The use of multi‐frequency acquisition to significantly improve the quality of fibre‐optic‐distributed vibration sensing

Unlike conventional sensors that measure the passage of seismic waves at a single position, distributed vibration sensing systems, also known as distributed acoustic sensing systems, detect the passage of seismic waves by averaging a measurement of strain over a section of fibre‐optic cable. Distributed vibration sensing systems work by transmitting pulses of light down the fibre and measuring the phase of the Rayleigh backscatter. At random positions along the fibre, however, fading occurs; this is where the amplitude of the backscattered signal is very small due to cancellation of the scattered electric fields, resulting in anomalously noisy traces in a common source gather. This paper addresses the problem of fading in a particular form of distributed vibration sensors: a new optical arrangement of the instrumentation is described that allows the measurement to be carried out quasi‐simultaneously at multiple optical interrogation frequencies. The interrogation frequencies are chosen to be sufficiently different that their fading properties are distinct and the diversity thus obtained is used to aggregate the data obtained to substantially reduce the noise caused by fading. As well as reducing the effects of fading, the aggregation of the independent results can also help to reduce the overall noise of the measurement and improve the linearity of the distributed vibration sensing system.     

分布式光纤振动传感系统中数据采集及信号处理系统设计

本文主要介绍了一套分布式光纤振动传感系统中的数据采集及信号处理系统,该系统设计采用高性能的运算放大电路完成光电信号调理,以高精度差动模数转换器AD9246完成模数转换工作,并选用高性能FPGA作为核心逻辑控制器,并以低功耗的OMAP-L137作为CPU负责振动数据计算、网络通讯等工作,从而使该-OTDR分布式光纤振动传感系统测量范围扩展到25 km范围。本文通过计算相邻测点振动增量方法检测是否发生了振动入侵,提高了分布式光纤振动入侵检测的灵敏度。该设计方法提高分布式光纤振动传感系统的信噪比,使得该系统振动检测灵敏度提高、抗干扰能力增强,因此该分布式光纤振动传感系统可以用于实际工程的振动监控。     

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.     

A field experiment of walkaway distributed acoustic sensing vertical seismic profile in a deep and deviated onshore well in Japan using a fibre optic cable deployed inside coiled tubing

A two-dimensional walkaway vertical seismic profiling survey using distributed acoustic sensing was conducted at an onshore site in Japan. The maximum depth and the deviation of the observation well were more than 4,000 m and 81 degrees, respectively. Among the several methods for installing fibre optic cables, we adopted the inside coiled tubing method, in which coiled tubing containing a fibre optic cable is deployed. The signal-to-noise ratio of the raw shot gather was low, possibly due to poor coupling between the fibre optic cable and the subsurface formation resulting from the fibre optic cable deployment method and the existence of considerable tubewave noise. Nevertheless, direct P-wave arrivals, P–P reflections and P–S converted waves exhibited acceptable signal-to-noise ratios after careful optimization of gauge length for distributed acoustic sensing optical processing and the application of carefully parameterized tubewave noise suppression. One of the challenges in current distributed acoustic sensing vertical seismic profile data processing is the separation of P- and S-waves using only one-component measurements. Hence, we applied moveout correction using two-dimensional ray tracing. This process effectively highlights only reflected P-waves, which are used in subsequent subsurface imaging. Comparison with synthetic well seismograms and two-dimensional surface seismic data confirms that the final imaging result has a sufficiently high quality for subsurface monitoring. We acquired distributed acoustic sensing vertical seismic profile data under both flowing conditions and closed conditions, in which the well was shut off and no fluid flow was allowed. The two imaging results are comparable and suggest the possibility of subsurface imaging and time-lapse monitoring using data acquired under flowing conditions. The results of this study suggest that, by adopting the inside coiled tubing method without drilling a new observation well, more affordable distributed acoustic sensing vertical seismic profile monitoring can be achieved in fields such as CO₂ capture and storage and unconventional shale projects, where monitoring costs have to be minimized.     

A study of the geophysical response of distributed fibre optic acoustic sensors through laboratory‐scale experiments

In the past few years, distributed acoustic sensing has gained great interest in geophysics. This acquisition technology offers immense improvement in terms of efficiency when compared with current geophysical acquisition methods. However, the fundamentals of the measurement are still not fully understood because direct comparisons of fibre data with conventional geophysical sensors are difficult during field tests. We present downscaled laboratory experiments that enabled us to characterise the relationship between the signals recorded by conventional seismic point receivers and by distributed fibre optic sensors. Interrogation of the distributed optical fibre sensor was performed with a Michelson interferometer because this system is suited to compact test configurations, and it requires only a very simple data processing workflow for extracting the signal outputs. We show acoustic data that were recorded simultaneously by both the fibre optical interferometer and conventional three‐component accelerometers, thus enabling the comparison of sensor performance. We present results focused on the directionality of fibre measurements, on the amplitude variation with angle of incidence, and on the transfer function that allows accelerometer signals to be transformed into optical fibre signals. We conclude that the optical fibre response matches with the array of the displacement differences of the inline accelerometers deployed along the fibre length. Moreover, we also analysed the influence of various types of coupling and fibre cable coating on the signal responses, emphasising the importance of these parameters for field seismic acquisitions when using the distributed fibre optic technology.     

A non‐baseline algorithm for damage locating in flexural structures using dynamic distributed macro‐strain responses

The concept of distributed strain‐sensing techniques has been proposed in our recent research, which was dedicated to utilizing the strain distributions throughout the full or partial areas of structures to detect arbitrary and unforeseen damage. An algorithm not requiring a detailed analytical model is presented for damage locating in flexural structures through the direct use of dynamic responses recorded by distributed long‐gauge strain sensors. The modal macro‐strain vector (MMSV), which has been proven to have a mapping relation with displacement mode shape, can be extracted directly from macro‐strain time‐series data, from which a damage evaluating index can be derived and used as an indicator for locating damage. Numerical examples are simulated to verify the sensitivity and effectiveness of the index in different cases. Furthermore, experimental investigations on a cantilevered beam with various long‐gauge fibre optic sensors placements are carried out to examine the feasibility and applicability of the proposed method. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Field trial of seismic recording using distributed acoustic sensing with broadside sensitive fibre‐optic cables

Distributed acoustic sensing is an emerging technology using fibre‐optic cables to detect acoustic disturbances such as flow noise and seismic signals. The technology has been applied successfully in hydraulic fracture monitoring and vertical seismic profiling. One of the limitations of distributed acoustic sensing for seismic recording is that the conventional straight fibres do not have broadside sensitivity and therefore cannot be used in configurations where the raypaths are essentially orthogonal to the fibre‐optic cable, such as seismic reflection methods from the surface. The helically wound cable was designed to have broadside sensitivity. In this paper, a field trial is described to validate in a qualitative sense the theoretically predicted angle‐dependent response of a helically wound cable. P‐waves were measured with a helically wound cable as a function of the angle of incidence in a shallow horizontal borehole and compared with measurements with a co‐located streamer. The results show a similar behaviour as a function of the angle of incidence as the theory. This demonstrates the possibility of using distributed acoustic sensing with a helically wound cable as a seismic detection system with a horizontal cable near the surface. The helically wound cable does not have any active parts and can be made as a slim cable with a diameter of a few centimetres. For that reason, distributed acoustic sensing with a helically wound cable is a potential low‐cost option for permanent seismic monitoring on land.     

Vertical seismic profiling using a daisy‐chained deployment of fibre‐optic cables in four wells simultaneously – Case study at the Ketzin carbon dioxide storage site

The geological storage of carbon dioxide is considered as one of the measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to mitigate global warming. Operators of storage sites are required to demonstrate safe containment and stable behaviour of the storage complex that is achieved by geophysical and geochemical monitoring, combined with reservoir simulations. For site characterization, as well as for imaging the carbon dioxide plume in the reservoir complex and detecting potential leakage, surface and surface‐borehole time‐lapse seismic monitoring surveys are the most widespread and established tools. At the Ketzin pilot site for carbon dioxide storage, permanently installed fibre‐optic cables, initially deployed for distributed temperature sensing, were used as seismic receiver arrays, demonstrating their ability to provide high‐resolution images of the storage formation. A vertical seismic profiling experiment was acquired using 23 source point locations and the daisy‐chained deployment of a fibre‐optic cable in four wells as a receiver array. The data were used to generate a 3D vertical seismic profiling cube, complementing the large‐scale 3D surface seismic measurements by a high resolution image of the reservoir close to the injection well. Stacking long vibro‐sweeps at each source location resulted in vertical seismic profiling shot gathers characterized by a signal‐to‐noise ratio similar to gathers acquired using geophones. A detailed data analysis shows strong dependency of data quality on borehole conditions with significantly better signal‐to‐noise ratio in regions with good coupling conditions.     

Improved spatial delineation of streambed properties and water fluxes using distributed temperature sensing

A new method was developed for analysing and delineating streambed water fluxes, flow conditions and hydraulic properties using coiled fibre‐optic distributed temperature sensing or closely spaced discrete temperature sensors. This method allows for a thorough treatment of the spatial information embedded in temperature data by creating a matrix visualization of all possible sensor pairs. Application of the method to a 5‐day field dataset reveals the complexity of shallow streambed thermal regimes. To understand how velocity estimates are affected by violations of assumptions of one‐dimensional, saturated, homogeneous flow and to aid in the interpretation of field observations, the method was also applied to temperature data generated by numerical models of common field conditions: horizontal layering, presence of lateral flow and variable streambed saturation. The results show that each condition creates a distinct signature visible in the triangular matrices. The matrices are used to perform a comparison of the behaviour of one‐dimensional analytical heat‐tracing models. The results show that the amplitude ratio‐based method of velocity calculation leads to the most reliable estimates. The minimum sensor spacing required to obtain reliable velocity estimates with discrete sensors is also investigated using field data. The developed method will aid future heat‐tracing studies by providing a technique for visualizing and comparing results from fibre‐optic distributed temperature sensing installations and testing the robustness of analytical heat‐tracing models. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Recent advances in earthquake monitoring I: Ongoing revolution of seismic instrumentation

Seismic networks have significantly improved in the last decade in terms of coverage density, data quality, and instrumental diversity. Moreover, revolutionary advances in ultra-dense seismic instruments, such as nodes and fiber-optic sensing technologies, have recently provided unprecedented high-resolution data for regional and local earthquake monitoring. Nodal arrays have characteristics such as easy installation and flexible apertures, but are limited in power efficiency and data storage and thus most suitable as temporary networks. Fiber-optic sensing techniques, inclu-ding distributed acoustic sensing, can be operated in real time with an in-house power supply and connected data storage, thereby exhibiting the potential of becoming next-generation permanent networks. Fiber-optic sensing techniques offer a powerful way of filling the observation gap particularly in submarine environments. Despite these technological advancements, various challenges remain. First, the data characteristics of fiber-optic sensing are still unclear. Second, it is challenging to construct software infrastructures to store, transfer, visualize, and process large amount of seismic data. Finally, innovative detection methods are required to exploit the potential of numerous channels. With improved knowledge about data characteristics, enhanced software infrastructures, and suitable data processing techniques, these innovations in seismic instrumentation could profoundly impact observational seismology.     

Identification of groundwater exfiltration,interflow discharge,and hyporheic exchange flows by fibre optic distributed temperature sensing supported by electromagnetic induction geophysics

Water exchange across the sediment–water interface of streams impresses a characteristic thermal pattern at the interface. The use of fibre optic distributed temperature sensing at the sediment–water interface in a small sand‐bed stream identifies such temperature patterns. Groundwater and interflow can be differentiated based on the temporal evolution of temperature patterns. Additionally, sudden temperature changes at the sediment–water interface observed during the transit of floods enable spatial identification of local up and downwelling. Electromagnetic induction geophysics can detect subsurface texture structures that support groundwater–surface water exchange. Our results show that areas of permanent temperature anomalies observed with fibre optic distributed temperature sensing match areas of comparatively homogeneous electrical conductivity. This indicates groundwater discharge and enables differentiating groundwater discharge from interflow and local downwelling.     

Interaction of helically wound fibre‐optic cables with plane seismic waves

Distributed acoustic sensing is a novel technology for seismic acquisition. In this technology, strain changes induced by seismic waves impinging on an optical fibre are monitored. Due to the fact that glass is relatively rigid, straight glass fibres are not sensitive to broadside waves. We suggest using distributed acoustic sensing systems with fibres helically wound around cables. One increases the fibre sensitivity to broadside waves by decreasing the fibre wrapping angle (the angle between the fibre axis and the plane normal to the cable axis). The optimal wrapping angle is chosen to minimize the impact of Rayleigh waves on the signal measured. This angle depends on the cable Poisson ratio, and it is approximately equal to 30° for cables composed of plastic. For reliable detection of seismic waves, one needs a good mechanical contact between the cable and the surrounding medium. On the other hand, the sensitivity of distributed acoustic sensing systems to primary waves can be significantly reduced if the cable is placed in a cemented borehole.     

多道联合压缩感知弱小反射地震信号提取处理方法

在讨论联合压缩感知稀疏重建的基础上,针对地震资料特点,利用小波分析方法,进行联合稀疏公共部分和特有部分分解建模.为了挖掘地震资料有效地质信息,考虑到分布式压缩感知算法和应用效果实际实现困难,提出了多道地震资料压缩重建方法.就研究提出的新方法、新理念,围绕决定稀疏重建质量的稀疏度、稀疏基等关键问题进行了深入研究,结合纵横向地震信号特点分析,分别研究纵横稀疏度的选取方法及指导准则.同时对稀疏基的类型和特性在揭示地质信息能力方面进行了分析讨论.集各种研究问题于一体,形成了多道联合压缩感知地震资料重建的新方法.通过实际资料测试,比较分析各类计算结果,得到了新的认识和结论,实际资料处理效果明显.     

基于遥感影像的建筑物空间分布方法在地震灾害损失预评估中的应用

房屋建筑数据是地震重点危险区预评估工作的基础,需基于获取到的房屋建筑信息开展人员伤亡、经济损失、救援物资需求等预评估工作。历年地震重点危险区预评估工作能够通过现场调查得到的房屋建筑信息占比极小,仅能进行抽样调查。因此,为批量完成危险区内全部房屋建筑损失估算,需基于遥感影像获取房屋建筑矢量数据,并建立数据库。为实现全国地震重点危险区预评估工作中大批量建筑物矢量化数据的快速获取,本文采用基于遥感影像的建筑物空间分布数据批量获取方法,得到地震重点危险区内建筑物空间矢量数据,结合现场抽样调查得到的建筑物属性信息,建立地震重点危险区建筑物空间分布数据库,进而为地震重点危险区灾害损失预评估工作提供数据基础。本文采用的方法可广泛应用于地震重点危险区房屋建筑信息获取工作中,可提高工作效率,降低工作成本,提升预评估工作的科学性和准确性。     

Distributed electric field sensing using fibre optics in borehole environments

In the past decade, rapid advances in distributed optical fibre sensing technologies have made it possible to record various geophysical data (e.g. strain, temperature and pressure) continuously in both time and space along the fibre, providing an unprecedented quantity and spatial density of data compared to traditional geophysical measurements as well as reducing data acquisition cost. To date, no distributed fibre-based electromagnetic field sensing system has been implemented although electromagnetic sensing could have a broad range of applications to geophysical imaging and monitoring in borehole environments. The goal of this paper is to provide a theoretical feasibility study regarding the design and use of an electromagnetic sensing optical fibre for geophysical applications. First, we present the sensitivity analysis of a ‘hypothetical’ optical fibre coated with polyvinylidene fluoride, a polymer that provides relatively high piezoelectric properties, yet unlike ceramics, is flexible. Using a two-dimensional electromagnetic modelling algorithm, we simulate the earth electric-field-to-fibre-strain transfer function and estimate the theoretical sensitivity of the optical fibre to electric fields. Given the state-of-the-art distributed acoustic sensing strain sensitivities in the picometres strain range, our numerical modelling analysis suggests that a perfectly coupled polyvinylidene fluoride–coated optical fibre can measure electric field values in the mV/m to V/m amplitude range. We then apply a cylindrically symmetric modelling algorithm to simulate numerical models demonstrating the applicability of such a fibre in an oilfield environment. Scenarios investigated employ an electric field source and suggest that the measurements can be used to distinguish the oil versus water ratio with a fibre mounted inside a producing steel cased oil well as well as distinguishing between brine and hydrocarbon filled reservoir zones with a fibre located outside of the casing.     

Primary Quantitative Study on Earthquake Damage Extracted from Remote Sensing Imagery——A Case Study of Seismic Damage in the Urban Area of Dujiangyan due to the M_S8.0 Wenchuan Earthquake

The fast developing remote sensing techniques play an increasingly important role in earthquake emergency response, disaster survey and loss estimation. As there is a lack of quantitative studies on seismic damage based on remote sensing, its practicality in seismic disaster management has usually been questioned. The paper introduces the essential quantitative study idea, the concept of the remote sensing seismic damage index (DRS_I RS) and analysis models, demonstrates the seismic damage indices (DG_IC) of buildings obtained from ground surveying and its quantitative relation to DRS_I RS in Dujiangyan city, Sichuan Province, which was destroyed by the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake with M_S8.0. The primary results show that an obvious relationship exists between the DRS_I RS of buildings obtained from the high resolution satellite or aerial remote sensing images and DG_I C or the building collapse ratio obtained through ground survey, which suggests that the quantitative study on seismic damage based on remote sensing will provide an effective method for seismic damage survey and loss estimation.     

Seismic directional random noise suppression by radial‐trace time–frequency peak filtering using the Hurst exponent statistic

Radial‐trace time–frequency peak filtering filters a seismic record along the radial‐trace direction rather than the conventional channel direction. It takes the spatial correlation of the reflected events between adjacent channels into account. Thus, radial‐trace time–frequency peak filtering performs well in denoising and enhancing the continuity of reflected events. However, in the seismic record there is often random noise whose energy is concentrated in certain directions; the noise in these directions is correlative. We refer to this kind of random noise (that is distributed randomly in time but correlative in the space) as directional random noise. Under radial‐trace time–frequency peak filtering, the directional random noise will be treated as signal and enhanced when this noise has same direction as the signal. Therefore, we need to identify the directional random noise before the filtering. In this paper, we test the linearity of signal and directional random noise in time using the Hurst exponent. The time series of signals with high linearity lead to large Hurst exponent value; however, directional random noise is a random series in time without a fixed waveform and thus its linearity is low; therefore, we can differentiate the signal and directional random noise by the Hurst exponent values. The directional random noise can then be suppressed by using a long filtering window length during the radial‐trace time–frequency peak filtering. Synthetic and real data examples show that the proposed method can remove most directional random noise and can effectively recover the reflected events.     

基于Seislet-TV双正则化约束的地震随机噪声压制方法

人工地震数据总是受到随机噪声的干扰,地震数据时-空变的特性使得常规去噪方法处理效果并不理想,容易导致有效信号的损失.目前广泛应用的预测滤波类方法存在处理时变数据能力不足的问题.随着压缩感知理论的不断完善,稀疏变换阈值算法能够解决时变地震数据噪声压制问题,但是常规的稀疏变换方法,如傅里叶变换,小波变换等,并不是特殊针对地震数据设计的,很难提供地震数据最佳的压缩特征,同时,常规阈值算法容易导致去噪结果过于平滑.因此开发更加有效的时-空变地震数据信噪分离方法具有重要的工业价值.本文将地震数据信噪分离问题归纳为数学基追踪问题,在压缩感知理论框架下,利用特殊针对地震数据设计的VD-seislet稀疏变换方法,结合全变差(TV)算法,构建seislet-TV双正则化条件,并利用分裂Bregman迭代算法求解约束最优化问题,实现地震数据的有效信噪分离.通过理论模型和实际数据测试本文方法,并且与工业标准FXdecon方法进行比较,结果表明基于seislet-TV双正则化约束条件的迭代方法能够更加有效地保护时-空变地震信号,压制地震数据中的强随机噪声.     

The impact of surface‐wave attenuation on 3‐D seismic survey design

Three‐dimensional seismic survey design should provide an acquisition geometry that enables imaging and amplitude‐versus‐offset applications of target reflectors with sufficient data quality under given economical and operational constraints. However, in land or shallow‐water environments, surface waves are often dominant in the seismic data. The effectiveness of surface‐wave separation or attenuation significantly affects the quality of the final result. Therefore, the need for surface‐wave attenuation imposes additional constraints on the acquisition geometry. Recently, we have proposed a method for surface‐wave attenuation that can better deal with aliased seismic data than classic methods such as slowness/velocity‐based filtering. Here, we investigate how surface‐wave attenuation affects the selection of survey parameters and the resulting data quality. To quantify the latter, we introduce a measure that represents the estimated signal‐to‐noise ratio between the desired subsurface signal and the surface waves that are deemed to be noise. In a case study, we applied surface‐wave attenuation and signal‐to‐noise ratio estimation to several data sets with different survey parameters. The spatial sampling intervals of the basic subset are the survey parameters that affect the performance of surface‐wave attenuation methods the most. Finer spatial sampling will reduce aliasing and make surface‐wave attenuation easier, resulting in better data quality until no further improvement is obtained. We observed this behaviour as a main trend that levels off at increasingly denser sampling. With our method, this trend curve lies at a considerably higher signal‐to‐noise ratio than with a classic filtering method. This means that we can obtain a much better data quality for given survey effort or the same data quality as with a conventional method at a lower cost.     

High‐resolution multi‐component distributed acoustic sensing

Distributed acoustic sensing uses an optical fibre together with an interrogator unit to perform strain measurements. The usage of distributed acoustic sensing in geophysics is attractive due to its dense spatial sampling and low operation cost if the optical fibre is freely accessible. In the borehole environment, optical fibres for distributed acoustic sensing are often readily available as a part of other sensing tools, such as for temperature and pressure. Although the distributed acoustic sensing system promises great potential for reservoir monitoring and surface seismic acquisition, the single axial strain measurement of distributed acoustic sensing along the fibre is inadequate to fully characterise the different wave modes, thus making reservoir characterisation challenging. We propose an acquisition system using five equally spaced helical optical fibres and a straight optical fibre to obtain six different strain projections. This system allows us to reconstruct all components of the 3D strain tensor at any location along the fibre. Analysing the condition number associated with the geometry of the optical fibre, we can systematically search for the optimum design parameters for our configuration. Numerical examples demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed method to successful reconstruction of the full strain tensor from elastic wavefields of arbitrary complexity.