Inversion of borehole normal resistivity logs

Abstract

This paper reports on an investigation of the inversion of borehole normal resistivity data via ridge regression. Interpretation is afforded of individual thin beds and of complicated layered structures. A theoretical solution is given for a layered model containing an arbitrary number of layers in the forward problem. Two forward model results for resistive and conductive thin beds indicate that for high‐resistivity contrasts, the departure between true and apparent resistivity may be more important than the effects caused by the variations in borehole diameter and mud resistivity. Four normal resistivity logs were chosen to test the inversion scheme. Two of the logs were theoretical logs with and without random noise added, and the remaining two were field examples. Theoretical model results and field examples indicate that the inverse method can be used to obtain the resistivity for each layer when the boundary position is known, but it also can be used to obtain the thickness and resistivity for each layer simultaneously.