SBIR Phase I: Inversion of Geophysical Measurements for Fracture Geometry

这个小企业创新研究第一阶段项目将开发一种创新的方法，用于检测和量化岩石中的天然裂缝系统。裂缝系统的几何形状控制着许多油气储集岩的渗透率。控制流体渗透率的几何形状的许多相同方面也控制地球物理响应。该项目旨在开发方法，将断裂岩石中的地球物理测量结果反演为潜在的裂缝几何形状，从而预测渗透率。已经开发了几种将裂缝几何形状与各种各向异性、应力相关属性（包括渗透率、电导率和地震速度）联系起来的正演模型。这些正演模型将被用来作为基础，开发一个反方法，从不同的地球物理测量获得的裂缝几何形状。 该反演方案将仿照现有的成功的方法反演岩石孔隙结构从约束实验室测量。 将通过将特定于断裂问题的正演模型插入先前为岩石孔隙结构开发的相同反演代码中来实现断裂性质的反演方法。将使用来自天然裂缝网络的摄影图像数据测试该初始方法的稳健性和内部一致性。在本项目第一和第二阶段下开发的软件将为来自各种约束地球物理数据的双孔隙裂缝储层模拟器提供所需的输入。该软件对于石油和天然气行业的勘探和生产活动将是非常宝贵的。

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will develop an innovative method for detecting and quantifying natural fracture systems in rock. The geometry of fracture systems controls the permeability of many oil and gas reservoir rocks. Many of the same aspects of geometry which control the fluid permeability also control the geophysical response. This project is to develop methods to invert geophysical measurements in fractured rock for the underlying fracture geometry, thus allowing prediction of permeability.Several forward models have been developed relating fracture geometry to various anisotropic, stress- dependent properties including permeability, electrical conductivity, and seismic velocity. These forward models will be used as the basis for developing an inverse method for obtaining the fracture geometry from diverse geophysical measurements. This inversion scheme will be modeled after an existing successful method for inversion of rock pore structure from constraining laboratory measurements. An inversion method for fracture properties will be implemented by inserting forward models specific to the fracture problem into the same inversion code previously developed for rock pore structure. This initial method will be tested for robustness and internal consistency using photographic image data from natural fracture networks.Software developed under Phases I and II of this project will provide the needed inputs for dual-porosity fractured reservoir simulators from diverse constraining geophysical data. This software will be invaluable for exploration and production activities in the oil and gas industry.