Evaluation of 3D seismic survey design parameters through ray-trace modeling and seismic illumination studies: a case study

Abstract

AbstractThis paper describes a case study of wavefront construction-based ray-trace modeling to access the 3D seismic exploration parameters that significantly impact achieving the exploration target in seismic data acquisition. The traditional methods assessment is based on the horizontal reflector concept, which does not consider the subsurface's inhomogeneities. This case study provides a methodology by considering the effect of subsurface variations on the estimation of seismic survey parameters. As the first step in this methodology, an elastic earth model is created to propagate theoretical seismic rays from a 3D seismic survey to generate seismic ray properties. Then illumination maps and synthetic seismic sections are generated from these seismic ray attributes to evaluate seismic survey performance in seismic imaging targets. The results proved that the method helps estimate seismic survey efficiencies in seismic target imaging. Therefore, the ray-trace modeling methodology can help obtain the target fold coverage in complex geological settings by designing and verifying the seismic survey parameters.