Abstract:

Various acoustic systems will be described briefly that have been studied and developed by one or both of the authors for use in well logging. Most of these systems have been developed with the goal of operating at extreme temperature (in some cases as high as 200 (degrees)C). A few of them have been developed with the additional goal of operating at extreme pressure (in some cases as high as 20 000 psi). A list of the systems to be discussed follows: a wireless telemetry system to transmit data from the bottom of the well to the surface, utilizing the drill pipe as an acoustic wave guide with zero-order torsional waves on the drill pipe as the data carrier; an oil and gas well passive listening device or an acoustisonde (a stethoscope or, as called by the petroleum industry, a noise tool); a wireless telemetry system to transmit data from the bottom of the well to the surface, utilizing the drill pipe as an acoustic wave guide with acoustic pulses in the drilling fluid (drilling mud) inside the drill pipe as the data carrier, with a data rate greater than existing mud pulse systems; an acoustic borehole televiewer technology with an order of magnitude finer resolution than existing systems; and advanced pressure release materials for use in acoustic transducers at extreme temperature and pressure.