Study on 3D simulation of wave fields in acoustic reflection image logging

The borehole acoustic reflection imaging logging is a newly developed acoustic logging method that has attracted many interests. These converted and reflected waves for imaging are usually mixed up with borehole guided waves and therefore difficult to be clearly identified. To improve the downhole tool design and develop more sophisticate data processing and interpretation algorithms, studies on precisely numerical modeling of the wave fields in the acoustic reflection imaging logging are necessary and critical. This paper developed a parallelized scheme of 3D finite difference (3DFD) with non-uniform staggered grid and PML absorbing boundary to simulate the acoustic wave fields in isotropic and anisotropic formations. Applications of this scheme to the typical cases of isotropic and anisotropic formations and comparison with the results from published analytical solutions have demonstrated the validation and efficiency of the scheme. Higher accuracy and lower computation cost (3.5 times faster than the conventional schemes) have been achieved with this scheme for modeling such a complex wave fields of 60 dB dynamic range with higher frequency (10 kHz). This simulating program provides a quantitative analytical means for studying acoustic reflection imaging tool and development of the data processing and interpretation methods.