Depth migration in heterogeneous, transversely isotropic media with the phase‐shift‐plus‐interpolation method

Author(s):  
Jerome H. Le Rousseau
Geophysics ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 75 (2) ◽  
pp. S51-S59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniela Amazonas ◽  
Rafael Aleixo ◽  
Jörg Schleicher ◽  
Jessé C. Costa

Standard real-valued finite-difference (FD) and Fourier finite-difference (FFD) migrations cannot handle evanescent waves correctly, which can lead to numerical instabilities in the presence of strong velocity variations. A possible solution to these problems is the complex Padé approximation, which avoids problems with evanescent waves by rotating the branch cut of the complex square root. We have applied this approximation to the acoustic wave equation for vertical transversely isotropic media to derive more stable FD and hybrid FD/FFD migrations for such media. Our analysis of the dispersion relation of the new method indicates that it should provide more stable migration results with fewer artifacts and higher accuracy at steep dips. Our studies lead to the conclusion that the rotation angle of the branch cut that should yield the most stable image is 60° for FD migration, as confirmed by numerical impulse responses and work with synthetic data.


Geophysics ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 71 (3) ◽  
pp. D59-D71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huub Douma ◽  
Alexander Calvert

Anisotropic velocity analysis using qP-waves in transversely isotropic media with a vertical symmetry axis (VTI) usually is done by inferring the anellipticity parameter [Formula: see text] and the normal moveout velocity [Formula: see text] from the nonhyperbolic character of the moveout. Several approximations explicit in these parameters exist with varying degrees of accuracy. Here, we present a rational interpolation approach to nonhyperbolic moveout analysis in the [Formula: see text] domain. This method has no additional computational overhead compared to using expressions explicit in [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text]. The lack of such overhead stems from the observation that, for fixed [Formula: see text] and zero-offset two-way traveltime [Formula: see text], the moveout curve for different values of [Formula: see text] can be calculated by simple stretching of the offset axis. This observation is based on the assumptions that the traveltimes of qP-waves in transversely isotropic media mainly depend on [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text], and that the shear-wave velocity along the symmetry axis has a negligibleinfluence on these traveltimes. The accuracy of the rational interpolation method is as good as that of these approximations. The method can be tuned accurately to any offset range of interest by increasing the order of the interpolation. We test the method using both synthetic and field data and compare it with the nonhyperbolic moveout equation of Alkhalifah and Tsvankin (1995) and the shifted hyperbola equation of Fomel (2004). Both data types confirm that for [Formula: see text], our method significantly outperforms the nonhyperbolic moveout equation in terms of combined unbiased parameter estimation with accurate moveout correction. Comparison with the shifted hyperbola equation of Fomel for Greenhorn-shale anisotropy establishes almost identical accuracy of the rational interpolation method and his equation. Even though the proposed method currently deals with homogeneous media only, results from application to synthetic and field data confirm the applicability of the proposed method to horizontally layered VTI media.


Geophysics ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 74 (5) ◽  
pp. WB3-WB17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter M. Bakker

For the purpose of one-way wave-equation imaging, a pseudoscreen propagator is developed for transversely isotropic media with vertical axes of symmetry. The phase shift for propagation through a depth slice is decomposed into three terms: a Gazdag phase shift for propagation in a laterally homogeneous reference medium, a correction for lateral variability of vertical propagation, and a remaining wide-angle term for oblique directions of propagation. Based on rational function approximation for this remaining wide-angle term, a Fourier finite-difference (FFD) approach with four-way splitting is applied. Fourth-order Padé approximation is unsatisfactory in anelliptic media for large propagation angles with respect to the vertical direction. Therefore, a method of coefficient optimization is developed in conjunction with a method of choosing an adequate homogeneous reference medium in a depth slice. By symmetrizing the finite-difference operators, and because of the choice of the optimized coefficients, the propagator is stable in the sense that the least-squares norm of the wavefield, measured for a frequency-depth slice, does not grow with increasing depth of propagation. A small amount of artificial damping is applied to suppress artifacts that appear at the critical angle defined by the velocities in the reference medium and the actual medium. Synthetic examples confirm that good kinematic accuracy is achieved for a wide range of propagation angles (typically up to 60°).


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