Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
97-104, 1986
Printed in Great Britain.
SHORT NOTE
BOREHOLE
DESURVEY
CALCULATION
M. HOWSON a n d E. J. SIDES
RTZ Consultants Limited, Bristol, England
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.
98
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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.
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
APPENDIX
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)
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
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
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