Seismic Beam Formation Correcting Equipment Misalignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Seismic data acquisition often involves equipment misalignment due to cultural obstacles and irregularities in marine and land recording geometries, which conventional techniques struggle to fully correct, especially when modeling seismic energy propagation through geologic volumes.
Innovation Solution
A computer system that models seismic energy as beams, performs ray-tracing, identifies beam pairs, determines offset dips for stationary travel times, and applies time shifts to align source and detector locations with a regular mesh, enabling effective slant stacking of seismic data.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If conventional beam formation techniques are used with regular acquisition mesh, then processing simplicity is maintained, but equipment misalignment cannot be adequately corrected
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary ray-tracing calculations to determine beam parameters and time shifts before the actual stacking operation. By pre-calculating the beam paths and alignment corrections needed for irregular source and detector locations, the system prepares correction data in advance that enables accurate beam formation without requiring complex real-time adjustments during processing
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transforms the processing approach by changing from fixed regular mesh parameters to variable parameters that account for actual irregular source and detector locations. By calculating beam-specific parameters including time shifts, dip angles, and ray paths for each irregular location, the system adapts the processing parameters to match the actual acquisition geometry while maintaining beam formation effectiveness
2Manufacturing precision
If preprocessing steps are applied to correct misalignment, then some alignment improvement is achieved, but complete correction for irregular geometries remains insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces conventional mechanical alignment correction methods with a ray-tracing-based beam formation approach. Instead of physically adjusting or简单地 shifting data to fit regular meshes, the system uses computational ray-tracing to model seismic wave propagation paths through irregular geometries, calculating accurate beam parameters that inherently account for misalignment without requiring approximate preprocessing corrections
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces beam parameters and ray-tracing calculations as an intermediary between the irregular acquisition geometry and the final stacked image. This intermediary layer of computational modeling translates the irregular source-detector configurations into equivalent regular mesh beam parameters, enabling complete correction of misalignment by mediating the transformation through physical wave propagation models rather than direct geometric corrections
3Adaptability or versatility
If actual irregular source and detector locations are used directly, then data acquisition flexibility is maintained, but beam formation accuracy deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by calculating unique beam parameters for each specific source-detector pair based on its actual irregular location. Instead of forcing all data into a uniform regular mesh pattern, the system determines localized ray paths, dip angles, and time shifts specific to each beam's geometry, allowing each local region to be processed with parameters optimized for its specific acquisition conditions while maintaining overall beam formation accuracy
Data Source
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AI summary
Seismic data representing the propagation of seismic energy through a geologic volume of interest is processed. The seismic energy propagates through the geologic volume of interest from one or more source locations at or near the geologic volume of interest to one or more detector locations at or near the geologic volume of interest. In processing the seismic data, the seismic energy is modeled as beams (e.g., Gaussian beams). The processing performed (i) corrects for misalignment of the one or more source locations and/or the one or more detector locations with a regular, predetermined mesh, and (ii) steers the seismic data based on the modeled beams.