Method for rapid fault interpretation of fault surfaces generated to fit three-dimensional seismic discontinuity data
US7330791B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Sep 17, 2003 |
| Grant date | Feb 12, 2008 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Sep 17, 2023 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG01V2210/641
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
A method to extract fault surfaces from seismic data (1,3) is disclosed. The method comprises: (a) generating at least two fault sticks (5) from the same fault from at least two slices of the seismic data wherein each slice comprises at least one fault stick from the same fault, (b) constructing an initial three-dimensional fault surface (7) containing the fault sticks, and (c) reconstructing the initial fault surface (9) using a deformable surface model to fit discontinuity or coherency information in the seismic data in an iterative process. Techniques are disclosed for constructing the initial fault surface from interpreter-provided fault nodes, and for performing the deformable surface iteration by defining an energy function for the fault surface and then minimizing the surface energy.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.