3D 3-C full-wavefield elastic inversion for estimating anisotropic parameters: A feasibility study with synthetic data

Geophysics ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 74 (6) ◽  
pp. WCC159-WCC175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hui Chang ◽  
George McMechan
Keyword(s):  
Synthetic Data ◽  
Transversely Isotropic ◽  
Model Parameters ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Multiple Sources ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Transversely Isotropic Media ◽  
Free Data ◽  
Isotropic Media ◽  
Anisotropy Parameters

Traveltime-based inversions cannot solve for all of the anisotropy parameters for orthorhombic media. Vertical velocities cannot be recovered simultaneously with the dimensionless anisotropy parameters. Also, the density cannot be solved because it does not affect the normal moveout of P and S reflections. These limitations can be overcome using full-wavefield inversion for anisotropy parameters for orthorhombic media and for transversely isotropic media with vertical and horizontal symmetry axes. Tsvankin’s parameters and the orientation of the local (anisotropic) coordinates are inverted from three-component, wide-azimuth data sets containing P reflected and PS converted waves. The inversions are performed in two steps. The first step uses only reflections from the top of an anisotropic layer, whichdoes not constrain the trade-offs between the vertical velocities, the anisotropies, and density, as shown by parameter correlation analysis. The results from the first step are refined by using them as the starting model for the second step, which fits reflections from the top and bottom of the layer. The properties of the target layer influence the amplitudes of top and bottom reflections as well as the traveltime of the bottom reflections; when all these data are used, the inversion is highly overdetermined and all model parameters are estimated accurately. When Gaussian noise is added, the inversion results are very similar to those for the noise-free data because only the coherent signal is fitted. The residual at convergence for the noisy data corresponds to the noise level. Concurrent inversion of data from multiple sources increases the azimuthal illumination of a target.

Reverse time migration in tilted transversely isotropic media

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Razec Cezar Sampaio Pinto da Silva Torres ◽  
Leandro Di Bartolo
Keyword(s):  
Seismic Anisotropy ◽  
Synthetic Data ◽  
Transversely Isotropic ◽  
Reverse Time ◽  
Reverse Time Migration ◽  
Computer Clusters ◽  
Time Migration ◽  
Transversely Isotropic Media ◽  
Isotropic Media ◽  
Tti Media

ABSTRACT. Reverse time migration (RTM) is one of the most powerful methods used to generate images of the subsurface. The RTM was proposed in the early 1980s, but only recently it has been routinely used in exploratory projects involving complex geology – Brazilian pre-salt, for example. Because the method uses the two-way wave equation, RTM is able to correctly image any kind of geological environment (simple or complex), including those with anisotropy. On the other hand, RTM is computationally expensive and requires the use of computer clusters. This paper proposes to investigate the influence of anisotropy on seismic imaging through the application of RTM for tilted transversely isotropic (TTI) media in pre-stack synthetic data. This work presents in detail how to implement RTM for TTI media, addressing the main issues and specific details, e.g., the computational resources required. A couple of simple models results are presented, including the application to a BP TTI 2007 benchmark model.Keywords: finite differences, wave numerical modeling, seismic anisotropy. Migração reversa no tempo em meios transversalmente isotrópicos inclinadosRESUMO. A migração reversa no tempo (RTM) é um dos mais poderosos métodos utilizados para gerar imagens da subsuperfície. A RTM foi proposta no início da década de 80, mas apenas recentemente tem sido rotineiramente utilizada em projetos exploratórios envolvendo geologia complexa, em especial no pré-sal brasileiro. Por ser um método que utiliza a equação completa da onda, qualquer configuração do meio geológico pode ser corretamente tratada, em especial na presença de anisotropia. Por outro lado, a RTM é dispendiosa computacionalmente e requer o uso de clusters de computadores por parte da indústria. Este artigo apresenta em detalhes uma implementação da RTM para meios transversalmente isotrópicos inclinados (TTI), abordando as principais dificuldades na sua implementação, além dos recursos computacionais exigidos. O algoritmo desenvolvido é aplicado a casos simples e a um benchmark padrão, conhecido como BP TTI 2007.Palavras-chave: diferenças finitas, modelagem numérica de ondas, anisotropia sísmica.

scholarly journals A complex point-source solution of the acoustic eikonal equation for Gaussian beams in transversely isotropic media

Geophysics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 85 (3) ◽  
pp. T191-T207
Author(s):  
Xingguo Huang ◽  
Hui Sun ◽  
Zhangqing Sun ◽  
Nuno Vieira da Silva
Keyword(s):  
Point Source ◽  
Eikonal Equation ◽  
Taylor Series Expansion ◽  
Transversely Isotropic ◽  
Complex Point ◽  
Transversely Isotropic Media ◽  
Isotropic Media ◽  
Anisotropy Parameters ◽  
Complex Point Source ◽  
Complex Eikonal

The complex traveltime solutions of the complex eikonal equation are the basis of inhomogeneous plane-wave seismic imaging methods, such as Gaussian beam migration and tomography. We have developed analytic approximations for the complex traveltime in transversely isotropic media with a titled symmetry axis, which is defined by a Taylor series expansion over the anisotropy parameters. The formulation for the complex traveltime is developed using perturbation theory and the complex point-source method. The real part of the complex traveltime describes the wavefront, and the imaginary part of the complex traveltime describes the decay of the amplitude of waves away from the central ray. We derive the linearized ordinary differential equations for the coefficients of the Taylor-series expansion using perturbation theory. The analytical solutions for the complex traveltimes are determined by applying the complex point-source method to the background traveltime formula and subsequently obtaining the coefficients from the linearized ordinary differential equations. We investigate the influence of the anisotropy parameters and of the initial width of the ray tube on the accuracy of the computed traveltimes. The analytical formulas, as outlined, are efficient methods for the computation of complex traveltimes from the complex eikonal equation. In addition, those formulas are also effective methods for benchmarking approximated solutions.

Scanning anisotropy parameters in horizontal transversely isotropic media

2016 ◽  
Vol 65 (4) ◽  
pp. 981-991 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nabil Masmoudi ◽  
Alexey Stovas ◽  
Tariq Alkhalifah
Keyword(s):  
Transversely Isotropic ◽  
Transversely Isotropic Media ◽  
Isotropic Media ◽  
Anisotropy Parameters

Migration of P‐wave reflection data in transversely isotropic media

Geophysics ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 59 (4) ◽  
pp. 591-596 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suhas Phadke ◽  
S. Kapotas ◽  
N. Dai ◽  
Ernest R. Kanasewich
Keyword(s):  
Wave Equation ◽  
Dispersion Relation ◽  
Synthetic Data ◽  
Transversely Isotropic ◽  
Anisotropic Media ◽  
Limited Range ◽  
Horizontal Velocity ◽  
P Wave ◽  
Transversely Isotropic Media ◽  
Isotropic Media

Wave propagation in transversely isotropic media is governed by the horizontal and vertical wave velocities. The quasi‐P(qP) wavefront is not an ellipse; therefore, the propagation cannot be described by the wave equation appropriate for elliptically anisotropic media. However, for a limited range of angles from the vertical, the dispersion relation for qP‐waves can be approximated by an ellipse. The horizontal velocity necessary for this approximation is different from the true horizontal velocity and depends upon the physical properties of the media. In the method described here, seismic data is migrated using a 45-degree wave equation for elliptically anisotropic media with the horizontal velocity determined by comparing the 45-degree elliptical dispersion relation and the quasi‐P‐dispersion relation. The method is demonstrated for some synthetic data sets.

Anisotropic complex Padé hybrid finite-difference depth migration

Geophysics ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 75 (2) ◽  
pp. S51-S59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniela Amazonas ◽  
Rafael Aleixo ◽  
Jörg Schleicher ◽  
Jessé C. Costa
Keyword(s):  
Finite Difference ◽  
Synthetic Data ◽  
Transversely Isotropic ◽  
Evanescent Waves ◽  
Acoustic Wave Equation ◽  
Depth Migration ◽  
Transversely Isotropic Media ◽  
Isotropic Media ◽  
Numerical Instabilities ◽  
Branch Cut

Standard real-valued finite-difference (FD) and Fourier finite-difference (FFD) migrations cannot handle evanescent waves correctly, which can lead to numerical instabilities in the presence of strong velocity variations. A possible solution to these problems is the complex Padé approximation, which avoids problems with evanescent waves by rotating the branch cut of the complex square root. We have applied this approximation to the acoustic wave equation for vertical transversely isotropic media to derive more stable FD and hybrid FD/FFD migrations for such media. Our analysis of the dispersion relation of the new method indicates that it should provide more stable migration results with fewer artifacts and higher accuracy at steep dips. Our studies lead to the conclusion that the rotation angle of the branch cut that should yield the most stable image is 60° for FD migration, as confirmed by numerical impulse responses and work with synthetic data.

Analytic study of the effective parameters for determination of the NMO velocity function in transversely isotropic media

Geophysics ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 62 (6) ◽  
pp. 1855-1866 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack K. Cohen
Keyword(s):  
Transverse Isotropy ◽  
Transversely Isotropic ◽  
P Wave ◽  
Velocity Function ◽  
Transversely Isotropic Media ◽  
Wave Phase Velocity ◽  
Isotropic Media ◽  
Anisotropy Parameters ◽  
Vti Media ◽  
Ray Parameter

In their studies of transversely isotropic media with a vertical symmetry axis (VTI media), Alkhalifah and Tsvankin observed that, to a high numerical accuracy, the normal moveout (NMO) velocity for dipping reflectors as a function of ray parameter p depends mainly on just two parameters, each of which can be determined from surface P‐wave observations. They substantiated this result by using the weak‐anisotropy approximation and exploited it to develop a time‐domain processing sequence that takes into account vertical transverse isotropy. In this study, the two‐parameter Alkhalifah‐Tsvankin result was further examined analytically. It was found that although there is (as these authors already observed) some dependence on the remaining parameters of the problem, this dependence is weak, especially in the practically important regimes of weak to moderately strong transverse isotropy and small ray parameter. In each of these regimes, an analytic solution is derived for the anisotropy parameter η required for time‐domain P‐wave imaging in VTI media. In the case of elliptical anisotropy (η = 0), NMO velocity expressed through p is fully controlled just by the zero‐dip NMO velocity—one of the Alkhalifah‐ Tsvankin parameters. The two‐parameter representation of NMO velocity also was shown to be exact in another limit—that of the zero shear‐wave vertical velociy. The analytic results derived here are based on new representations for both the P‐wave phase velocity and normal moveout velocity in terms of the ray parameter, with explicit expressions given for the cases of vanishing onaxis shear speed, weak to moderate transverse isotropy, and small to moderate ray parameter. Using these formulas, I have rederived and, in some cases, extended in a uniform manner various results of Tsvankin, Alkhalifah, and others. Examples include second‐order expansions in the anisotropy parameters for both the P‐wave phase‐velocity function and NMO‐velocity function, as well as expansions in powers of the ray parameter for both of these functions. I have checked these expansions against the corresponding exact functions for several choices of the anisotropy parameters.

Three-parameter normal moveout correction in layered anisotropic media: A stretch-free approach

Geophysics ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 84 (3) ◽  
pp. C129-C142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Mahdi Abedi ◽  
Mohammad Ali Riahi ◽  
Alexey Stovas
Keyword(s):  
Transversely Isotropic ◽  
Real Data ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
P Waves ◽  
Transversely Isotropic Media ◽  
Isotropic Media ◽  
Nmo Correction ◽  
Recorded Data ◽  
Normal Moveout Correction ◽  
Vti Media

In conventional normal moveout (NMO) correction, some parts of the recorded data at larger offsets are discarded because of NMO distortions. Deviation from the true traveltime of reflections due to the anisotropy and heterogeneity of the earth, and wavelet stretching are two reasons of these distortions. The magnitudes of both problems increase with increasing the offset to depth ratio. Therefore, to be able to keep larger offsets of shallower reflections, both problems should be obviated. Accordingly, first, we have studied different traveltime approximations being in use, alongside new parameterizations for two classical functional equations, to select suitable equations for NMO correction. We numerically quantify the fitting accuracy and uncertainty of known nonhyperbolic traveltime approximations for P-waves in transversely isotropic media with vertical symmetry axis (VTI). We select three suitable three-parameter approximations for NMO in layered VTI media as the VTI generalized moveout approximation, a double-square-root approximation, and a perturbation-based approximation. Second, we have developed an extension of the earlier proposed stretch-free NMO method, using the selected moveout approximations. This method involves an automatic modification of the input parameters in anisotropic NMO correction, for selected reflections. Our anisotropic stretch-free NMO method is tested on synthetic and three real data sets from Gulf of Mexico and Iranian oil fields. The results verify the success of the method in extending the usable offsets, by generating flat and stretch-free NMO corrected reflections.

Rational interpolation of qP-traveltimes for semblance-based anisotropy estimation in layered VTI media

Geophysics ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 73 (4) ◽  
pp. D53-D62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huub Douma ◽  
Mirko van der Baan
Keyword(s):  
Parameter Estimation ◽  
Random Noise ◽  
Anisotropy Parameter ◽  
Synthetic Data ◽  
Transversely Isotropic ◽  
Rational Interpolation ◽  
Transversely Isotropic Media ◽  
Interpolation Procedure ◽  
Isotropic Media ◽  
Vti Media

The [Formula: see text] domain is the natural domain for anisotropy parameter estimation in horizontally layered media. The need to transform the data to the [Formula: see text] domain or to pick traveltimes in the [Formula: see text] domain is, however, a practical disadvantage. To overcome this, we combine [Formula: see text]-derived traveltimes and offsets in horizontally layered transversely isotropic media with a vertical symmetry axis (VTI) with a rational interpolation procedure applied in the [Formula: see text] domain. This combination results in an accurate and efficient [Formula: see text]-based semblance analysis for anisotropy parameter estimation from the moveout of qP-waves in horizontally layered VTI media. The semblance analysis is applied to the moveout to search directly for the interval values of the relevant parameters. To achieve this, the method is applied in a layer-stripping fashion. We demonstrate the method using synthetic data examples and show that it is robust in the presence of random noise and moderate statics.

Reflection and transmission responses for layered transversely isotropic media with vertical and horizontal symmetry axes

Geophysics ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 84 (4) ◽  
pp. C181-C203 ◽  
Author(s):  
Song Jin ◽  
Alexey Stovas
Keyword(s):  
Transversely Isotropic ◽  
Model Parameters ◽  
Local Anisotropy ◽  
Weak Anisotropy ◽  
Reflection And Transmission ◽  
Contrast Model ◽  
Transversely Isotropic Media ◽  
Horizontal Symmetry ◽  
Isotropic Media ◽  
Independent Parameters

Reflection and transmission (R/T) responses characterize the energy distributions for incident and generated waves across the subsurface interface. The R/T coefficients are considerably influenced by the local anisotropy, and this implies the significance of the R/T responses analysis for anisotropic media. We have considered the plane interface bounded by two transversely isotropic media with, respectively, vertical and horizontal symmetry axes, and R/T coefficients normalized by the vertical energy flux are obtained in the phase domain. We define two simple anisotropic layered models characterized by fewer independent model parameters. Under the assumption of weak contrast model parameters across the interface, the R/T coefficient approximations are obtained as the perturbations from the simple models’ counterparts. The isotropic background medium is also used to obtain the approximations under an additional weak anisotropy assumption. Compared with approximations degenerated from more general cases, our approximations rely on fewer independent parameters. Numerical tests are implemented to evaluate our approximations.

Traveltime parameters in tilted transversely isotropic media

Geophysics ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 77 (6) ◽  
pp. C43-C55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pavel Golikov ◽  
Alexey Stovas
Keyword(s):  
Strong Dependence ◽  
Transversely Isotropic ◽  
Model Parameters ◽  
Weak Anisotropy ◽  
Anisotropic Models ◽  
Transversely Isotropic Media ◽  
Long Offset ◽  
Isotropic Media ◽  
The One ◽  
Approximate Equations

Traveltime parameters define the coefficients of the Taylor series for traveltime or traveltime squared as a function of offset. These parameters provide an efficient tool for analyzing the effect of the medium parameters for short- and long-offset reflection moveouts. We derive the exact equations for one-way and two-way traveltime parameters in a homogeneous transversely isotropic medium with the tilted symmetry axis (TTI). It is shown that most of the one-way traveltime parameters in TTI differ from the two-way traveltime parameters, and we observe strong dependence of all traveltime parameters on tilt. The equations for traveltime parameters are extended to a vertically heterogeneous TTI medium, and weak-anisotropy and weak-anellipticity approximations are considered. We also apply the exact and approximate equations to invert the traveltime parameters into the model parameters for different acquisition setups. Using the traveltime parameters in a weak-anisotropy approximation, our tests show that an analytical inversion is not applicable, whereas the numerical inversion with exact equations yields a good accuracy for strongly anisotropic models.

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