated stacking of the source was observed. Conversion of the rebalanced strain signal to equivalent velocity units, via a scaling by local apparent velocity, allows quantitative comparison of distributed acoustic sensing and geophone data in units of velocity. We see a very good match of uncorrelated time series in both amplitude and phase, demonstrating that velocity‐converted distributed acoustic sensing data can be analyzed equivalent to vertical geophones. We show that distributed acoustic sensing data, when averaged over an interval comparable to typical geophone spacing, can obtain signal‐to‐noise ratios of 18 dB to 24 dB below clamped geophones, a result that is variable with noise spectral amplitude because the noise characteristics are not identical. With vertical seismic profile processing, we demonstrate the effectiveness of downgoing deconvolution from the large spatial sampling of distributed acoustic sensing data, along with improved upgoing reflection quality. We conclude that the extra source effort currently needed for tubing‐deployed distributed acoustic sensing vertical seismic profile, as part of a modular monitoring system, is well compensated by the extra spatial sampling and lower deployment cost as compared with conventional borehole geophones.     

Broadband imaging via direct inversion of blended dispersed source array data

Although seismic sources typically consist of identical broadband units alone, no physical constraint dictates the use of only one kind of device. We propose an acquisition method that involves the simultaneous exploitation of multiple types of sources during seismic surveys. It is suggested to replace (or support) traditional broadband sources with several devices individually transmitting diverse and reduced frequency bands and covering together the entire temporal and spatial bandwidth of interest. Together, these devices represent a so‐called dispersed source array. As a consequence, the use of simpler sources becomes a practical proposition for seismic acquisition. In fact, the devices dedicated to the generation of the higher frequencies may be smaller and less powerful than the conventional sources, providing the acquisition system with increased operational flexibility and decreasing its environmental impact. Offshore, we can think of more manageable boats carrying air guns of different volumes or marine vibrators generating sweeps with different frequency ranges. On land, vibrator trucks of different sizes, specifically designed for the emission of particular frequency bands, are preferred. From a manufacturing point of view, such source units guarantee a more efficient acoustic energy transmission than today's complex broadband alternatives, relaxing the low‐ versus high‐frequency compromise. Furthermore, specific attention can be addressed to choose shot densities that are optimum for different devices according to their emitted bandwidth. In fact, since the sampling requirements depend on the maximum transmitted frequencies, the appropriate number of sources dedicated to the lower frequencies is relatively small, provided the signal‐to‐noise ratio requirements are met. Additionally, the method allows to rethink the way to address the ghost problem in marine seismic acquisition, permitting to tow different sources at different depths based on the devices' individual central frequencies. As a consequence, the destructive interference of the ghost notches, including the one at 0 Hz, is largely mitigated. Furthermore, blended acquisition (also known as simultaneous source acquisition) is part of the dispersed source array concept, improving the operational flexibility, cost efficiency, and signal‐to‐noise ratio. Based on theoretical considerations and numerical data examples, the advantages of this approach and its feasibility are demonstrated.     

The appraisal of surface orbital vibrators with buried geophone array for permanent reservoir monitoring

Time-lapse seismic is one of the main methods for monitoring changes in reservoir conditions caused by production or injection of fluids. One approach to time-lapse seismic is through permanent reservoir monitoring, whereby seismic sources and/or receivers are permanently deployed. Permanent reservoir monitoring can offer a more cost-effective and environmentally friendly solution than traditional campaign-based surveys that rely on temporarily deployed equipment while facilitating more frequent measurements. At the CO2CRC Otway Project, surface orbital vibrators were coupled to a buried geophone array to form a permanent reservoir monitoring system. These are fixed position seismic sources that provide both P and S waves using induction motor-driven eccentric masses. After an initial injection of CO₂ in February 2016, five months of continuous seismic data were acquired, and reflection imaging was used to assess the system performance. Analysis of the data showed the effects of weather variations on the near-surface conditions and the sweep signatures of surface orbital vibrators. Data processing flows of the continuous data was adapted from Vibroseis four-dimensional data processing flows. Ground roll proved a significant challenge to data processing. In addition, variations in the surface wave pattern were linked to major rainfall events. For the appraisal of surface orbital vibrators in imaging, a Vibroseis four-dimensional monitor survey data with similar geometry was also processed. Surface orbital vibrators are observed to be reliable sources with a potential to provide a repeatable signal, especially if the ground roll should fall outside the target window of interest. To guide future permanent reservoir monitoring applications, a repeatability analysis was performed for the various key data processing steps.     

Marine,seabed, and land seismic equipment for broadband acquisition: a review

The broadband capabilities of marine, seabed, and land seismic equipment are reviewed with respect to both the source and the receiver sides. In marine acquisition, the main issue at both ends of the spectrum relates to ghosts occurring at the sea surface. Broadband deghosting requires towing at variable depth to introduce notch diversity or using new equipment like multi‐component and/or low‐noise streamers. As a result, a doubling of the bandwidth from about three to six octaves (2.5–200 Hz) has been achieved. Such improvement is not yet observed for seabed surveys in spite of deghosting being a standard process on the receiver side. One issue may be related to the coupling of the particle motion sensor, particularly at high frequencies. For land acquisition, progress came from the vibrators. New shakers and control electronics using broadband sweeps made it possible to add two more octaves to the low‐frequency signal (from 8 to 2 Hz). Whereas conventional 10 Hz geophones are still able to record such low frequencies, 5 Hz high gain geophones or digital accelerometers enhance them to keep the signal above the noise floor. On the high end of the bandwidth, progress is not limited by equipment specifications. Here, the issue is related to a low signal‐to‐noise ratio due to the strong absorption that occurs during signal propagation. To succeed in enlarging the bandwidth, these improved equipment and sweeps must be complemented by a denser spatial sampling of the wavefield by point–source and point–receiver acquisition.     

一种神经网络改进小波的地震数据随机噪声去除方法

地震资料的有效信号反射弱,且易受多次波的影响,不可避免地存在随机噪声干扰。提出一种基于神经网络改进小波的地震数据随机噪声去除方法,采用神经网络模型,识别出随机噪声信号,对该信号进行小波包分解,获取多类别随机噪声信号,采用级联BP神经网络模型提取出多类别随机噪声信号,实现地震数据的随机信号压制。实验结果显示,这种改进小波方法对地震数据随机噪声信号的去噪效果较好,在复杂沉积地质结构被探测介质的地震数据随机噪声压制方面具有较强的适用性。     

The construction of a simple portable electromagnetic vibrator from commercially available components

Since its introduction in the late 1950s, hydraulic vibrators have become the dominant source for land seismic surveys. The hydraulic vibrators typically used for commercial land seismic acquisition, however, are large, costly to operate and expensive to purchase. This inhibits their use for small-scale and short-duration surveys as well as Vibroseis research. In this paper we describe, in detail, the construction of a portable vibrator from commercially available components for a cost of less than $US2,000. Data shows that the vibrator is able to successfully transmit sweeps from 15 to 180 Hz with different spectral contents. The vibrator produces a stronger signal than a sledgehammer and we estimate its output to be around 1 kN. The frequency content of the data was concentrated at lower frequencies (<100 Hz) and the ground-roll was far more energetic than that produced using a sledgehammer.     

Geophysical benefits from an improved seismic vibrator

The seismic vibrator has become a very important source for land data acquisition and there have been dramatic improvements in recent times in the application of the vibroseis technique. These improvements have led to much increased productivity and in many cases much denser source sampling. At the same time, the vibrator itself has seen little improvement over the last couple of decades. There are needs in a few areas where an improvement in the vibrator itself can bring benefits to the quality of the seismic data acquired. This paper describes progress in four such areas, low‐frequency performance, high‐frequency performance, an improved estimate of the vibrator groundforce and source signature consistency over variable ground conditions. Each of these vibrator characteristics will be discussed in turn. Meanwhile, two field test results in which the performance of two different vibrators in these four areas are compared.     

SIMULTANEOUS VIBROSEIS RECORDING1

An experiment was undertaken at BP's Fulbeck Geophysical test site to compare the viability of various simultaneous vibroseis recording techniques, which are often recommended as a means of improving data acquisition production rates for 3D seismic surveys. Of particular interest were: (a) the ability to separate the signals from each source during processing, (b) the generation and suppression of harmonics and (c) the effects of any source interaction. Two vibrators were deployed with a baseplate separation of 10 m, about a borehole containing a vertical array of geophones. Our analysis concentrated on the groundforce signals measured at each vibrator and the far-field signatures measured using a vertical geo-phone at a depth of 204 m. By comparing single vibrator records with similar but separated records from a simultaneous recording sequence, signal separability, harmonic suppression and vibrator interaction could be fully studied. Separated far-field signatures from simultaneous vibroseis methods using combinations of up and downsweeps exhibited unsuppressed harmonics and substantial energy from the undesired source which leaked through the correlation process. The ‘up/down’ method was capable of separating the signal from each source by only 12.7 dB, and is therefore unsuitable as a field technique. The variphase simultaneous vibroseis methods studied afforded some harmonic suppression and gave signal separations of about 30.0 dB. Use of variphase simultaneous vibroseis methods will compromise the quality of the data recorded, when compared with single-source acquisition methods. None of the simultaneous vibroseis methods tested provided adequate signal separation and, therefore, cannot be recommended as data acquisition techniques. The ‘alternate sweeping’ method coupled with multispread recording will give the desired improvement in data acquisition rates, while preserving the necessary quality of our seismic data.     

How do hydraulic vibrators work? A look inside the black box

In order to have realistic expectations of what output is achievable from a seismic vibrator, an understanding of the machine's limitations is essential. This tutorial is intended to provide some basics on how hydraulic vibrators function and the constraints that arise from their design. With these constraints in mind, informed choices can be made to match machine specifications to a particular application or sweeps can be designed to compensate for performance limits.