Simulated Annealing Determination Of Shear Wave Travel Time

Abstract

The method of simulated annealing is introduced to obtain relative moveouts between different depths from an iso-offset section. This method has been shown to be more consistent than conventional picks based on peaks, troughs, or zero crossings especially in situations where the signal-to-noise ratio is low or the wavelet is emergent. This method also provides a means of quantifying the relative confidence in each pick over the entire depth of the well. The method has been applied to the data obtained by the ARCO shear wave logging tool and compared favorably with more conventional estimates of shear wave slowness and was shown to be robust, even in areas of weak arrivals.