Check Shot Menus

November 1999
Check Shot Display Window





The Check Shot Display window shows the check shot correction applied to the sonic log.

The items displayed are:

The check shot times for each depth
The integrated sonic log times for the same depths
The difference (or drift curve).
The original sonic log (in red)
The new corrected sonic log (in black).
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November 1999
The Edit button on the horizontal menuBar contains these items:





Points may be temporarily deleted from the check shot data. To remove one or more points,
select them by using the mouse to highlight a region. Then with the selection rectangle visible,
click on Edit/Delete Point. The drift curve and sonic log correction will now be calculated
without that point. To restore deleted points, select them with the mouse and click on
Edit/Restore Point. To restore all deleted points, click on Restore All Points.

The Parameters button brings up the Check Shot Parameters menu, which allows you to set
parameters for the interpolation of the drift curve. This menu also comes up automatically
whenever the Check Shot Display window is created.

The check shot correction is not stored into the database until you click on Ok. At that time a
menu will appear, confirming that you wish to save a new (modified) sonic log, and allowing
you to specify its name. Note that this does not normally overwrite the original sonic log, unless
you give the modified log the same name as the original. Clicking on Cancel will remove this
window without saving the modified sonic log.

The new sonic log is available to all programs that access the GEOVIEW database.
Check Shot Menus
November 1999
Check Shot Parameters





This menu allows you to use Linear, Spline, or Polynomial interpolation between the points on
the drift curve. A Linear interpolation may have discontinuities at the points on the drift curve,
which will cause artificial discontinuities in the corrected sonic log. Choosing either Spline or
Polynomial interpolation should minimize these discontinuities. As an additional method of
reducing these effects, you may choose to apply a smoother to the drift curve for any type of
interpolation. By default, the smoother will be applied when you select Polynomial
interpolation. The length of smoother is defined as a number of sample intervals of the sonic
log.

As this menu indicates, the check shot correction actually modifies the depth/time curve derived
from the sonic log. When the Change depth-time table only option is selected, only the
depth/time curve will be modified, and the original sonic log will be preserved. Note that this
means that the depth/time curve cannot be calculated by integrating the sonic log. If you wish,
you may also change the sonic log. If you choose to Apply relative changes, the correction is
applied to the sonic log only between the first and last points of the check shot log. By choosing
Apply all changes, you cause the correction to be applied from the surface in such a way that
integrating the corrected sonic log reproduces the time/depth pairs of the check shot log.
Hampson-Russell Software Services Ltd.
November 1999
Check Shot Selection





The Check Shot Selection menu appears when you click on the Check Shot button on one of
the list menus, if you have multiple sonic logs or check shots. A Check Shot correction may be
done only if check shot data has been entered for this well as a series of depth/time pairs. A
check shot data curve is entered into the GEOVIEW database in exactly the same way as any
other log, usually as a General ASCII file or by typing into a spreadsheet table.

This menu appears if there is more than one sonic log in the well or if there is more than one
check shot curve in the well.

The items are:

Correct Sonic Log: This list contains all the p-wave or sonic logs currently entered into this
well. The check shot correction will modify one of them and produce a new sonic log.
The new modified log will normally have a different name from the original log, so that it
will not overwrite the original sonic log. You will specify the output log name in a
subsequent menu.

Using Check Shot: This list contains the names of all check shot curves currently entered for
this well. You must select one of them to be applied to the sonic log.
Check Shot Menus
November 1999
Check Shot Correction Theory

Sonic (velocity) well log tools measure discrete transit times or velocities of the rock adjacent to
the well bore starting at some sub-surface point. The resulting integrated time-depth curve will
usually require correction to a seismic datum, which could well be the surface itself.

Surface seismic data are subject to greater dispersion and absorption than the sonic data recorded
in the well.

Consequently, the time-depth curves obtained from sonic log data (local information) and from
surface seismic data (global information) will have differences.

The checkshot correction adapts the sonic log velocities and/or the log time-depth curve to
match the time-depth relationship obtained from surface seismic data.

From a raw sonic log v(z), we can derive a time-depth curve t(z) as:

t(z) =

z
z
z v
dz
0
) (
= dz
dz
dt
z
z

0
(1)

Alternatively, we can input t(z) directly.

Matching the time-depth curve t(z) with independently acquired check shot data (t
1
, z
1
), (t
2
, z
2
),
(t
N
, z
N
), we usually see discrepancies with t(z), which we have to compensate with the check
shot correction.

Roughly speaking, we calibrate the time-depth curve t(z), slicing it into pieces, and forcing it to
go through the check shot points. We could then obtain a corrected sonic as the derivative of the
corrected time-depth curve, but we will apply a more direct correction.

The check shot correction is done in 2 steps:
1) a drift curve measuring the discrepancy between the time-depth curve and the check
shot data is interpolated.
2) the time-depth curve and optionally the sonic log are check shot corrected using
the drift curve.
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November 1999
1. Drift Curve

We can only measure the discrepancies

( = 1, 2, N) between check shot data (t

, z

) = check shot times t

measured at depth z

= measured time of check shot # time of time-depth curve at depth z

= t

t(z

) for each check shot = 1, 2, N (2)

}) i = 1, 2, M (3)
= 1, 2, N M>>N

The function Drift is a function of depth z and should honor all calibration points {z

}
obtained from check shot data.

Notes:

1. As time always increases, the check shot data and the time-depth curves are monotonically
increasing functions, but the drift curve, representing an error, can have both signs and
can increase or decrease as well.

2. Check shot times can be input as either 1-way or 2-way times into GEOVIEW. For this
discussion, they are assumed to be 2-way times.

GEOVIEW provides 3 ways to calculate the function Drift(z; {z

}) in equation (3):

Drift Description Honors
Linear (z; {z

}) Piecewise linear interpolation Data points

)
and (z
+1
,
+1
) = 1, 2, N-1
Check Shot Menus
November 1999
Polynomial
(n)
(z; {z

}) Least squares fit of an n-th degree None

) = 1, 2, N
Low degrees (n = 2 or 3) are
recommended. Higher degrees
can induce large amplitude
oscillations.

Spline (z; {z

}) Cubic spline through all data Data points,

) = 1, 2, N first derivatives,
minimum overall curvature

Optionally, the output of each of these 3 functions can be smoothed, with the user entering the
length of the smoothing operator.


2. Check Shot Correction

The time-depth curve t(z) and the sonic log must be corrected using the drift curve d(z) obtained
from equation (3).

2.1 Sonic Log Change: Apply relative changes

Under this option, the check shot correction is applied only along the log range, i.e. from the first
depth sample (which may be well below the surface) to the last one.

The resulting curves v
corr
(z) and t
corr
(z) will be only relatively correct, because the curves will
not be corrected for the first drift value of z
1
which bears the log errors accumulated from the
surface to the first depth sample.

An additional correction will be necessary to have an absolutely correct log. This is described
in the next section.

Time-depth curve: Each sample is corrected with the corresponding sample of the drift curve:

t
corr
(z
i
) = t(z
i
) + d(z
i
) i = 1, 2, M (4)

Sonic Log: For the sonic log, a sample of the drift curve d(z
i
) expresses the cumulative effect
of all the time corrections t
j
applied to all previous sonic samples, including the current
one.

d(z
i
) = t
i
+ t
i-1
+ t
i-2
+ + t
1

Hampson-Russell Software Services Ltd.
November 1999
We can then extract t
i
:

t
1
= d(z
1
)
t
i
= d(z
i
) - j
1
1
t d

=
i
j
i = 2, 3, M (5)

and apply it to the i-th sample of the sonic log. The correction is applied differently to a
velocity curve v(z) or a transit-time curve (z).

Velocity curve: We have to convert the time correction t
i
into a corresponding velocity
correction v
i
, i.e. the velocity change which makes the seismic wave travel t
i
slower or
faster through the depth interval z
i
between the depths z
i-1
and z
i
. If the time-depth
curve is expressed in 2-way time, we have:

z
i
= z
i
z
i-1


v
i
=
i
i
i i
i
t
dz 2
dt t
dz 2

+


v
corr
(z
i
) = v(z
i
) + v
i
(6)


Transit-time curve: A transit time expressing a time span spent through a thin layer simply
needs to be corrected with the time correction t
i
over the depth interval z
i
. If we
express transit time as 1-way time in microseconds, we have:

corr
(z
i
) = (z
i
) +
i z d 2
t 1000000d i
(7)


2.2 Sonic Log Change: Apply all changes

Under this option, the check shot correction is applied from the surface to the last logged depth.

Sonic Log: For the sonic log, this correction occurs in 2 steps:

1) The option 2.1 Apply relative change is executed using (6) or (7). The corrected
velocity curve v
corr
(z) needs a further adjustment.
Check Shot Menus
November 1999
2) We now extend the check shot correction from the first logged depth z
1
up to the surface.
The only information we have is t
1
= d(z
1
) from (5). We have accumulated t
1

milliseconds of successive errors, when logging from the surface to a depth of z
1
meters.
We have now to distribute this total error into partial errors occurred during successive
simulated logging steps from surface to z
1
meters. We can achieve that by providing
extra velocity samples back to the surface.

A safe solution is to append a linear velocity ramp uniformly sampled from the surface to the
velocity curve v
corr
(z), the depth sampling interval z being the smallest depth interval of the
velocity curve. In other words we have:

( ) 2,3,...M i z z min z interval sampling depth
1 - i i
= =
) 100 ), 1
z
z
max(( M samples additional of number
1
add

=
( )
( )
( )
( )
sample ramp first V and
z V V where
1,2,...M k 1 - k
M
V V
V z k Ramp ramp ocity linear vel
0
1
corr
1
add
add
0 1
0
=
=
=

+ =

Setting k = M
add
+ 1, we can verify that the ramp ties with the first sample V
1
the velocity curve.

We extrapolate linearly from velocity to V
1
to V
0
. But which V
0
? The velocity of the first added
sample V
0
must be such that the accumulated errors from surface to the first logged sample z
1

equals t
1
= d(z
1
).

Setting V
0
= CV
1
, we have to find C such that:

( )
1
k
corr
k
M
1 k
t
z v
z
2
add
=

=


Each depth increment z
k
being constant = z and replacing v
corr
(z
k
) by the ramp function
Ramp (kz), we get:

( )
( ) 9
z 2
V t
1 - k
M
C - 1
C
1
1 1
add
M
1 k
add

=
+

an equation of degree (M
add
1) for C, which we can solve via a least squares fit algorithm.
Hampson-Russell Software Services Ltd.
November 1999
Velocity curve:

That way we get a complete corrected velocity curve:

= Ramp (z) 0 < z < z
1
[From (8)]
v
corr
(z) (10)
= v
corr
(z
i
) z
i
> z
1
[From (6)]
which, if integrated, will yield an absolutely correct time-depth curve t
corr
(z).


Transit-time curve:

The corrected transit time curve is the inverse of the corrected velocity curve obtained from (10):

= 1000000 / Ramp (z) 0 < z < z
1

corr
(z) (11)
= 1000 000 / v
corr
(z
i
) z
i
> z
1


Time-depth curve:

According to (1), the corrected time-depth curve is obtained by integrating the corrected velocity
curve (10)

( ) ( )
( )
( )
( ) 12 M 1,2,...M i
z v
z z
2 z t z t
add
i
corr
1 - i i
1 - i
corr
i
corr
+ =

+ =

z
0
= 0 being the surface.
Check Shot Menus
November 1999
3. Sample Problem

Let us use a model inspired by the Ostrander (1984) gas sand model:

Log Data Check Shot Data
z
i
V(z
i
) t
i
z

m m/s TWT ms m TWT ms
1500 3100 967.74 1500 1000.00
2000 2600 1352.36
2100 1500.00
2500 3200 1664.86
3000 4100 1908.76
3500 2300.00
4000 4400 2363.30


The depths are measured from the surface. The following figures illustrate the check shot
correction applied with different options.

Sonic Log Change Type of interpretation Apply Smoother
Apply relative changes Linear -
Apply all changes Linear -
Apply all changes Spline -
Apply all changes Polynomial order -
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November 1999


Figure 1. Apply relative changes with linear interpolation.

Here the check shot correction applies only on the depth range over which the log was measured.
The drift curve has been piecewise linearly interpolated between the check shots and
extrapolated beyond the last check shot depth. In order to increase the sonic times to match the
check shot times, the sonic velocities must be decreased.

The numerical results can be saved to a file using File/Export Well Logs/Export ASCII Well Logs from
the GEOVIEW window and filling the Multiple Log ASCII dialog accordingly.
Check Shot Menus
November 1999
The values for this example are shown here:

z
i
v(z
i
) t(z
i
) t

v
corr
t
corr
m m/s ms ms m/s ms
1500.000 3100.000 967.742 1000.000 3100.000 1000.000
2000.000 2600.000 1352.357 - 2332.710 1428.686
2100.000 - - 1500.000 - -
2500.000 3200.000 1664.857 - 2908.368 1772.521
3000.000 4100.000 1908.760 - 3675.740 2044.575
3500.000 - - 2300.00 - -
4000.000 4400.000 2363.305 - 4143.383 2527.273





Figure 2. Apply all changes with linear interpolation.
Hampson-Russell Software Services Ltd.
November 1999
The check shot correction is applied from the surface to the total log depth. A linear velocity
ramp (See (8)) is appended to the velocity function already corrected under the option Apply
relative change. This enables us to have a corrected time-depth curve extending to zero time at
the surface.





Figure 3. Apply all changes with spline interpolation.

Figure 3 also shows the check shot correction applied up to the surface, but using a drift curve
interpolated by a spline function. This results in a smoother correction.
Check Shot Menus
November 1999


Figure 4. Apply all changes with polynomial interpolation of order 1.

This last figure shows that the polynomial fit does not honor the check shot data, but represents a
best fit through them. The resulting correction is less accurate, but still represents a best
compromise when the drift data have erratic behavior.


4. Kelly Bushing (KB) Considerations

The depth values can be measured either from surface or from the Kelly Bushing table.
The assumption of GEOVIEW is as follows:

Input GEOVIEW database Inside GEOVIEW Export
Depth from surface surface surface surface
Depth from KB KB surface KB

In other words, within GEOVIEW, the check shot correction uses and plots depths from surfaces,
while the database stores and exports the depths as they were input.
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November 1999
This is why the check shot plot may have different depths from the one presented by the Show
Data button of the Display Log menu or the Export Well Logs function of the GEOVIEW
menu.


The present version allows only three out of the four possible cases:

Check Shot depths
from

surface KB

surface Yes No
sonic log depths from
KB Yes Yes

All 3 options give identical corrected time-depth curves and velocity curves.