Caliper effect on borehole coupling

Abstract

The mechanism of low-frequency Borehole Coupling from the literature is here applied to a borehole of non-uniform radius. It is noted that in addition to the pressure signal in a fluid-filled borehole coincident with the passage of an external plane compressional wave, there are waves created at any change in radius which arrive later as coherent noise. This is illustrated first with a single step-change in radius. An example using the caliper log from an oil well shows that these delayed waves create a noise train of substantial amplitude relative to the direct compressional wave. It is pointed out that a down-hole pressure source will radiate a noise train due to caliper changes which will follow the direct compressional wave with exactly the same waveform as that encountered in Borehole Coupling.