Publications

The Sonic Scanner is the industrys first wireline tool to provide a three dimensional measurement of acoustic and elastic wave propagation around the borehole. In addition to axial and azimuthal measurements of compressional and shear (dipole) wave propagation, the tool also makes radial measurements of these properties, with multiple depths of investigation up to two or three times the borehole diameter.The axial measurements are made in two different ways: The tool makes multi-spaced compressional (acoustic wave) measurements to investigate acoustic properties of the formation at multiple depths of investigation. And it has two wide-band dipole sources to generate flexural waves that probe the formation elastic shear modulus at a wide range of frequencies, thus providing radial shear wave information.The new tool provides excellent data quality in open and cased hole, even in large boreholes or in slow formations where older generation sonic tools can not be used or deliver marginal data quality at best. Unlike other full waveform sonic tools, the new tool can acquire cement bond logs, simultaneous with other data acquisition. The sonic scanner can even acquire high frequency seismic reflection surveys, with its monopole source and receivers both placed within the reservoir. Such a Borehole Acoustic Reflection Survey can see tens of feet into the formation with a resolution that is many times better than that of surface seismic or VSP surveys.The measurements of radial acoustic and elastic wavefield properties enable many new applications, including geomechanical and geophysical studies, reservoir characterization, analysis of formation damage and completion optimization or fracture characterization.