A Study on the Controlled-source Electromagnetic Responses Incorporating the Steel Casing

Abstract

Recently, steel casing became an interesting issue when applying controlled-source electromagnetic (EM) method to various fields because effects of steel casing on EM responses are not negligible. This study employed an approach that approximates the steel casing as a series of electric dipole sources in order to develop the numerical algorithm for the efficient simulation of EM responses in the presence of steel casing. After verifying the validity of the developed algorithm, we analyze effects of steel casing on EM responses with the synthetic model simulating geothermal reservoir environment. The analysis showed that the effects of steel casing on EM responses are localized near the casing and increase as the transmitter becomes close to the casing. In addition, through the analysis on the EM responses by the injection of clean water, we confirm that the effects of casing are negligible when interpreting the after-injection data acquired using the transmitter located far enough from the casing. Considering the difference in EM responses between before and after injection in inversion, the effects of the casing can be neglected although after-injection data shows considerable difference due to the close distance between the transmitter and casing. To investigate this kind steel casing effect, the precise analysis on EM responses should be preceded. The algorithm introduced in this study will contribute to the reliable calculations of EM responses distorted by the conductive steel casing.