Method and apparatus for computing drill bit vibration power spectral density

Claim 2

A drill bit seismic system comprising a downhole transducer sensitive to the vibrations of a drill bit, the drill bit coupled to a drill string, the downhole transducer producing a downhole transducer signal representative of the vibrations of the drill bit; a downhole power spectral density processor configured to compute the downhole power spectral density of the downhole transducer signal; the downhole transducer and the downhole power spectral density processor being located near the drill bit during drilling operations; a surface transducer, coupled to the drill string substantially at the surface, sensitive to the vibrations in the drill string, the surface transducer producing a surface transducer signal representative of the vibrations in the drill string; a surface power spectral density processor configured to compute the surface power spectral density of the surface transducer signal; and a drill string transfer function magnitude estimator configured to estimate the magnitude of the transfer function of the drill string from the drill bit to the surface using the downhole power spectral density and the surface power spectral density.

Claim 3

The drill bit seismic system of claim 1, further comprising a transmitter configured to transmit the power spectral density; and a receiver configured to receive the transmitted power spectral density.

Claim 4

The drill bit seismic system of claim 1, wherein the drill string transfer function estimator is configured to estimate the magnitude of the drill string transfer function from the drill bit to the surface by dividing the surface power spectral density by the downhole power spectral density and taking the square root of the result.

Claim 5

The drill bit seismic system of claim 1, further comprising a computer configured to use the estimated magnitude of the transfer function to improve an estimate of the transfer function.

Claim 6

The drill bit seismic system of claim 1, wherein the downhole transducer is sensitive to upgoing compressional wave energy.

Claim 7

The drill bit seismic system of claim 1, wherein the downhole transducer is sensitive to upgoing torsional wave energy.

Claim 8

The drill bit seismic system of claim 1, further comprising a seismic energy estimator configured to use the downhole power spectral density to provide an estimate of the power spectral density of the seismic energy generated by the bit.

Claim 9

The drill bit seismic system of claim 7, wherein the seismic source signature estimator is configured to use the estimated seismic energy generated by the bit to improve an estimate of the seismic source signature at the bit.

Claim 10

The drill bit seismic system of claim 1, wherein the downhole power spectral density is computed for samples taken of the downhole transducer signal within a specified time window.

Claim 11

The drill bit seismic system of claim 9, wherein the specified time window has a length no greater than an update rate of drill bit seismic processing.

Claim 12

The drill bit seismic system of claim 1, wherein the downhole transducer is sensitive to compressional wave energy traveling in a drill string to which the drill bit is attached.

Claim 13

The drill bit seismic system of claim 11, further comprising one or more additional downhole transducers.

Claim 14

The drill bit seismic system of claim 12, wherein one or more of the additional downhole transducers are sensitive to compressional wave energy traveling in the drill string.

Claim 15

The drill bit seismic system of claim 13, wherein two or more downhole transducers sensitive to compressional wave energy are configured to separate compressional wave energy traveling up the drill string from that travelling down the drill string.

Claim 16

The drill bit seismic system of claim 14, wherein the power spectral density processor is configured to compute the power spectral density of the compressional wave energy traveling up the drill string detected by the additional transducers.

Claim 17

The drill bit seismic system of claim 1, further comprising a drill string transfer function phase estimator configured to estimate the phase of the transfer function of the drill string from the drill bit to the surface using the computed magnitude of the drill string transfer function.

Claim 18

The drill bit seismic system of claim 16, wherein the drill string transfer function phase estimator estimates the phase of the transfer function using the following equation: ##EQU11## where ω=frequency; α(ω)=-ln(|H(ω)|); |H(.sub.ω)|=the magnitude of the transfer function; and θ(ω 0 )=the phase of the transfer function at ω 0 .

Claim 19

The drill bit seismic system of claim 1 further comprising a downhole clock located near the drill bit, the downhole clock being configured to produce a downhole clock trigger and a downhole time signal representing the time the downhole clock trigger was produced; a downhole sampler coupled to the downhole transducer signal and to the downhole clock trigger, the downhole sampler configured to take a predetermined number of downhole samples upon receipt of the downhole clock trigger; a surface clock substantially synchronized with the downhole clock; a surface sampler coupled to the surface transducer signal, the surface sampler configured to take surface samples of the surface transducer signal; a phase detector coupled to the downhole samples, the downhole time signal and the downhole power spectral density, said phase detector being configured to determine a phase of the surface signal at the same frequencies at which the phase was determined downhole; a transmitter configured to transmit the phase determined downhole and the time at which the downhole signal used in the phase calculation was measured; a transfer function phase calculator configured to calculate the phase of the transfer function between the drill bit and the surface sensors at the selected frequencies by subtracting the phases determined at the surface from those determined downhole at each frequency.

Claim 20

The drill bit seismic system of claim 1 further comprising a downhole clock located near the drill bit, the downhole clock being configured to produce a downhole clock trigger and a time signal representing the time the downhole clock trigger was produced; a downhole sampler coupled to the downhole transducer signal and to the downhole clock trigger, the downhole sampler configured to take a predetermined number of downhole samples upon receipt of the downhole clock trigger; a surface clock substantially synchronized with the downhole clock; a surface sampler coupled to the surface transducer signal, the surface sampler configured to take surface samples of the surface transducer signal; an estimator configured to estimate the time it takes for signals to propagate from the bit to the surface sensors; a phase detector coupled to the downhole samples, the downhole time signal and the downhole power spectral density, the phase detector being configured to determine the phase of the downhole signal at at least one frequency of interest; a phase detector coupled to the surface clock, the surface samples and the estimator, the phase detector being configured to determine the phase of the surface signal at the same frequencies at which the phase was determined downhole; a transfer function phase calculator configured to calculate the phase of the transfer function between the drill bit and the surface sensors at the selected frequencies as a function of the phase determined downhole, the phase determined at the surface and the estimated propagation time from the bit to the surface sensors.

Claim 21

The drill bit seismic system of claim 19 in which the estimator comprises a calculator configured to calculate the group delay from the magnitude of the transfer function between the downhole sensors and the surface sensors.

Claim 22

A drill bit seismic system comprising a drill bit coupled to a drill string; a drill string transfer function estimator configured to estimate a drill string transfer function magnitude by computing a downhole power spectral density of a signal representative of the vibrations of the drill bit and a surface power spectral density of a signal representative of the vibrations of the drill string substantially at the surface; a lateral motion transducer coupled to the drill string near the drill bit, the lateral motion transducer being sensitive to lateral motion of the drill bit, the lateral motion transducer producing a lateral motion transducer signal; the lateral motion transducer signal being coupled to the drill string transfer function estimator; and the drill string transfer function estimator being configured to filter the effects of the lateral motion of the drill bit on the estimate of the transfer function of the drill string.

Claim 23

A drill bit seismic system comprising a drill bit coupled to a drill string; a drill string transfer function estimator configured to estimate a drill string transfer function magnitude by computing a downhole power spectral density of a signal representative of the vibrations of the drill bit and a surface power spectral density of a signal representative of the vibrations of the drill string substantially at the surface; a lateral motion transducer coupled to the drill string near the drill bit, the lateral motion transducer being sensitive to lateral motion of the drill bit, the lateral motion transducer producing a lateral motion transducer signal; the lateral motion transducer signal being coupled to the drill string transfer function estimator; and the drill string transfer function estimator being configured to filter the effects of the lateral motion of the drill bit on the estimate of the transfer function of the drill string.

Claim 24

The drill bit seismic system of claim 21 wherein the drill string transfer function estimator is configured to stop estimating the transfer function of the drill string when the lateral motion transducer signal is greater than a predetermined amount.

Claim 27

The method of claim 23 further comprising estimating the phase of the transfer function of the drill string using a downhole clock and a surface clock substantially synchronized with the downhole clock.