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Computers & Geosc~ences Vol. 12, No. 1, pp.

97-104, 1986
Printed in Great Britain.

0098-3004/86 $3.00 4 .00


~ 1986 Pergamon Press Ltd

SHORT NOTE
BOREHOLE

DESURVEY

CALCULATION

M. HOWSON a n d E. J. SIDES
RTZ Consultants Limited, Bristol, England

(Received 18 September 1985)

model the curve between readings and so intuitively,


it would seem to lack accuracy.

INTRODUCTION
Down-the-hole surveys are an important aspect of
many drilling projects. They enable samples or other
downhole observations to be located in three dimensions, and indicate the way in which boreholes are deviating, either intentionally or otherwise. With the
continuing trend towards drilling deeper holes, there
is a requirement for increasingly accurate survey techniques.
Down-the-hole survey instrumentation normally
consists of a device which can be lowered down the
borehole to record dip and azimuth readings at known
depths down the hole. A calculation known as 'desurveying' then is performed on these data to determine
the coordinates in three dimensions of each sample or
other downhole observation.
There are three principal ways in which accuracy of
down-the-hole surveying can be improved:
(1) Improvements to instrumentation. Several
manufacturers produce sophisticated instruments accurate to less than 1 degree. However, at this precision
problems such as local irregularities and the way in
which the instrument lies against the sides of the hole
become important and further improvements may not
be cost effective.
(2) Increase the number of readings taken down the
hole. This can be done readily with modem 'multishot'
equipment. However, it may be expensive, because the
rig and crew must remain idle while the survey is in
progress.
(3) Improve the desurvey calculations. If an improvement could be made, it is at no cost to borehole
survey technology. This aspect of improvement is the
subject of this paper.

RADIUS OF CURVATURE OR TANGENTIAL


ARC METHOD

This method is more complicated computationally


because it models the curvature o f a borehole between
two consecutive survey readings as being an arc on the
surface of a sphere. The difference in the combined
azimuth and dip angles give the angle at the center of
the sphere subtended by the arc. The downhole distance
between the readings is the length of the arc, and so
the radius of the sphere may be calculated. The hole
is modeled as a series of these arcs, starting with the
collar, for which the coordinates are known. The collar
is treated as the first survey reading poim and calculation will start by determining the radius of the sphere
obtained between this and the second survey reading.
Because the collar coordinates are known, the location
of the center of the sphere may be calculated, and so
the coordinates of the second survey reading are obtained by simple trigonometry. Proceeding from these
known coordinates, the coordinates of the third survey
reading are determined, etc., down the hole. Samples
or other observations down the hole are treated as
points on the series of arcs and so their coordinates
may be determined.
A similar method which has been used is one in
which instead of a sphere, the curvature is modeled as
two circles, one in the horizontal plane, and the other
vertical. S. Henley (personal comm., 1985) has pointed
out that the geometry of a sphere cannot be simplified
in this manner, and that the method can give erroneous
results.
Radius of Curvature seems to be the most widely
used desurvey method. Its main advantage is that it
interprets the borehole as a smooth curve and therefore
is more accurate intuitively than straight-line segments.
A second attribute that may be considered an advantage stems from the fact that all curvature is modeled
as a series of arcs. This effectively minimizes the maximum rate of change in direction that may exist in the
borehole. A disadvantage is that the series of arcs do

STRAIGHT-LINE SEGMENT METHOD


This is the simplest method and involves dividing
the downhole distance into a series of straight-line segments such that the points joining the segments lie
midway between consecutive pairs of survey readings.
Each segment is regarded as a vector with a known
length and orientation, and coordinates are calculated
by simple vector geometry. There is no attempt to
97

98

Short Notes

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Short Notes

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not give a 'natural' curve and may imply abrupt variations in rate of direction change at the survey points,
The method, therefore, is dependent on the location
of the survey points.
NEW METHOD
The following method is proposed as a possible alternative to the other two. It is believed that the application of the algorithms described to borehole desurveying has not been used before.
The downhole distance, dip, and azimuth measurements are used to calculate three polynomial equations
which describe the location of a point on the X, Y, and
Z axes as functions of distance down the hole. This is
done in the three following stages:
(1) Each dip (D~) and azimuth (Ai) measurement
pair is converted to the three direction cosines CX,,
C Yg, and CZ~ in the principal axes X, Y, and Z respectively:
CA',- = Sine Ai Cosine Di

The Appendix gives a listing of prototype subroutines BHPOL1 and BHPOL2 with a brief test program
BHRUN. Descriptions of the parameter lists are given
at the top of each subroutine. BHPOLI inputs all the
survey readings (including collar) for a given hole, calculates the equations for X, Y, and Z and outputs them
as arrays of coetficients. Thereafter, BHPOL2 is used
to estimate the X, Y, and Z coordinates for any point
at a given distance down the hole. BHPOL 1 uses polynomial expansions for curve fitting based on that described by Davis (1973).
The main advantage of this method to Radius of
Curvature is that instead of merely supplying a solution
to the problem, it attempts to produce the best solution
by the least-squares criterion. It is possible to take into
account a certain amount of error in making the survey
readings by changing the degree of the polynomial,
and a plot of a borehole desurveyed in this way gives
a pleasing curve. Problems in applying this method are
likely to be in the area of use of high powers of downhole distance measurements. However, in practice,
these and other problems are fairly readily overcome.

C Y, = Cosine Ai Cosine Di
APPLICATION
CZi = Sine Dr (-1).
(This assumes a hole drilled directly downwards has a
positive dip of 90 , and that elevation increases upwards.)
(2) Least-squares regression curves are fitted to the
three sets ofbivariate data, namely distance (d) against
the three cosines:
CAr = fn,(d),
C Y = fn2(d),
C Z = fn3(d).
(3) Because the three cosines in fact are the ratio of
distance moved in the X, Y, and Z directions respectively, divided by incremental distance down the hole,
that is
CX = dx/dd,
CY = dy/dd,
C Z = dz/dd.
Then the relationships of distance down the hole with
coordinates in the X, I/, and Z direction may be determined by simple integration:
x = ./h,(d)cL~',
y = ,/h2(d)dv,
z =/h3(d)d,z.

Where the constants of integration are given by the


collar coordinates.

The method described here has been used recently


in studies of drilling data from two stratabound massive
sulphide deposits.
The ore unit in one of these deposits occurs at depths
of 300-600 m, in a moderately deformed volcano-sedimentary sequence. All the evaluation holes drilled
show a fairly systematic change in orientation with
depth, probably related to a tendency of the drillstring
to turn into a favored orientation relative to the axial
plane cleavage. This effect is pronounced, with holes
that have been collared vertically, usually having deviated by 40-45 from the vertical at the level of the
ore body. Nearly all the holes tend to deviate towards
the southwest which is a direction at right angles to
the general strike of bedding and cleavage in the area
(Fig. l).
In order to plot these holes in section and plan, and
to locate the assay values and other drillhole data with
respect to the three principal axes, the method of
borehole desurveying as described was used. The
downhole survey data which were used had been obtained using two muitishot instruments, with readings
generally being at 40 m intervals down each hole.
During the application of the desurveying technique,
several practical problems were encountered which
necessitated the addition of certain checks and slight
modifications to the programs presented here. Some
of these aspects are described next.
(a) As in any application of nonlinear least-squares
regression, problems of edge effects arise. Because it is
important that the functions used to describe the drillhole are correct at its start and end depths, it is necessary,
to ensure that borehole survey data are available at
both these points, even if this involves using dummy
data values equal to the closest actual measurement.

Short Notes
This is crucial at the start of the hole. because all the
coordinates fo, points down the hole are calculated in
terms of displacements from the start coordinates.
(b) For most other forms of curve or surface fitting,
it generally is necessary to reduce a large data set to a
function it~ \~hich the number of coefficients is considerabl_x less that~ the size of the data set. In this instance ho~ex e,, the function used ideally should agree
at each data point, so long as the spacing of observations
down the hole is not too close. (In such instances the
errors involxed in the actual measurement could become a more important factor than deviation of the
drillstring, in explaining the difference between adjacent observations. I For this reason the number of coefficients used usually is taken as being equal to the
number of downhole survey observations.
(c) Given the criterion described in (b), the number
of coefficients used may be large, especially in the situation of deep holes, and in such instances the precision
of calculations becomes important. For this reason
double precision variables have been used in the calculations performed inside the two routines described.
In practice it was determined that if more than 25 coefficients are used the solution arrays may become unstable.
(d) Given the restrictions outlined in (b) and (c), it
was determined necessary in certain instances to divide
a hole into more than one line segment for calculation
purposes. In such situations the first 500 m of a hole,
for instance, may be treated separately and the best
estimate of the coordinates of the hole at 500 m depth
obtained. These coordinates then would be used as the
start coordinates for a second hole segment from 5001000 m, etc.
(e) In order to test the stability of the solution arrays,
it is always advisable
l to run a test program which calculates the coordinates meter by meter (or foot by foot)
down the hole, comparing the cumulated calculated
depth down the hole, and the calculated dip and azimuth of the hole at each point with the input data.
This approach highlights data entry errors (e.g. azimuth

101

180 wrong), or irregularities in the spacing of measurements down the hole, both of which may make
the solution arrays go unstable. If such instabilities
arise, it may be necessary to insert dummy data values
where large gaps in the data occur, or if possible resurvey the hole to correct errors and to fill gaps.
(f) In certain instances the arrays generated may be
ill conditioned, and use of the matrix inversion technique given in Davis (1973) may generate unsatisfactory results. For this reason, the routine GAUSS described in Monro (1982) was used in the present application.
The section and plan shown in Figure 1 have been
plotted using data generated by this technique. Because
the deposit they were drilled on has not yet been exploited, the critical test of trying to locate these surface
holes in underground workings has not been possible.
The method however is considered to have two main
advantages to previous techniques.
(1) The mathematical technique used is likely to be
a better approximation to reality, because it tries to
represent the hole as a continuous line function rather
than as a series of separate line segments.
(2) The instabilities which arise in the solution arrays during the application of this technique generally
have been determined to be due to errors or irregularities in the raw data, and as such the desurveying
method also can function as a data checking technique.
If applied to the data immediately after the survey has
been done, this would allow a resurvey to be carried
out if such problems arise, rather than in the present
situation in which a data set collected through several
years has been used, and where nearly all the holes
now are inaccessible for resurvey purposes.

REFERENCES

Davis, J. C., 1973, Statisticsand data analysisin geology:John


Wiley & Sons Inc., New York, 573 p.
Munro, D. M., 1982, FORTRAN 77: Edward Arnold Ltd.
London, p. 225-229.

APPENDIX

Routines BHRUN, BHPOLI, and BHPOL2


XAL BHPOL.FTN,IN,80
$BU BHPOL.FTN
PROGRAM BHRUN
DIMENSION D(8),DIP(8),AI(8)
DOUBLE PRECISION COX($),COY(8),COZ(B),A(8),B(8,8)

DATA
DATA
DATA

D10.,I0.,50.,72.,95.,132,,150.,200./

DIP/90.,90.,89.,89.,88.,85.,B6.,87.1
AZ/0.,0.,135.,135.,135.,135.,135.,135./

RADDEG=180./3.141592654

CALL BHPOLI(D,AZ,DIP,8,8,COX,COY,COZ,SsSeA,B)

DI=O.

102

Short Notes
kl=O.
WRITE(2,1010)
DO 10 I = 1 , 2 0 1
DI=FLOAT(I)-I.
CALL B H P O L Z ( C O X ~ C O Y ~ C O Z * 5 , 8 , 0 . ~ O . , 0 o , D I ~ X ~ Y , Z )
IF(ZEQ.1)GO
TO 5
XD=X-X1
YD=Y-YI
ZO=Zl-Z
XYD=SQRT(XD**E+YD**2)
DI=90-ATAN(XYDIZD)eRADDEG
AI=ATAN(XD/YD)*RADDEG
IF(YDLT.O.0)A1=A1+180.

IF(XD.LT.O.O.AND.YD.GT.OO)AI=AI~60.
5 WRZTE(2,1OOO)X,Y,Z,D1,A1
1000 FORMAT(1X,SF15.6)
1010
+

10

FORMAT('
'
xl=X
ylmy
Zl=Z
CONTINUE

X-COORD
DIP

STOP
END
SUgROUTINE
C
C

Y-COGRD
AZIMUTH

Z-COORD

',

t//)

BHPOLI(D,AZ,DIP,NV,NVI,COX,COY,COZ,NC,NCl,A,8)

ONE OF TWO BOREHOLE DE-SURVEY ROUTINES, ~HPOL1 & ~ H P O L 2 .


T H I S ROUTINE MODELS THE CURVATURE OF A ~OREHOLE BY F I T T I N G
POLYNOMIALS TO SURVEY MEASUREMENTS~ AND THEN I N T E G R A T I N G .
T H I S ROUTINE I S A PROTOTYPE VERSION
D = ARRAY OF 80REHOLE SURVEY DOWN-HOLE DISTANCE MEASUREMENTS.
AZ = ARRAY OF CORRESPONDING AZIMUTM MEASUREMENTS
D~P = ARRAY OF CORRESPONDING D I P MEASUREMENTS
NV = NUMSER OF SURVEY POINTS DOWN THE HOLE
NV1 = DIMENSION OF ARRAYS D, AZs DIP
COX = RETURNED ARRAY OF C O E F F I C I E N T S IN X D I R E C T I O N
COY = RETURNED ARRAY OF C O E F F I C I E N T S IN ~ DIRECTION
COZ = RETURNED ARRAY OF C O E F F I C I E N T S IN Z DIRECTION
NC = NUMBER OF COEFFS. TO BE USED IN POLYNOMIALS (ORDER)
NO1 = DIMENSION OF ARRAYS COX* COY* COZ* A* S
A & 3 = ARRAYS USED AS WORKS~ACE

C~tttW~Qt~Q~Wt~ttt~Q~tQQ~QtttWttQ~tttt~tt~tt~t~Qt~ttttt~t~

DIMENSION D(NV1),AZ(NV1),DZP(NV1)
DOUBLE P R E C I S I O N C O X ( N C l ) , C O Y ( N C 1 ) , C O Z ( N C l )
DOUBLE P R E C I S I O N A ( N C 1 ) * B ( N C I * N C 1 )
DOUBLE P R E C I S I O N D I V * R A T * C X * C Y e C Z * R * D A , D D * D 1

R=3o1415926541180.

INITZALISE

ARRAYS

DO 10 I=I,NC
DO
8 J'I*NC
8 B(I,J)'O.O
COX(Z)=O.O
10

COY(I)=O.O
COZ(I)=O.O

FOR EACH MEASUREMENT . . . .

DO 100
....

FIND

I=I,NV
COSINES

IN

X,Y,Z

DIRECTIONS, ....

Short Notes

103

DA=DBLE(AZ(I))*R
DD=D3LE(DIP(Z))*R
CX=DSIN(DA)*DCOS(DD)
CY=DCOS(DA)*DCOS(OD)
CZ=DSIN(DD)*(-1.0)
DI=DBLECD(I))
C
C
C

....

CALCULATE

INCREASING

POWERS OF D . . . .

A(1)=1.0
DO 20 J=2,NC
20 A ( J ) = A ( J - 1 ) * D 1

C
C
C

C
C
C

....

ACCUMULATE

RHS VECTOR M A T R I C E S , . . . .

DO 90 J=I,NC
COX(J)=COX(J)+A(J)*CX
COY(J)=COY(J)+A(J)*CY
COZ(J)=COZ(J)A(J)*CZ
.... AND L~S

SQUARE" M A T R I X ,

THEN

CLOSE LOOPS.

DO 80 K = l t N C
80 B ( J t K ) = B ( J p K ) + A ( J ) * A ( K )
90 CONTINUE
I 0 C CONTINUE
C
C
C

SOLVE

3 SETS OF SIMULTANEOUS

DO 2 0 0

EQUATIONS

IN ONE PASS

I=I,NC

DIV=B(I,I)
110

DO 110 J=I,NC
~(I,J)=B(I,J)/DZV

COX(I)=COX(1)IDZV
COY(1)=COY(1)/DIV
COZ(1)=COZ(I)/DIV
DO 120 J=I,NC
I F ( I . E Q . J ) G O TO
RAT=B(J,I)
DO 1 3 0 K=I*NC

120

130 B ( J o K ) s B ( J p K ) - R A T * B ( I * K )
COX(J)sCOX(J)-RAT*COX(I)
120
200

COY(J)sCOY(J)-RAT*COY(I)
COZ(J)sCOZ(J)RAT*COZ(I)
CONTINUE
CONTINUE

INTEGRATE

IE,

DIVIDE

COEFFICIENTS

BY (POWER+I)

C
DIV=O.O
DO 3 0 0 ImI,NC
DIV'DIV+I.0

COX(I)-COX(Z)IOIV
COY{I)ICOY(I)/DIV
]00 COZ(I)-COZ(I)IDIV
RETURN
END
SUBROUTINE B M P O L 2 ( C O X , C O Y , C O Z * N C , N C I , X O , Y 0 * Z O , D , X , Y , Z )
*******************************************************************
ONE OF TWO BOREHOLE DE-SURVEY ROUTINES BHPOL1 & BMPOL2
T H I S ROUTINE CALCULATES THE COORDINATES OF ANY POINT AT A
GIVEN DISTANCE DOWN THE CURRENT BORENOLE.
COX = ARRAY OF C O E F F I C I E N T S IN X DIRECTION
COY = ARRAY OF C O E F F I C I E N T S IN Y DIRECTION
COZ : ARRAY OF C O E F F I C I E N T S IN Z D I R E C T I O N
NC = NUMBER OF C O E F F I C I E N T S IN POLYNOMIALS
NC1 : DIMENSION OF ARRAYS COX, COY, COZ
XO : COLLAR X-COORDINATE OF CURRENT HOLE

FROM BHPOL1
FROM 8HPOL1
FROM BHPOL1
CORDER)

104

Short Notes
C
C
C
C

C
C

YO = COLLAR Y-COORDINATE OF CURRENT HOLE


10 = COLLAR Z-COORDINATE OF CURRENT HCLE
O = DOWN-HOLE DISTANCE FOR WHICH COORDS. ARE REQUIRED
X = RETURNED X-COORDINATE
Y = RETURNED Y-COORDINATE
Z = RETURNED Z-COORDINATE

DOUBLE PRECISION C O X ( N C 1 ) , C O Y ( N C 1 ) , C O Z ( N C 1 )
DOUBLE PRECISION A,DD
Y:YO
Z=ZO
X:XO
DD:DBLE(D)
A=I.0
DO 10 I : I , N C
A:A*DD
X=X+SNGL(A*COX(I))
Y=YSNGL(A*COY(1))
Z=Z+SNGL(A'COZ(1))
10 CONTINUE
RETURN
END
$ENDB
FTD B H P O L o , N U L L :
XDE BHPOL. FTN
LINKLIB BHPOL
XDE BHPOL.OBJ
L BW~OL
AS 2 , C O N :
ST
XDE BHPOLoTSK
$EXIT

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