Seismic Fracture Network Extraction From Segmented Attribute Slices
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for interpreting fractures and faults in seismic data are costly, time-consuming, and prone to subjective bias, particularly in horizontal seismic images, lacking effective automated techniques for fracture segmentation and characterization.
Innovation Solution
A four-step method involving image pre-processing, segmentation, topology extraction, and fracture statistics generation, utilizing grayscale image processing techniques and a visual interface for user customization, ensuring georeferencing and applicable to both seismic and outcrop images.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If manual interpretation methods are used for fracture and fault analysis in seismic data, then interpretation accuracy can be maintained through expert judgment, but the process becomes costly and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces manual mechanical interpretation processes with an automated computer-implemented method. The system uses seismic attribute volumes and automated algorithms to identify and characterize fractures and faults, substituting human expert analysis with computational processing while maintaining interpretation quality through structured analytical frameworks.
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables self-service interpretation through automated fracture detection and characterization. The computer-implemented method performs self-directed analysis of seismic data, automatically identifying fracture networks, calculating statistical parameters, and generating interpretation results without requiring continuous human intervention for each analysis task.
2Loss of information
If manual interpretation methods are used for fracture and fault analysis, then detailed geological insight can be obtained, but the cost and resource requirements increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent substitutes manual geological analysis with automated computational methods that process seismic attribute volumes. The system extracts fracture network characteristics, topological relationships, and statistical parameters through algorithmic analysis, maintaining geological insight quality while eliminating the need for extensive manual expert review and reducing resource consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates digital copies and representations of fracture networks through automated segmentation and modeling. By generating virtual models of subsurface fracture systems from seismic data, the system preserves geological information in digital format that can be analyzed, visualized, and interpreted without requiring physical field work or repeated manual analysis of the same data sets.
3Productivity
If automated fracture interpretation methods are developed, then processing speed and efficiency improve, but the complexity of the system increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies segmentation by dividing the fracture interpretation process into distinct computational stages: seismic attribute volume processing, fracture detection, network extraction, statistical analysis, and visualization. This modular approach enables automated high-speed processing while managing system complexity through structured, step-wise analysis that can be independently optimized and validated.
4Productivity
If automated segmentation and extraction methods are applied to horizontal seismic images, then fracture network analysis efficiency improves, but the difficulty of detecting and measuring fractures in 2D slices increases compared to 3D volumes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent addresses the challenge of analyzing 2D horizontal seismic slices by integrating them within a 3D attribute volume framework. The system processes horizontal slices while maintaining their spatial context within the three-dimensional seismic volume, using volumetric attributes to enhance fracture visibility and measurement accuracy in two-dimensional displays without losing the efficiency benefits of slice-based analysis.
Data Source
AI summary
The proposed technique introduces embodiments of a computer-implemented method for interpreting image delineations as vector objects and topological extraction from segmentation by visual computational methods applied to sections (slices) of seismic volumes, in order to aid geological interpretation and sampling of parameters originating from the fracture network and its topology. Embodiments of a developed method integrates a software/application that allows the loading and generation of statistical data related to the fracture network while maintaining georeferencing and scale of the two-dimensional input data. In addition, a fracture segmentation method is shown that uses pyramid image smoothing (decomposition into hierarchical levels of resolution) in order to reduce the amount of details and aid the identification of main faults or fractures. The segmentation after this smoothing is based on adaptive thresholding segmentation.