Inversion of Seismic Anisotropic Parameters Using Very Fast Simulated Annealing with Application to Microseismic Event Location

Autores
Pérez, Daniel Omar; Lagos, Soledad Rocío; Velis, Danilo Rubén; Soldo, Juan Carlos
Año de publicación
2016
Idioma
inglés
Tipo de recurso
artículo
Estado
versión publicada
Descripción
The study and interpretation of hydraulically stimulated regions, such as certain unconventional hydrocarbon reservoirs (e.g. Vaca Muerta Formation, Neuquén, Argentina), requires the accurate location of the induced microseismic events. The localization is carried out by means of the analysis of the travel times of the generated compressional and shear seismic waves from the unknown event position to a set of geophones, usually located in a nearby monitoring well. The accuracy of the localization, and thus the characterization of the fracturing process, can be strongly affected by the available seismic velocity model, from which only estimates are known. Also, the underlying medium usually shows an anisotropic behavior, meaning that the velocities of the seismic waves depend on the propagation direction. Therefore, knowledge of the parameters that characterize the anisotropy and an appropriate calibration of the velocities can reduce the errors in the localization of the microseismic events. In this paper we propose a strategy to simultaneously calibrate the velocity model and invert the anisotropy parameters from three-component microseismic data. The strategy relies on the hypothesis that the subsurface is composed of a finite number of horizontal layers with weak anisotropy, a widely used approximation that requires only three anisotropy parameters per layer. The differences between the observed and the calculated travel times, for a known seismic source, are quantified by means of an appropriate objective function that turns out to be non-linear and multimodal. For this reason, we minimize it using very fast simulated annealing (VFSA), a stochastic global optimization algorithm devised to find near-optimal solutions to hard optimization problems. Tests on synthetic data show that the proposed strategy can be used to effectively calibrate the seismic velocities and to provide appropriate estimates of the anisotropy parameters in spite of the severe non-uniqueness of the inverse problem at hand. Also, the stochastic nature of VFSA allows us to obtain the uncertainties of the solutions by repeating the inversion several times. Finally, by means of a simulated microseismic location example, we show the importance of having a well calibrated model to successfully estimate the locations of the hydraulically induced events.
Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísicas
Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
Materia
Geofísica
Anisotropy
Microseismic
Velocity calibration
VFSA
Nivel de accesibilidad
acceso abierto
Condiciones de uso
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
Repositorio
SEDICI (UNLP)
Institución
Universidad Nacional de La Plata
OAI Identificador
oai:sedici.unlp.edu.ar:10915/97876

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network_name_str SEDICI (UNLP)
spelling Inversion of Seismic Anisotropic Parameters Using Very Fast Simulated Annealing with Application to Microseismic Event LocationPérez, Daniel OmarLagos, Soledad RocíoVelis, Danilo RubénSoldo, Juan CarlosGeofísicaAnisotropyMicroseismicVelocity calibrationVFSAThe study and interpretation of hydraulically stimulated regions, such as certain unconventional hydrocarbon reservoirs (e.g. Vaca Muerta Formation, Neuquén, Argentina), requires the accurate location of the induced microseismic events. The localization is carried out by means of the analysis of the travel times of the generated compressional and shear seismic waves from the unknown event position to a set of geophones, usually located in a nearby monitoring well. The accuracy of the localization, and thus the characterization of the fracturing process, can be strongly affected by the available seismic velocity model, from which only estimates are known. Also, the underlying medium usually shows an anisotropic behavior, meaning that the velocities of the seismic waves depend on the propagation direction. Therefore, knowledge of the parameters that characterize the anisotropy and an appropriate calibration of the velocities can reduce the errors in the localization of the microseismic events. In this paper we propose a strategy to simultaneously calibrate the velocity model and invert the anisotropy parameters from three-component microseismic data. The strategy relies on the hypothesis that the subsurface is composed of a finite number of horizontal layers with weak anisotropy, a widely used approximation that requires only three anisotropy parameters per layer. The differences between the observed and the calculated travel times, for a known seismic source, are quantified by means of an appropriate objective function that turns out to be non-linear and multimodal. For this reason, we minimize it using very fast simulated annealing (VFSA), a stochastic global optimization algorithm devised to find near-optimal solutions to hard optimization problems. Tests on synthetic data show that the proposed strategy can be used to effectively calibrate the seismic velocities and to provide appropriate estimates of the anisotropy parameters in spite of the severe non-uniqueness of the inverse problem at hand. Also, the stochastic nature of VFSA allows us to obtain the uncertainties of the solutions by repeating the inversion several times. Finally, by means of a simulated microseismic location example, we show the importance of having a well calibrated model to successfully estimate the locations of the hydraulically induced events.Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y GeofísicasConsejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas2016-11info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionArticulohttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501info:ar-repo/semantics/articuloapplication/pdf3351-3367http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/97876enginfo:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/url/https://ri.conicet.gov.ar/11336/55755info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/url/https://cimec.org.ar/ojs/index.php/mc/article/view/5208info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/issn/2591-3522info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/hdl/11336/55755info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccesshttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)reponame:SEDICI (UNLP)instname:Universidad Nacional de La Platainstacron:UNLP2025-09-29T11:20:11Zoai:sedici.unlp.edu.ar:10915/97876Institucionalhttp://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/Universidad públicaNo correspondehttp://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/oai/snrdalira@sedici.unlp.edu.arArgentinaNo correspondeNo correspondeNo correspondeopendoar:13292025-09-29 11:20:12.109SEDICI (UNLP) - Universidad Nacional de La Platafalse
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Inversion of Seismic Anisotropic Parameters Using Very Fast Simulated Annealing with Application to Microseismic Event Location
title Inversion of Seismic Anisotropic Parameters Using Very Fast Simulated Annealing with Application to Microseismic Event Location
spellingShingle Inversion of Seismic Anisotropic Parameters Using Very Fast Simulated Annealing with Application to Microseismic Event Location
Pérez, Daniel Omar
Geofísica
Anisotropy
Microseismic
Velocity calibration
VFSA
title_short Inversion of Seismic Anisotropic Parameters Using Very Fast Simulated Annealing with Application to Microseismic Event Location
title_full Inversion of Seismic Anisotropic Parameters Using Very Fast Simulated Annealing with Application to Microseismic Event Location
title_fullStr Inversion of Seismic Anisotropic Parameters Using Very Fast Simulated Annealing with Application to Microseismic Event Location
title_full_unstemmed Inversion of Seismic Anisotropic Parameters Using Very Fast Simulated Annealing with Application to Microseismic Event Location
title_sort Inversion of Seismic Anisotropic Parameters Using Very Fast Simulated Annealing with Application to Microseismic Event Location
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Pérez, Daniel Omar
Lagos, Soledad Rocío
Velis, Danilo Rubén
Soldo, Juan Carlos
author Pérez, Daniel Omar
author_facet Pérez, Daniel Omar
Lagos, Soledad Rocío
Velis, Danilo Rubén
Soldo, Juan Carlos
author_role author
author2 Lagos, Soledad Rocío
Velis, Danilo Rubén
Soldo, Juan Carlos
author2_role author
author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Geofísica
Anisotropy
Microseismic
Velocity calibration
VFSA
topic Geofísica
Anisotropy
Microseismic
Velocity calibration
VFSA
dc.description.none.fl_txt_mv The study and interpretation of hydraulically stimulated regions, such as certain unconventional hydrocarbon reservoirs (e.g. Vaca Muerta Formation, Neuquén, Argentina), requires the accurate location of the induced microseismic events. The localization is carried out by means of the analysis of the travel times of the generated compressional and shear seismic waves from the unknown event position to a set of geophones, usually located in a nearby monitoring well. The accuracy of the localization, and thus the characterization of the fracturing process, can be strongly affected by the available seismic velocity model, from which only estimates are known. Also, the underlying medium usually shows an anisotropic behavior, meaning that the velocities of the seismic waves depend on the propagation direction. Therefore, knowledge of the parameters that characterize the anisotropy and an appropriate calibration of the velocities can reduce the errors in the localization of the microseismic events. In this paper we propose a strategy to simultaneously calibrate the velocity model and invert the anisotropy parameters from three-component microseismic data. The strategy relies on the hypothesis that the subsurface is composed of a finite number of horizontal layers with weak anisotropy, a widely used approximation that requires only three anisotropy parameters per layer. The differences between the observed and the calculated travel times, for a known seismic source, are quantified by means of an appropriate objective function that turns out to be non-linear and multimodal. For this reason, we minimize it using very fast simulated annealing (VFSA), a stochastic global optimization algorithm devised to find near-optimal solutions to hard optimization problems. Tests on synthetic data show that the proposed strategy can be used to effectively calibrate the seismic velocities and to provide appropriate estimates of the anisotropy parameters in spite of the severe non-uniqueness of the inverse problem at hand. Also, the stochastic nature of VFSA allows us to obtain the uncertainties of the solutions by repeating the inversion several times. Finally, by means of a simulated microseismic location example, we show the importance of having a well calibrated model to successfully estimate the locations of the hydraulically induced events.
Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísicas
Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
description The study and interpretation of hydraulically stimulated regions, such as certain unconventional hydrocarbon reservoirs (e.g. Vaca Muerta Formation, Neuquén, Argentina), requires the accurate location of the induced microseismic events. The localization is carried out by means of the analysis of the travel times of the generated compressional and shear seismic waves from the unknown event position to a set of geophones, usually located in a nearby monitoring well. The accuracy of the localization, and thus the characterization of the fracturing process, can be strongly affected by the available seismic velocity model, from which only estimates are known. Also, the underlying medium usually shows an anisotropic behavior, meaning that the velocities of the seismic waves depend on the propagation direction. Therefore, knowledge of the parameters that characterize the anisotropy and an appropriate calibration of the velocities can reduce the errors in the localization of the microseismic events. In this paper we propose a strategy to simultaneously calibrate the velocity model and invert the anisotropy parameters from three-component microseismic data. The strategy relies on the hypothesis that the subsurface is composed of a finite number of horizontal layers with weak anisotropy, a widely used approximation that requires only three anisotropy parameters per layer. The differences between the observed and the calculated travel times, for a known seismic source, are quantified by means of an appropriate objective function that turns out to be non-linear and multimodal. For this reason, we minimize it using very fast simulated annealing (VFSA), a stochastic global optimization algorithm devised to find near-optimal solutions to hard optimization problems. Tests on synthetic data show that the proposed strategy can be used to effectively calibrate the seismic velocities and to provide appropriate estimates of the anisotropy parameters in spite of the severe non-uniqueness of the inverse problem at hand. Also, the stochastic nature of VFSA allows us to obtain the uncertainties of the solutions by repeating the inversion several times. Finally, by means of a simulated microseismic location example, we show the importance of having a well calibrated model to successfully estimate the locations of the hydraulically induced events.
publishDate 2016
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2016-11
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
Articulo
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
info:ar-repo/semantics/articulo
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/97876
url http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/97876
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv eng
language eng
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info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/url/https://cimec.org.ar/ojs/index.php/mc/article/view/5208
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/issn/2591-3522
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/hdl/11336/55755
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
3351-3367
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:SEDICI (UNLP)
instname:Universidad Nacional de La Plata
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reponame_str SEDICI (UNLP)
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repository.name.fl_str_mv SEDICI (UNLP) - Universidad Nacional de La Plata
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