Radar Logging of Storage Cavern Walls at the Strategic Petroleum Reserve: A Feasibility Estimate.

摘要

The feasibility of using a radar logging tool to map the salt walls in the caverns storing crude oil at the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) is examined. The tool design has dimensions small enough to permit entry into every SPR cavern at Big Hill, Bayou Choctaw, West Hackberry, and Bryan Mound, is able to resolve wall features as small as five feet, and can measure the range to the cavern wall with an uncertainty less than one foot. Usable radar echoes are predicted if the walls are very rough in 37 of the 45 storage caverns during operation at 1 GHz. Dependence on frequency and wall roughness is presented. Very strong echoes are to be expected in most caverns at 1 GHz. 11 refs., 5 figs., 5 tabs.