SUBMITTED BY:

Samiran Rabha(PE-220/19)
Sanjay Borah(PE-221/19)

SONIC LOG Ritika Phonglosa(PE-219/19)

Saurav Saha(PE-222/19)
Rajiv Boro(PE-218/19)
Dept. of petroleum engineering,
DUIET, Dibrugarh University
 INTRODUCTION

The sonic or acoustic log measures the travel time of an elastic

wave through the formation. This information can also be used to
derive the velocity of elastic waves through the formation.

Its main use is to provide information to support and calibrate

seismic data and to derive the porosity of a formation.

Some of the main uses of sonic log are:

i. Determination of porosity
ii. Stratigraphic correlation
iii. Identification of lithologies
iv. Fracture identification
v. Identification of source rock

The tool works at a higher frequency than seismic waves, therefore

one must be careful with the direct comparison and application of
sonic log data with seismic data.
PRINCIPLE OF SONIC LOG

The tool measures the time it takes for a pulse of sound i.e., an
elastic wave to travel from a transmitter to a receiver, which are
both mounted on the sonic logging tool. The transmitted pulse is
very short and is of high amplitude. This travels through the rocks
in various forms while undergoing dispersion (spreading of the
wave energy in time and spaces) and attenuation (loss of energy
through absorption of energy by the formation).

When the sound energy arrives at the receiver having passed

through the rock, it does so at different times in the form of
different types of waves. The transmitter at t=0, after some time
the receiver receives the first type of waves i.e., the compressional
or pressure wave (P-wave). This is the fastest wave with small
amplitude. The next wave usually to arrive is the transverse or
shear wave (s-wave). This is a slower wave than the P-wave but has
a high amplitude.

WORKING TOOLS

EARLY TOOL:
Early tool has one transmitter and one receiver. The body of the
tool is made from rubber with low velocity and high attenuation to
stop the wave travelling preferentially down the tool to the
receiver.

The main problem with this tool is that the measured travel time
was always too long. Another problem with this tool was that the
length of the formation through which the wave travelled was not
constant because changes to the velocity of the wave depending
upon the formation altered the critical refraction angle.

DUAL RECEIVER TOOL:

These tools were designed to overcome the problems in the early
tools. These tools use two receivers a few feet apart and measure
the difference in times of arrival of elastic waves at each receiver
from a given pulse from the transmitter. The time is called the sonic
interval transit time.
The main problem with this arrangement was that if the tool is
tilted or the hole size changes than the two receivers fail to work
due to the change in time taken by the returning waves to reach
the receivers will be changed.

BOREHOLE COMPENSATED TOOL:

These tools automatically compensate the tool misalignment and
varying size of the borehole. These tools have two transmitters and
four receivers which are arranged in two dual receiver sets but with
one set inverted.

Each of the transmitters is pulsed alternately and the transit travel

time of the wave (∆t) values are measured from alternate pairs of
receivers. These two values are than averaged to compensate for
tool misalignment.

APPLICATIONS

POROSITY DETERMINATIONS:
The sonic log is commonly used to calculate the porosity of
formations.

It is useful in following ways:

i. As a quality check on the FDC CNL log determinations
ii. As a robust method in boreholes of variable size
iii. To calculate secondary porosity in carbonate
iv. To calculate fracture porosity.

SECONDARY AND FRACTURE POROSITY:

Sonic log is sensitive to primary intergranular porosity. Sound
waves follow the shortest path and avoid the fractures.
The sonic log emits the sound waves at the source to travel
through the formation and return back to the receiver. The
travel time from the source to the receivers is called the
slowness. So sonic logs are sometimes referred to as sonic
slowness logs.

STRATIGRAPHIC CORRELATION:
Sonic log is sensitive to small changes in grain size, texture,
mineralogy, carbonate content, quartz content, porosity etc.
that’s why sonic log is suited for correlation and facies
analysis.

COMPACTION:
As a sediment becomes compacted the velocity of the elastic wave
through it increase. If one plots the interval transit time on a
logarithmic scale against depth on a liner scale a straight-line
relationship emerges. This is compaction trend.

OVERPRESSURE:
The sonic log can be used to detect overpressure zones in a well. If
there is a break in the plotline of a compaction on a transit time
graph then it is likely due to an overpressure zone.
SYNTHETIC SIESMOGRAM:
A synthetic seismogram is a trace that has been constructed from
various parameters obtained from log information. It represents the
seismic trace that should be observed with the seismic method at
the well locations. It is useful in improving the resolution and the
accuracy of the of the trace in the formations of interest.

IDENTIFICATION OF LITHOLOGY:
The velocity or interval time is rarely diagnostic of a rock type.
However high velocities usually indicate carbonates, middle
velocities indicate sands ad low velocities indicate shales. Sonic log
is best suited for lithological identifications.

FACTORS AFFECTING SONIC LOG

The purpose of sonic log is to measure formation velocity but

various geometrical factors can cause apparent velocity readings
different from the true velocity. Bed thickness, hole size, caves,
alteration of the formation adjacent to the bore, spacing of the
transducer and whether the tool is centred in the bore are among
the factors affecting the log.
REFRENCES

i. Schlumberger (1989) Log interpretation principles

/applications. Schlumberger,Houston, TX
ii. H. Rabia - Well Engineering and Construction-Entrac
Consulting (2001)
iii. https://wiki.seg.org/wiki/Sonic_logs
iv. Oilfield Glossary. Schlumberger. Retrieved 11 December 2015