Fachvortrge iii: geowissenschaFten Users Conference 2006 Frankfurt Excerpt from the Proceedings of the COMSOL

FE-Modelling of Induction Tool Responses

Johannes B. Stoll
ANTARES Datensysteme GmbH, Rudolf-Diesel-Str. 6-8, 28816 Stuhr, Germany, j.stoll@antares-geo.de.

Abstract This paper describes the most common methods used to construct numerical models for induction borehole tool responses. The logging environment and the finite extention of the transmitter and receiver coils as well, require an ambitious modeling code to approximate the true tool response. Mixed boundaries are involved in such problems but cause analytical codes to become extremely complicated, resulting in significantly longer computer run-times. Numerical methods are efficient for studying 2D and 3D problems. To illustrate the use of the finite element method in resistivity modelling, an axisymmetric finte element modelling of a 2-coil and 4 coil induction tool response is discussed. Keywords electrical conductivity, electromagnetic induction, skin effect, two-coil, four-coil systems

2. Principle of Operation of the Induction Logging Instrument

The high-frequency alternating current which is maintained at a constant value in the transmitter coil of the induction logging instrument sets up an electromagnetic field which extends into the formation surrounding the instrument. The periodically changing electromagnetic flux of this field induces secondary currents of the same frequency in the conducting formation surrounding the transmitter coil (Fig. 1). In effect, the conductive formation surrounding the coil serves as a single-turn secondary circuit which is inductively coupled to the transmitter coil. The current induced in this secondary field, the formation, flows in the entire volume of the conducting formation surrounding the logging tool. In a completely homogeneous formation these elemental conductive paths are toroidal in shape and have axial symmetry with the borehole. The density of the current induced in each of these elemental paths depends upon the conductivity of the formation within the path. The total voltage induced in the receiver coil depends upon the intensity of the currents in the elemental toroids and, thus, upon the conductivity of the formation. The recorded response of the induction curve can be calibrated in terms of the properly weighted average of the conductivites of the elements of the formation within the sensible field of investigation of its coil system.

1. What do Resistivity Tools Measure?

The success of resistivity logging as a hydrocarbon detection and formation evaluation technique stems from the fact that the formation electrical resistivity is strongly dependent on the concentration of hydrocarbons, which are electrical insulators. Electrical conduction takes place via any water present in rock pores. The fraction of the rock volume that is pore space is referred to as its porosity. Both porosity and water saturation are used to determine the quantity of hydrocarbons in place. Porosity is measured by nuclear or acoustic tools. Resistivity tools provide a measurement of the water saturation, which is the fraction of the pore space containing water. The remaining fraction of the pore space which contains oil or gas is the hydrocarbon saturation. Oil-based drilling muds are extremely resistive and, therefore, cause major problems for the existing DC-resistivity tools which need a conductive mud column to provide an electrical connection between electrodes and the formation. Eddy current measurements are considered as a solution to the oil-based mud problem. The first practical induction logging technique was invented by H.G. Doll in the mid-1940s. Commerical induction tools consist of multiple coil arrays designed to optimize vertical resolution and depth of investigation. Typical coil separations range from centimeters to a few meters apart. In practice, each coil can consist of from several to a hundred or more turns, with the exact number of turns determined by design considerations. The operating frequency of commercial induction tools is in tens of kilohertz range, with 20 kHz being the most commonly used frequency.

Figure 1. Principle of operation of the induction log.

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Fachvortrge iii: geowissenschaFtenCOMSOL Users Conference 2006 Frankfurt Excerpt from the Proceedings of the
All of the currents and voltages involved in the formation and in the receiver circuit are alternating with the frequency of the transmitter current. Therefore, in the quantitative evaluation of the received signal it is necessary to take into account both the amplitude and the phase relationships of all the elements which contribute to the signal. In practice, the sources of the electromagnetic field used in induction logging are coils wound on an insulating mandrel through which alternating current is passed. Each coil will consist of several turns, the exact number being set by many engineering considerations, but will cover axially only a few centimeters of the mandrel. But, at distances of practical interest, the field is essentially equivalent to that produced by a small magnetic dipole situated on the mandrel axis at the center of the coil. The total receiver voltage is the integration over an infinite number of single current loops over the entire formation. Equation (5) can be separated into the real and imaginary part of V by expanding in powers of (kL) and writing: (6)

(7)

where The factor (see equ. 4) represents the

3. Induction Tool Response

Any theory for induction logging technique begins with the Maxwell equations of the electromagnetic field. In solving Maxwells equations, it is convenient to introduce auxiliary field quantities, the vector potential and the magnetic Hertz vector. However, since the vector potential is closely related to the current distribution, it is given a central role here. If the coil is treated as a current filiament of radius a with NT turns, the vector potential is: (1) mutual-inductance voltage generated in the receiver coil by direct induction from the current in the transmitter coil. This is the only voltage that would appear in the receiver circuit if the tool were operating in a completely nonconducting medium and amounts 12.27 S/m for a 40 inch (~1m) coil spacing. The VXsignal is in quadrature phase (90) with the transmitter current. Equation (7) represents the signal that would be developed in the receiver circuit if the electromagnetic wave experienced no attenuation or phase shift in passing through the formation. This portion of the signal is a real number and, hence, is in phase with the current in the transmitter coil. Its magnitude is proportional to the formation conductivity. The remaining portion of equation (7) thus represents the perturbation of induction log signal, which arises as a result of the attenuation and phase shift of the primary and secondary electromagnetic waves in passing through the formation. It is this potion of the signal that is responsible for the propagation effects shown by the induction log. The propagation effect always reduces the signal to be recorded by the conductivity curve to a lower value.

Equation (1) is used to evaluate Aj at the location of the receiver coil (seperated from the transmitter by the axial distance L), then using the relation (2)

it is easy to compute the voltage induced in a receiver coil. For a receiver coil of NR turns wound on a mandrel of radius a, the induced voltage is simply (3) This general formula for the two-coil sonde can be extented to a sonde consisting of multiple transmitting and receiving coils by simply summing all individual contributions described by equation (3). At least, the voltage induced into the receiver coil is:

4. The Skin Effect

In early concepts the electromagnetic fields of the transmitter and each one of the elementary toroids are considered to be acting independently of each other with no interaction among them. The signals developed in the receiver coil are considered as being directly additive and, hence, all in the same phase to produce the response of the tool. In effect, it considers each toroidal element as standing alone in free space. Under this condition the electromagnetic wave travels from the transmitter coil to the element and then to the receiver at a velocity of 3108 m/s. Further, the transmission of the signal is accomplished without attenuation or loss of energy by the wave. Induction logging systems commonly employ 20kHz. Each wave, representing 360 of phase change, is therefore ~15 000m long. This means that one degree of phase change occurs in each ~41m of wave travel. Under this concept there is no attenuation of COMSOL ANWENDERKONFERENZ 2006

(4)

(5)

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Fachvortrge iii: geowissenschaFten Users Conference 2006 Frankfurt Excerpt from the Proceedings of the COMSOL
the wave during its travel and the phase change within the field of investigation of the tool is negligible. The velocity of an electromagnetic wave in sedimentary formations, as encountered in well logging, is substantially lower than that in free space. The solution of Maxwells equations for electrically conductive media yields the phase velocity as where is the refractive index and ermr are the dimensionless relative electrical and magnetic permittivity eo : electrical permittivity er : relative electrical permittivity w = 2n : frequency In a formation having a conductivity of 1S/m, a 20,000cps electromagnetic wave has a velocity of approximately 4.5105 m/s. This is only 0.15 per cent of the velocity in free space. This reduction in velocity of propagation is the result of the reaction of the counter electromagnetic fields developed by the currents induced in the formation upon the electromagnetic field of the primary advancing wave. This reaction has the additional effect of reducing the amplitude of this wave by one-half in each 2.43m of wave travel. It reduces the wave length to approximately 22.25 m. This means that the phase of the wave changes approximately 16/m of wave travel. It is apparent that attenuation and phase changes of these magnitudes can be expected to cause the electromagnetic field, and the resultant signals produced in the induction logging tool, to be substantially different from those predicted from analysis based upon free space performance of the field. ver circuit by any main-auxiliary coil pair are in opposite direction and, hence, subtract from the signal in the receiver circuit of the coil system. The composite signal in the receiver circuit of the coil system is the algebraic sum of the signals developed by each separate transmitter-receiver coil pair. (9)
Figure 2. Coil arrangement: LTR:40inch, LTr=LtR=11inch, NT=NR=500, Nt=Nr=5.

and

The subscripts identify the particular transmitter-receiver coil combination through which the voltage component is developed. The voltage signal developed in the receiver circuit can be converted to the apparent conductivity of the formation by multiplying it by a suitable calibration factor (10) where (11)

5. Multipair Coil Systems

Practical induction logging instruments employ multicoil systems to achieve a more satisfactory pattern for their field of investigation. This is done by adding auxiliary or focusing coils, connected in series with the coils of the main pair. In this way signals which are generated in the auxiliary receiver coils through the action of induction from the main and auxiliary transmitter coils can be made to add or subtract from the basic signal of the tool produced by the main-pair. The same form of calculation made for the single-coil pair can apply to any combination of auxiliary coils by simple adding with due regard to magnitude and phase, the signals calculated for each possible transmitterreceiver coil pair of the complete coil system. Fig. 2 illustrates a simple four-coil, symmetrical-form focused induction logging tool. Auxiliary transmitter and receiver coils are mounted at equal distances outside the main receiver and transmitter coils, respectively. The auxiliary coils are wound with a smaller number of turns of wire than the main coils so that their directions of winding are in oposite sense. Thus, signals developed in the receiCOMSOL ANWENDERKONFERENZ 2006

For multi-coil sondes, the total tool response is the normalized summation of the individual two-coil responses, weighted by the appropriate coil strength and spacings

(12)

where NT and NR are transmitter and receiver turns, respectively, L is the spacing between a transmitter-receiver coil seite 

Fachvortrge iii: geowissenschaFtenCOMSOL Users Conference 2006 Frankfurt Excerpt from the Proceedings of the
pair, and sa is the apparent conductivity signal. The normalization factor in the denominator of the equation above is often referred to as the sensitivity of the sonde.The sensitivity is a meaningful quantity in itself, since if it is too low, the signal level of a tool may be so small that the measurement is impractical. the true conductivity of the layer than the two-coil system.

6. Model Definition
A model of a simple AC coil, i.e. a single-turn wire is considered in a resistive formation (50mmho/m) which contains a conductive layer (1000 mmho/m). The model is built in COMSOL-code using the axisymmetric quasistatic azimuthal currents application mode. A time harmonic formulation is used. The modeling takes place in the r-z-plane. For the exterior boundary, magnetic insulation is used as a condition, corresponding to a zero magnetic flux. At r=0, a axisymmetric boundary is given. For all other boundaries, i.e. the wire and the layer boundary, the continuity condition is used. The current source is defined by specifying the current density of the surface current of the coil as follows: (13)

Figure 3. The influence of skin effect as a function of ratio of coil spacing to skin depth.

This study of induced currents is made by modeling a current-carrying coil without any skin effect by setting the conductivity of the wire to zero. A 5050m2 rectangular object of 50mmho/m is built. At its center a 4m thick layer of 1000mmho/m is drawn. A refined mesh is considered to be sufficient to achieve accurate results. The frequency used is set to 20,000cps.

Figure 4. Skin effect correction chart for two-coil-systems of different Tx-Rx-spacings.

7. Numerical Modeling Results

In Fig. 3 the ratio sa/strue of the apparent conductivity normalized to the true conductivity is plotted versus L/d, whose deviation from unity gives a measure of the skin effect. For orientation, the value of L/d for point A corresponds to a two-coil sonde with a 40-inch spacing in a 1mho/m formation. Fig. 4 compares the homogeneous medium response of two-coil sondes with spacings of 40inch (~1m) and 62inch (~1.56m) operating at 20kHz. For the 40 inch as well as for the 62 inch spacing the signal curves are practically linear up to formation conductivities of 100mmho/m. The curves become nonlinear around 100mmho/m, indicating the dependence of skin effect on transmitter-receiver spacing. In Fig. 5 the layer has the high conductivity of 1000mmho/ m, while the shoulder beds have the low conductivity of 50mmho/m. The distribution of the azimuthal component of the induced current density is shown. This response corresponds toposition +2m in fig. 6 of the four coil system. The current density is highest near the edges of the layer. The results of the computation of the conductivity response of the two and the four coil symmetrical type systems are shown in Fig. 6. The four coil system closer approximates
Figure 6. Response of a two-coil and four-coil-system in millimho/m along a profile which penetrates a layer 4m thick. Figure 5. Induced current density distribution for a fourcoil-system.

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