scholarly journals Full Waveform Inversion in generalized coordinates for zones of curved topography

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
César Augusto Arias- Chica ◽  
David Abreo ◽  
Sergio Abreo ◽  
Luis Fernando Duque- Gómez ◽  
Ana Beatríz Ramírez- Silva

Full waveform inversion (FWI) has been recently used to estimate subsurface parameters, such as velocity models. This method, however, has a number of drawbacks when applied to zones with rugged topography due to the forced application of a Cartesian mesh on a curved surface. In this work, we present a simple coordinate transformation that enables the construction of a curved mesh. The proposed transformation is more suitable for rugged surfaces and it allows mapping a physical curved domain into a uniform rectangular grid, where acoustic FWI can be applied in the traditional way by introducing a modified Laplacian. We prove that the proposed approximation can have a wide range of applications, producing precise near-surface velocity models without increasing the computing time of the FWI.

2018 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 884
Author(s):  
Lianping Zhang ◽  
Haryo Trihutomo ◽  
Yuelian Gong ◽  
Bee Jik Lim ◽  
Alexander Karvelas

The Schlumberger Multiclient Exmouth 3D survey was acquired over the Exmouth sub-basin, North West Shelf Australia and covers 12 600 km2. One of the primary objectives of this survey was to produce a wide coverage of high quality imaging with advanced processing technology within an agreed turnaround time. The complexity of the overburden was one of the imaging challenges that impacted the structuration and image quality at the reservoir level. Unlike traditional full-waveform inversion (FWI) workflow, here, FWI was introduced early in the workflow in parallel with acquisition and preprocessing to produce a reliable near surface velocity model from a smooth starting model. FWI derived an accurate and detailed near surface model, which subsequently benefitted the common image point (CIP) tomography model updates through to the deeper intervals. The objective was to complete the FWI model update for the overburden concurrently with the demultiple stages hence reflection time CIP tomography could start with a reasonably good velocity model upon completion of the demultiple process.


Geophysics ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 1-57
Author(s):  
Daniele Colombo ◽  
Ernesto Sandoval ◽  
Diego Rovetta ◽  
Apostolos Kontakis

Land seismic velocity modeling is a difficult task largely related to the description of the near surface complexities. Full waveform inversion is the method of choice for achieving high-resolution velocity mapping but its application to land seismic data faces difficulties related to complex physics, unknown and spatially varying source signatures, and low signal-to-noise ratio in the data. Large parameter variations occur in the near surface at various scales causing severe kinematic and dynamic distortions of the recorded wavefield. Some of the parameters can be incorporated in the inversion model while others, due to sub-resolution dimensions or unmodeled physics, need to be corrected through data preconditioning; a topic not well described for land data full waveform inversion applications. We have developed novel algorithms and workflows for surface-consistent data preconditioning utilizing the transmitted portion of the wavefield, signal-to-noise enhancement by generation of CMP-based virtual super shot gathers, and robust 1.5D Laplace-Fourier full waveform inversion. Our surface-consistent scheme solves residual kinematic corrections and amplitude anomalies via scalar compensation or deconvolution of the near surface response. Signal-to-noise enhancement is obtained through the statistical evaluation of volumetric prestack responses at the CMP position, or virtual super (shot) gathers. These are inverted via a novel 1.5D acoustic Laplace-Fourier full waveform inversion scheme using the Helmholtz wave equation and Hankel domain forward modeling. Inversion is performed with nonlinear conjugate gradients. The method is applied to a complex structure-controlled wadi area exhibiting faults, dissolution, collapse, and subsidence where the high resolution FWI velocity modeling helps clarifying the geological interpretation. The developed algorithms and automated workflows provide an effective solution for massive full waveform inversion of land seismic data that can be embedded in typical near surface velocity analysis procedures.


2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (5) ◽  
pp. 310-310
Author(s):  
Steve Sloan ◽  
Dan Feigenbaum

This special section on near-surface imaging and modeling was intended originally to focus on improving deeper imaging for exploration purposes through more accurate representations of the near surface, the highly variable zone that energy must traverse through on the way down and back up again to be recorded at the surface. However, as proposed manuscript topics started coming in, it became clear that this section would cover a wider range, from kilometers down to meters. Papers in this section highlight a range of near-surface-related work that includes applying full-waveform inversion (FWI) to improve near-surface velocity models, identifying potential sinkhole hazards before they collapse, the potential of smartphones as geophysical sensors, and new open-source software for ground-penetrating radar data.


Geophysics ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 77 (6) ◽  
pp. H79-H91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastian Busch ◽  
Jan van der Kruk ◽  
Jutta Bikowski ◽  
Harry Vereecken

Conventional ray-based techniques for analyzing common-midpoint (CMP) ground-penetrating radar (GPR) data use part of the measured data and simplified approximations of the reality to return qualitative results with limited spatial resolution. Whereas these methods can give reliable values for the permittivity of the subsurface by employing only the phase information, the far-field approximations used to estimate the conductivity of the ground are not valid for near-surface on-ground GPR, such that the estimated conductivity values are not representative for the area of investigation. Full-waveform inversion overcomes these limitations by using an accurate forward modeling and inverts significant parts of the measured data to return reliable quantitative estimates of permittivity and conductivity. Here, we developed a full-waveform inversion scheme that uses a 3D frequency-domain solution of Maxwell’s equations for a horizontally layered subsurface. Although a straightforward full-waveform inversion is relatively independent of the permittivity starting model, inaccuracies in the conductivity starting model result in erroneous effective wavelet amplitudes and therefore in erroneous inversion results, because the conductivity and wavelet amplitudes are coupled. Therefore, the permittivity and conductivity are updated together with the phase and the amplitude of the source wavelet with a gradient-free optimization approach. This novel full-waveform inversion is applied to synthetic and measured CMP data. In the case of synthetic single layered and waveguide data, where the starting model differs significantly from the true model parameter, we were able to reconstruct the obtained model properties and the effective source wavelet. For measured waveguide data, different starting values returned the same wavelet and quantitative permittivities and conductivities. This novel approach enables the quantitative estimation of permittivity and conductivity for the same sensing volume and enables an improved characterization for a wide range of applications.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirill Gennadievich Gadylshin ◽  
Vladimir Albertovich Cheverda ◽  
Danila Nikolaevich Tverdokhlebov

Abstract Seismic surveys in the vast territory of Eastern Siberia are carried out in seismic and geological conditions of varying complexity. Obtaining a high-quality dynamic seismic image for the work area is a priority task in the states of contrasting heterogeneities of the near-surface. For this, it is necessary to restore an effective depth-velocity model that provides compensation for velocity anomalies and calculates static corrections. However, for the most complex near-surface structure, for example, the presence of trap intrusions and tuffaceous formations, the information content of the velocity models of the near-surface area obtained based on tomographic refinement turns out to be insufficient, and a search for another solution is required. The paper considers an approach based on Full Waveform Inversion (FWI). As the authors showed earlier, multiples associated with the free surface reduce the resolution of this approach. But their use increases the stability of the solution in the presence of uncorrelated noise. Therefore, at the first stage of FWI, the full wavefield is used, including free surface-related multiples, but they are suppressed in the next steps of the data processing. The results obtained demonstrate the ability of the FWI to restore complex geological structures of the near-surface area, even in the presence of high-velocity anomalies (trap intrusions).


Geophysics ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-91
Author(s):  
Daniela Teodor ◽  
Cesare Cesare ◽  
Farbod Khosro Anjom ◽  
Romain Brossier ◽  
Valentina Socco Laura ◽  
...  

Elastic full-waveform inversion (FWI) is a powerful tool for high-resolution subsurface multi-parameter characterization. However, 3D FWI applied to land data for near-surface applications is particularly challenging, since the seismograms are dominated by highly energetic, dispersive, and complex-scattered surface waves (SWs). In these conditions, a successful deterministic FWI scheme requires an accurate initial model. This study, primarily focused on field data analysis for 3D applications, aims at enhancing the resolution in the imaging of complex shallow targets, by integrating devoted SW analysis techniques with a 3D spectral-element-based elastic FWI. From dispersion curves (DCs), extracted from seismic data recorded over a sharp-interface shallow target, we built different initial S-wave (VS) and P-wave (VP) velocity models (laterally homogeneous and laterally variable), using a specific data-transform. Starting from these models, we carry out 3D FWI tests on synthetic and field data, using a relatively straightforward inversion scheme. The field data processing before FWI consists of bandpass filtering and muting of noisy traces. During FWI, a weighting function is applied to the far-offset traces. We test both 2D and 3D acquisition layouts, with different positions of the sources and variable offsets. The 3D FWI workflow enriched the overall content of the initial models, allowing a reliable reconstruction of the shallow target, especially when using laterally variable initial models. Moreover, a 3D acquisition layout guaranteed a better reconstruction of the target’s shape and lateral extension. In addition, the integration of model-oriented (preliminary monoparametric FWI) and data-oriented (time-windowing) strategies into the main optimization scheme has granted further improvement of the FWI results.


2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. SR23-SR33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xin Cheng ◽  
Kun Jiao ◽  
Dong Sun ◽  
Zhen Xu ◽  
Denes Vigh ◽  
...  

Over the past decade, acoustic full-waveform inversion (FWI) has become one of the standard methods in the industry to construct high-resolution velocity fields from the seismic data acquired. While most of the successful applications are for marine acquisition data with rich low-frequency diving or postcritical waves at large offsets, the application of acoustic FWI on land data remains a challenging topic. Land acoustic FWI application faces many severe difficulties, such as the presence of strong elastic effects, large near-surface velocity contrast, and heterogeneous, topography variations, etc. In addition, it is well-known that low-frequency transmitted seismic energy is crucial for the success of FWI to overcome sensitivity to starting velocity fields; unfortunately, those are the parts of the data that suffer the most from a low signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) in land acquisition. We have developed an acoustic FWI application on a land data set from North Kuwait, and demonstrated our solutions to mitigate some of the challenges posed by land data. More specifically, we have developed a semblance-based high-resolution Radon (HR-Radon) inversion approach to enhance the S/N of the low-frequency part of the FWI input data and to ultimately improve the convergence of the land FWI workflow. To mitigate the impact of elastic effects, we included only the diving and postcritical early arrivals in the waveform inversion. Our results show that, with the aid of HR-Radon preconditioning and a carefully designed workflow, acoustic FWI has the ability to derive a reliable high-resolution near-surface model that could not be otherwise recovered through traditional tomographic methods.


2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. T627-T635
Author(s):  
Yikang Zheng ◽  
Wei Zhang ◽  
Yibo Wang ◽  
Qingfeng Xue ◽  
Xu Chang

Full-waveform inversion (FWI) is used to estimate the near-surface velocity field by minimizing the difference between synthetic and observed data iteratively. We apply this method to a data set collected on land. A multiscale strategy is used to overcome the local minima problem and the cycle-skipping phenomenon. Another obstacle in this application is the slow convergence rate. The inverse Hessian can enhance the poorly blurred gradient in FWI, but obtaining the full Hessian matrix needs intensive computation cost; thus, we have developed an efficient method aimed at the pseudo-Hessian in the time domain. The gradient in our FWI workflow is preconditioned with the obtained pseudo-Hessian and a synthetic example verifies its effectiveness in reducing computational cost. We then apply the workflow on the land data set, and the inverted velocity model is better resolved compared with traveltime tomography. The image and angle gathers we get from the inversion result indicate more detailed information of subsurface structures, which will contribute to the subsequent seismic interpretation.


Geophysics ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 77 (1) ◽  
pp. R33-R43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brendan R. Smithyman ◽  
Ronald M. Clowes

Waveform tomography, a combination of traveltime tomography (or inversion) and waveform inversion, is applied to vibroseis first-arrival data to generate an interpretable model of P-wave velocity for a site in the Nechako Basin, south-central British Columbia, Canada. We use constrained 3D traveltime inversion followed by 2D full-waveform inversion to process long-offset (14.4 km) first-arrival refraction waveforms, resulting in a velocity model of significantly higher detail than a conventional refraction-statics model generated for a processing workflow. The crooked-line acquisition of the data set makes 2D full-waveform inversion difficult. Thus, a procedure that improves the tractability of waveform tomography processing of vibroseis data recorded on crooked roads is developed to generate a near-surface ([Formula: see text]) velocity model for the study area. The data waveforms are first static corrected using a time shift determined by 3D raytracing, which accounts for the crossline offsets produced by the crooked-line acquisition. The velocity model generated from waveform tomography exhibits substantial improvement when compared with a conventional refraction-statics model. It also shows improved resolution of sharp discontinuities and low-velocity regions when compared to the model from traveltime tomography alone, especially in regions where the geometry errors are moderate. Interpretation of the near-surface velocity model indicates possible subbasins in the Nechako Basin and delineates the Eocene volcanic rocks of the study area. This approach limits the ability of the full-waveform inversion to fit some propagation modes; however, the tractability of the inversion in the near-surface region is improved. This new development is especially useful in studies that do not warrant 3D seismic acquisition and processing.


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