Seismic imaging based on numerical simulations of seismic waves: from global to hydrocarbon-reservoir applications

基于地震波数值模拟的地震成像：从全球到碳氢化合物储层应用

• 批准号: RGPIN-2014-06349
• 负责人: Liu, Qinya
• 金额: $ 2.19万
• 依托单位: University of Toronto
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2015-01-01 至 2016-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=588955
• 关键词: Seismic; imaging; based; numerical; simulations

Understanding the geological evolution of the planet Earth has been one of the fundamental scientific questions that pique human curiosity. What are the tectonic processes and geological events in the past that shaped the topographic, geological and tectonic features observed on the Earth’s surface, what are the internal dynamical processes that drive the complex tectonic plate motions, and how do these plate motions and tectonic stress cause earthquakes? These intriguing questions have been the centre of solid geophysical research, in which seismology plays a leading role in illuminating the Earth’s interior and presents important clues to decipher the past, present and future of our planet. On another front, seismology engages in understanding earthquakes, one of the most damaging natural disasters to mankind, including their locations, source mechanisms, seismic wave propagation and the intensity of induced ground shaking. The collection of seismic catalogues and better understanding of the effect of heterogeneous internal structures provide us crucial guidance on long-term seismic hazard assessment and risk mitigation. The computational seismology group at University of Toronto is involved in seismological research that seeks answers and solutions to the above questions and subjects. In particular, we develop and apply well-maintained community spectral-element software packages that accurately simulate the propagation of seismic waves in 2D/3D heterogeneous media. In an effort to understand the tectonic processes associated with subduction zones, continental collision zones, cratons, etc., we use unique datasets from seismic array recordings, including regional earthquake data, noise cross-correlation functions (NCF), and teleseismic receiver functions (RF, i.e., converted/scattered/coda waves of teleseismic main phases), in combination with adjoint tomographic techniques to reveal detailed structures beneath seismic arrays as well as at continental and global scales. The methodology advancement in earthquake seismology also brings new insight into applied geophysical applications, in particular seismic imaging and microseismic monitoring for oil and gas exploration and mining. For example, microseismic events accompanying hydraulic fracturing processes in which fluid and proppants are injected at high pressure into relatively impermeable hydrocarbon reservoirs to create pathway for gas or/and oil to be drained efficiently can be more accurately located, monitored and interpreted through waveform modelling, source inversions as well as tomographic imaging. We apply full numerical simulations of wave propagation to model microseismic events in complex geological structures, and employ innovative seismic inversion methods to map detailed subsurface heterogeneities for both mining and hydraulic fracturing applications. Through the support of previous NSERC (individual) Discovery Grant and other sources of funding, I was able to establish an energetic research group composed of 2 postdocs, 8 graduate students (including 3 finished M.Sc.) and 7 undergraduates (including 2 B.Sc. theses) since I joined University of Toronto five years ago. Over the same period of time, our group published 13 papers (additionally 1 accepted, 2 under review) in peer reviewed journals. We are also co-authors on one book chapter and 2 expanded abstracts for conference proceedings. My postdocs, graduate students and I also made more than 50 conference and seminar presentations. Our research team expects to maintain a similar group size, plan for HQP training, and level of productivity for the next five years.

了解地球的地质演化一直是激发人类好奇心的基本科学问题之一。过去形成地球表面地形、地质和构造特征的构造过程和地质事件是什么，驱动复杂构造板块运动的内在动力过程是什么，这些板块运动和构造应力是如何引起地震的？这些耐人寻味的问题一直是固体地球物理研究的中心，地震学在照亮地球内部方面发挥着主导作用，并为破译我们星球的过去、现在和未来提供了重要线索。另一方面，地震学致力于了解地震，这是对人类最具破坏性的自然灾害之一，包括它们的位置、震源机制、地震波传播和诱发的地面震动强度。地震目录的收集和对不均匀内部结构影响的更好理解为我们提供了长期地震危险评估和风险缓解的重要指导。 多伦多大学的计算地震学小组参与了地震学研究，寻求上述问题和主题的答案和解决方案。特别是，我们开发和应用了维护良好的社区谱元素软件包，这些软件包可以准确地模拟地震波在2D/3D非均匀介质中的传播。为了了解与俯冲带、大陆碰撞带、克拉通等有关的构造过程，我们使用来自地震阵列记录的独特数据集，包括区域地震数据、噪声互相关函数(NCF)和远程地震接收器函数(RF，即远程地震主相的转换/散射/尾波)，并结合伴随层析成像技术来揭示地震阵列下以及大陆和全球尺度的详细结构。 地震地震学的方法学进展也为地球物理的应用带来了新的见解，特别是在石油和天然气勘探和开采中的地震成像和微震监测。例如，通过波形建模、震源反演以及层析成像，可以更准确地定位、监测和解释伴随水力压裂过程的微地震事件，在水力压裂过程中，流体和支撑剂被高压注入相对不渗透的碳氢化合物储集层，以创建有效地排出天然气或/和石油的通道。我们应用波传播的全数值模拟来模拟复杂地质结构中的微地震事件，并使用创新的地震反演方法来绘制采矿和水力压裂应用中详细的地下非均质性。 通过以前NSERC(个人)发现基金的支持和其他资金来源，我能够建立一个由2名博士后，8名研究生(包括3名完成硕士学位的学生)组成的充满活力的研究小组。本科生7名(其中本科2名)。论文)，因为我在五年前进入多伦多大学。在同一时期，我们小组在同行评议的期刊上发表了13篇论文(另外1篇被接受，2篇在评审中)。我们还共同撰写了一本书的一个章节和两个会议记录的扩展摘要。我的博士后、研究生和我还做了50多次会议和研讨会演讲。我们的研究团队希望在未来五年保持类似的团队规模、HQP培训计划和生产力水平。