Experiences with distributed acoustic sensing using both straight and helically wound fibers in surface-deployed cables — A case history in Groningen, The Netherlands

Abstract

Distributed acoustic sensing has been limited in its use for surface-seismic reflection measurements due to the fiber’s decreased broadside sensitivity when the fiber is deployed horizontally. Deploying the fiber in a helically wound fashion has the promise of being more sensitive to broadside waves (e.g., P-wave reflections) and less sensitive to surface waves than a straight fiber (SF). We examine such claims and compare the responses of SFs and helically wound fibers (HWFs) with different wrapping angles, using standard and engineered fibers. These fibers have been buried in a 2 m deep trench in a farmland in the province of Groningen in The Netherlands, where we performed an active-source survey. We observe in our field data that using HWF has a destructive effect on the surface-wave amplitudes. Our data confirms the effect of the wrapping angle on the polarity of the surface-wave arrival and the dampening effect of the helical winding, behaving in quite a predictable fashion. Apart from the effect of the wrapping angle, the different design choices, e.g., cable filling and material type, do not show a significant effect on the amplitude of the signals. As for P-wave reflections, we observe that engineered SF and HWF provide reflection images comparable with those obtained from simultaneously deployed geophones at the surface despite the SF’s decreased broadside sensitivity. A polarity reversal and an amplitude difference between the SF and HWFs are observed. Finally, we demonstrate that the combined use of SF and HWF proved to be useful because SF showed better sensitivity in the shallower part and HWF in the deeper part.