Overview and Fundamental Ideas - Wave Propagation in Drilling, Well Logging and Reservoir Applications - page 1

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Overview and Fundamental Ideas
What is wave propagation? Commonplace examples include obvious yet
mathematically complicated events such as the movement of water waves on
beaches, the vibrations of guitar strings, the sonic boom underneath a high-speed
airplane and children singing in hallways. Wave propagation, associated with
vibration theory, hyperbolic equations and asymptotic WKB analysis, has been
studied mathematically for three hundred years. Its literature is vast and subtle.
Its developers include the greatest minds in physics. Libraries of topics have
been written on esoteric implications. The subject matter encompasses many
disciplines: optics (light), acoustics, structural vibrations, aeroelasticity,
electromagnetism, hydrodynamic stability, laminar flow transition, underwater
sound, philharmonic hall design, plasma stability, earthquake seismology,
geophysics, and spiral galactic instabilities. How, then, does the student of
petroleum engineering (whose work ultimately embraces practical drilling
vibrations, well logging and Measurement-While-Drilling, a.k.a. “MWD,”
among other evolving technologies) build an adequate technical foundation
quickly without an overwhelming amount of study? How can he appreciate the
physics underlying important engineering phenomena without digesting reams
of finite element results and hoping for self-evident generalities?
Goals of the topic. Despite the seriousness of the material and the
mathematics presented in this volume, the present topic is intended to be an
introductory textbook, but in a sense not usually taken in formal courses. We
will provide the student with a flavor for the formal constructive techniques
usually taught in advanced courses, so that he acquires enough familiarity with
the jargon to read and understand professional papers and topics.
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