Patent Application
20150371429
1. Field of Use
This disclosure pertains to a highly interactive method of display of detailed, voluminous geophysical data in readily comprehensible format and a system for the display of such information.
2. Prior Art
Prior art has included 2D and 3D displays; charts, graphs, and spread sheet presentations of geologic data.
This invention relates to geophysical data processing and graphical user interfaces, and in particular to systems and methods providing visualization and presentation of 3-D microseismic geophysical data in a highly interactive format. The disclosure allows the user to manipulate the data for enhanced 3D visual display in real time using interactive tools. The data manipulation taught by this disclosure allows for ready or expedited understanding of the data and the geologic properties of the subject site.
Computer-intensive processing of reflection seismic data is the main tool for imaging the Earth's subsurface to identify hydrocarbon reservoirs and determine rock and fluid properties. Seismic data is recorded at the earth's surface or in wells, and an accurate model of the underlying geologic structure is constructed by processing the data. In the past two decades, 3-D seismic processing has proven to be far superior at structural imaging than conventional 2-D seismic processing. However, the reconstruction of accurate 3-D images of the subsurface requires the handling of a huge amount of seismic data and the application of computer-intensive imaging algorithms. The volume of data can be in terabytes requiring the use of large scale parallel computers. The recording, processing, and analysis of microseismic data shares similar characteristics.
Along with this volume of input data is a resulting large volume of output data. Stated differently, this method produces a very large quantity of data. This data is currently communicated in lengthy reports containing multitudes of graphs. The review and assimilation of this volume of data requires time and is subject to individual interpretation. The economic consequences of misinterpretation are large. The economic costs resulting from creation of unnecessary boreholes, casing and well development cannot be overstated.
The Applicant has developed interactive techniques to apply to the presentation of complex and voluminous 3-D images of geologic structures and microseismic testing results. In one application, these techniques readily clarify and distinguish microseismic observation results, e.g., results of fracturing of geologic formations inducing microseismic events. The Applicant is applying the techniques of computerized blending of color and light intensity, commonly described as alpha blending (referred to herein as “blend mode”). Also variable coloring and sizing of data symbols and selective presentation of data is disclosed. Using these enhanced graphic presentation techniques, the user is able to manipulate the visual display of microseismic event data by factors comprising micro seism amplitude, location, depth, probability, direction, time, distance from wellbore and combinations thereof. This manipulation can be performed in real time, thereby tailoring the visual aide to emphasize the characteristics of the property of interest.
The patent or application file contains at least one drawing executed in color. Copies of this patent or patent application publication with color drawings will be provided by the Office upon request and payment of the necessary fee.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate preferred embodiments of the invention. These drawings, together with the general description of the invention given above and the detailed description of the preferred embodiments given below, serve to explain the principles of the invention.
The subject matter of the present invention is described with reference to certain preferred embodiments however, is not intended to limit the scope of the invention. The claimed subject matter thus, might also be embodied in other ways to include different steps, or combinations of steps, similar to the ones described herein and other technologies. Although the term “step” may be used herein to describe different elements of methods employed, the term should not be interpreted as implying any particular order among or between various steps herein disclosed unless otherwise expressly limited by the description to a particular order.
This disclosure teaches the use of multilayered imagery and utilizes the techniques of 3D blending to clearly and quickly display voluminous amounts of 3D seismic data.
Modern geophysicists and geologists must pour through literally reams of data in evaluating potential drilling sites. Still additional information must be collected and assimilated in order make determinations of which section of a wellbore is likely to be productive in the production of hydrocarbons. Depiction of the geologic data utilizing 2D computer models is currently utilized.
This disclosure pertains to the evaluation of wellbore data after geologic stimulation. Specifically, the disclosure pertains to interactive 3D displays of microseismic data. As is known, geologic stimulation, commonly known as hydraulic fracturing (or fracking), pertains to the practice of pumping water and other additives under great pressure into a wellbore. The high pressure fractures the geologic formation surrounding the wellbore. The fracturing of the geologic formation creates mini earthquakes or microseisms referred to as microseismic events. These events are detected by one or more geophones.
Typically, a wellbore is geologically stimulated multiple times (stages) along the length of the wellbore. These can be separate fracking events. There may be in excess of 50 stages. The geophones can be positioned in separate nearby wellbores. Typically, the geophones comprise a set of three phones spaced vertically in the monitoring well. There may be multiple monitoring wells.
The microseismic events produced by the multiple episodes of fracking trigger sounds that can be detected by the geophones. The signals generated by the geophones in response to the events are recorded. The signals can also be transmitted after processing directly to a central processing unit (CPU) of the system subject of the disclosure.
The compilation of signals from multiple fracking events in a typical well bore may exceed 6,000. It will be appreciated that each of the 6,000 events will have separate geophone signals for each geophone deployed. The separate signals must be calculated into separate X, Y and Z coordinates, chronological time of event, amplitudes and direction for each event. This data is separately processed into machine readable data. In this disclosure, the reading function (processing) may be performed by a graphic processing unit (GPU) that is a component of the computing system in communication with the CPU.
In another embodiment, the seismic data is collected and processed to produce three-dimensional volume data-sets comprising “voxels” or volume elements, whereby each voxel may be identified by the x, y, z coordinates of one of its eight corners or its center. Each voxel also represents a numeric data value (attribute) associated with some measured or calculated physical property at a particular location. Examples of geological seismic data values include amplitude, phase, frequency, and semblance. Different data values are stored in different three-dimensional volume data-sets, wherein each three-dimensional volume data-set represents a different data value. When multitude data-sets are used, the data value for each of the data-sets may represent a different physical parameter or attribute for the same geographic space. By way of example, a plurality of data-sets could include a seismic volume, a temperature volume and a water-saturation volume.
The voxels in the seismic volume can be expressed in the form (x, y, z, seismic amplitude). The voxels in the temperature volume can be expressed in the form (x, y, z, ° C.). The voxels in the water-saturation volume can be expressed in the form (x, y, z, % saturation). The physical or geographic space defined by the voxels in each of these volumes is the same. However, for any specific spatial location (xo, yo, zo), the seismic amplitude would be contained in the seismic volume, the temperature in the temperature volume and the water-saturation in the water-saturation volume. In order to analyze certain sub-surface geological structures, sometimes referred to as “features” or “events,” information from different three-dimensional volume data-sets may be separately imaged in order to analyze the feature or event.
It will be appreciated that the recorded time of a seismic event can be important. For example events closer to the wellbore may occur after events are recorded more distant from the wellbore. It will be appreciated that the wellbore is the location of the geologic stimulation event (creating the microseismic events).
A basic graphics library overlays menu/interface software. Basic graphics library is an application programming interface (API) for three-dimensional computer graphics. The functions performed by basic graphics library may include, for example, geometric and raster primitives, RGBA or color index mode, display list or immediate mode, viewing and modeling transformations, lighting and shading, hidden surface removal, alpha blending (translucency), anti-aliasing, texture mapping, atmospheric effects (fog, smoke, haze), feedback and selection, stencil planes and accumulation buffer.
A visual simulation graphics library overlays the basic graphics library. The visual simulation graphics library is an API for creating real-time, multi-processed three-dimensional visual simulation graphics applications. As will be understood by those skilled in the art, the visual simulation graphics library may include a suite of tools for two-dimensional and/or three-dimensional seismic data interpretations including, for example, interactive horizon and fault management, three-dimensional visualization and attribute analysis. The visual simulation graphics library therefore, provides functions that bundle together graphics library state control functions such as lighting, materials, texture, and transparency. These functions track state and the creation of display lists that can be rendered later.
This disclosure teaches the use of multilayered computer generated images wherein the color, size, shading and opacity (transparency or translucency) of symbols representing microseismic events can be graphically and interactively changed or manipulated in three dimensions (3D) in order that the characteristics of the subsurface geologic conditions can be readily understood. The microseismic events are sometimes referred to as spheres or dots. It will be appreciated that each blending mode or variable set (depth, certainty, magnitude, etc.) may have its own color scheme. The examples provided in
The data can be displayed in a 3D representation in real time. This means that the display will change as the varied data is received. As stated elsewhere herein, the user will perceive the visual display of data changing instantaneously.
The X, Y and Z orientation of the symbols can also be changed. The function of changing these variables will be in response to a user's direction. The direction may be given through a user interface control display. One embodiment of a control display screen is shown in
The images created by the disclosure may be viewed real time, i.e., while the fracking occurs and the seismic data is processed into machine readable numbers. As used in this disclosure, “real-time” means manipulating and presenting the data as it is received by the system. The computer display of this method and system is also interactive, i.e., the display may be refreshed at a rate of 60 Hz or better. Interactive also means that the display or image can be rotated 360 degrees in any direction in 3 dimensions. The image is comprised of pixels.
The system subject of this disclosure receiving the machine readable data comprises memory, RAM (Random Access Memory), a CPU, a GPU and a display screen interfacing with a mouse, tracker ball or equivalent. Machine readable means the data can be processed and manipulated by the system subject to the program controls.
The system hardware components may include, for example, a processor, memory (e.g., random access memory and/or non-volatile memory devices), one or more input devices, one or more display devices, and one or more interface devices. These hardware components may be interconnected according to a variety of configurations and may include one or more GPU's and CPU's. Non-volatile memory devices may include, for example, devices such as tape drives, semiconductor ROM (Read Only Memory) or EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory). Input devices may include, for example, devices such as a keyboard, a mouse, a digitizing pad, a track ball, a touch-sensitive pad and/or a light pen. Display devices may include, for example, devices such as monitors, projectors and/or head-mounted displays. Interface devices may be configured to require digital image data from one or more acquisition devices and/or from one or more remote computers or storage devices through a network. Any variety of acquisition devices may be used depending on the type of object being imaged. The acquisition device(s) may sense various forms of mechanical energy (e.g., acoustic (seismic) energy, displacement and/or stress/strain).
Each processor (GPU and CPU) may be configured to reprogram instructions and/or data from RAM and/or non-volatile memory devices, and to store computational results into RAM and/or non-volatile memory devices. The program directs each processor to operate on a three-dimensional volume of seismic-data traces and other two-dimensional or three-dimensional seismic data-sets based on the methods described herein.
The disclosure teaches the use of multilayered imagery and utilizes the techniques of 3D blending. This includes changing the blend mode upon the 3D computer generated image among alpha blending, additive blending, and opacity. In computer graphics, alpha compositing is the process of combining an image with a background to create the appearance of partial or full transparency. Separate 2D images are created and combined (rendered) into a composite 3D image. Opacity is the opposite of transparency (transparent). Opacity can mean that something is partially transparent. Opacity can be adjusted or manipulated by the computer user. As used herein, opaque is defined as entirely non-transparent.
Additive blending is a method that uses an additive color model rather than an opaque model. A computer image consists of pixels, and each pixel has three different color channels, i.e., red, green, and blue, commonly referred to as RGB. Normally, images are rendered opaque, meaning that when an image is drawn to the screen, the old RGB values at the associated pixels are entirely replaced and overwritten by the new RGB values, thereby performing no blending. With additive blending, instead of simply replacing the old pixels with the new pixels, the final pixel is the sum of the two pixels as per the following formula:
Old Pixel=(R1, G1, B1) New Pixel=(R2, G2, B2) Final Pixel=(R1+R2, G1+G2, B1+B2)
Additive blending is a method that uses an additive color model. The pixels of the base map and a light map (multiple layers) are blended together to make a brighter texture. In the additive color model, red, green, and blue (RGB) are the primary colors, and mixing them together creates white.
Additive blending is utilized by the system to illustrate multiple layers of seismic events where, due to the 3D orientation of the visual display perspective, one or more seismic event is positioned behind another event symbol. This technique allows the viewer to see the multiple events.
Because additive blending is a summation of RGB values, it can never make the image darker, only brighter, unlike alpha blending. Alpha blending utilizes a hidden 4th color channel per pixel called “alpha”. An Alpha channel is an 8-bit layer in a graphics file format that is used for expressing translucency. The additional eight bits per pixel serve as a mask and represent 256 translucency levels from entirely clear (0) to opaque (255), with levels in between representing the degree of haziness. When using alpha blending, pixels are said to be made up of RGBA values. With alpha blending, instead of simply replacing the old pixels with the new pixels, the final pixel is a blending of the two pixels as per the following formula:
Old Pixel=(R1, G1, B1, A1) New Pixel=(R2, G2, B2, A2) Final Pixel=(A2*(R2−R1)+R1, A2*(G2−G1)+G1, A2*(B2−B1)+B1)
Visually, the result of an alpha blend is always darker than the result of an additive blend.
As stated, the primary colors (red, green and blue) are added together to get white. To get a lighter color more of each color is used, or to get a darker color less of each color is used. Additive is the color model used to display graphics on a computer screen, where all the colors are just combinations of the colors red, green and blue. Alpha blending is used whenever the alpha value is used to modify the RGB values—e.g. anywhere Alpha is used in one of the equations above]
The method of the disclosure will, in one embodiment, utilize a graphics processing unit. The graphics processing unit (GPU) provides a processor and memory and thereby allows the CPU to perform other tasks.
Using the control features illustrated in
Alpha blending can be activated by opening the Style tab of the Microseismic Settings window, locate the Dot Style section and clicking on the button labeled “Focus”. Note alpha blending can also be activated by clicking on the button labeled “Solid”. To activate additive blending, the same functions are performed on the control panel but the user clicks on the button labeled “Hotspot”.
To scale the size of each event by its Amplitude, the user opens the Style tab in the Microseismic Settings window, locates the “Size” button, clicks the combo box to display a list of all potential size variable, and from this list, the user clicks on the element labeled “Amplitude”. For the display shown in
The size of each event symbol (shown in
The disclosure also teaches interactive 3D visual displays comprising fully adjustable colors, and varied representations of microseismic events in a 3D space. Each variable (amplitude, depth, distance to wellbore, stage, time) may have its own unique color map. It will be appreciated that the disclosure is not limited to a particular color or color scheme or system.
To set the color of each event based on its Amplitude, the user opens up the Style tab in the Microseismic Settings window, locates the “Event Color” section and click the combo box to display a list of all potential color variables. From this list, select the desired color and click on the element labeled “Amplitude”. As described more completely below, in one embodiment of the invention each variable has its own color sequence or color scheme.
In the embodiment disclosed in
The variables of color, size, shading, opacity can be controlled by a graphics processing unit in response to user inputted criteria. It will be appreciated that the user can vary the selection of illustrated criteria by adjusting the setting on the GPU from a display page, i.e., control display (see, for example,
A graphics processing unit GPU will be understood to be a type of video adapter that contains its own processor to boost performance levels. These processors are specialized for computing graphical transformations, so they achieve better results than the general-purpose CPU used by the computer. In addition, they free up the computer's CPU to execute other commands while the GPU is handling graphics computations. The GPU may have its own memory reserved for storing graphical representations, preferably VRAM which enables both the video circuitry and the processor to simultaneously access the memory. The GPU will preferably have a PCI bus with a 64 bit accelerator or larger.
The method also employs translucency. Displayed symbols for microseismic events may be translucent. In this manner the existence of microseismic events in the background remain visible through the foreground events. This facilitates spatial orientation of the events. The terms “translucent” and “transparent” are often used synonymously, but they are not the same. A translucent area in an image would be like looking through frosted or smoked glass to the underlying background. A transparent area would be like looking through clear glass.
In one embodiment, translucency is used to signal uncertainty in the location of the microseismic event. This uncertainty can arise from conflicting data from the plurality of geophones.
The symbols displayed in the visualizations subject of this disclosure will be represented as three dimensional objects. The objects can be shown as superimposed upon one another depending upon the X, Y and Z orientation. This allows improved and faster understanding of the spatial relationship between objects, i.e., microseismic events.
The image will provide a perception of depth. Directionality and orientation of symbols depicting the events in the X, Y and Z axes will be shown. It will be appreciated that directionality of the shear slips of a microseismic event can be very important in evaluating the productivity of a well bore.
It will be appreciated that the 3D image can be displayed from any orientation. Stated differently, the image may be shown from the top (map) view, side view or bottom view. See for example
In one embodiment pertaining to the orientation of the X, Y and Z axes, each microseismic event symbol becomes a discrete value. The color or shading of the symbol will not blend with symbols that may be repositioned behind the symbol. Only the symbols in front of the view will be shown. The remaining symbols will be hidden in the background.
Turning now to the drawings,
The exact same data displayed in
The functional distinctions among the additive blending, alpha blending and opacity are demonstrated between
Notice that the user can easily recognize the area around the wellbore with the highest amount of microseismic activity 504, and they can also clearly see the location of the most intense microseismic events 501, 502 inside the affected region. It will be appreciated that events closest to the well bore can be anticipated to most greatly affect the wellbore production. When the same scene
Again, this is graphic demonstration that the multiple display methods of the disclosure provide the best, most complete view of the geologic formation. The formation can be viewed in multiple modes and different features can appear or be confirmed by this combined methodology.
It will be appreciated that the viewing perspective (display perspective) can be adjusted a full 360 degrees. This means the data depicted in a 3D space can be viewed at any angle or perspective. The display can be rotated a full 360 degrees. This will be perceived by the user as occurring instantaneously, i.e., interactively. As mentioned, the data symbols will maintain their orientation to the other data points during this rotation and may become obscured to the user during the rotational movement. This is an additional feature of the method subject of this disclosure.
The display perspective of the event depicted in
The method taught by this disclosure can be used to display this same data in different manners.
In another example, (not shown) the degree of certainty of a microseismic event can be depicted by varying the opacity of the event symbol. An event with great certainty can be represented by an opaque symbol. An event having an uncertain event location will be translucent. The degree of translucency may vary with the degree of uncertainty. (Uncertainty of an event location may occur as the result of conflicting data from the multiple geophones.) In yet another example the symbols can be illustrated by signal amplitude. The larger the graphic depiction of the symbol, the larger the recorded signal amplitude. In another variation, only signals having a selected threshold amplitude can be displayed.
Turning to
This specification is to be construed as illustrative only and is for the purpose of teaching those skilled in the art the manner of carrying out the invention. It is to be understood that the forms of the invention herein shown and described are to be taken as the presently preferred embodiments. As already stated, various changes may be made in the shape, size and arrangement of components or adjustments made in the steps of the method without departing from the scope of this invention. For example, equivalent elements may be substituted for those illustrated and described herein and certain features of the invention maybe utilized independently of the use of other features, all as would be apparent to one skilled in the art after having the benefit of this description of the invention.
While specific embodiments have been illustrated and described, numerous modifications are possible without departing from the spirit of the invention, and the scope of protection is only limited by the scope of the accompanying claims.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61937757 | Feb 2014 | US |
