Importance

Loading Importance Indicators...

Abstract

The borehole imaging apparatus of the present invention includes a tool having an array of voltage electrode buttons mounted on a non-conductive pad. A current source and a current return are preferably located on the non-conductive pads at opposite ends thereof. The locations of the current source and return are designed to force a current to flow in the formation parallel to the pad face and non-parallel to the formation boundary layers. According to a method of the invention, the voltage difference between a pair of buttons in the array is proportional to the resistivity of the formation bed adjacent to the buttons. The ratio of voltage differences between two nearby pairs of electrode buttons provides a quantitative measurement of the ratio of shallow resistivity. The resolution of the image produced by the new tool is determined only by the spacing of the buttons. The tool according to the invention produces much better images than the prior art tools when used in OBM wells. In order to assure that current flow is not tangential to bed boundaries, it is preferred that the non-conductive pad be provided with a pair of orthogonal current sources and current returns. According to a presently preferred embodiment of the invention, the voltage electrodes are arranged in a matrix having offset rows and measurements are made for adjacent electrodes in two dimensions.

Loading the Abstract Image...

First Claim