Patent ID: 8918287
Filing Date: 2014-12-23
Classification: G01V

Abstract:
1. A method of determining the density of an underground formation surrounding a borehole from measurement of gamma rays arising from irradiation of the formation by a nuclear source in a tool body located in the borehole, and measurement of gamma-ray flux in the tool body at two different detector spacings from the source, the method comprising: determining a substantially straight-line relationship between gamma-ray flux measurements at each different detector spacing with respect to the density of the formation for a tool body with no standoff; determining a relationship defining the deviation with respect to tool standoff of the density determined from the measured gamma-ray flux measurements at the two different detector spacings from the density calculated from the straight line relationships; and for a given pair of gamma-ray flux measurements at the different detector spacings, determining the intersection of the relationship defining the deviation with the straight line relationship so as to indicate the density of the formation surrounding the borehole; wherein the source is a neutron source and the gamma rays measured in the tool body are neutron-induced gamma rays resulting from neutron irradiation of the formation.