Study on Parameters Selection of Oil-Based Mud Formation Imaging Tool (OBIT) Based on FEM

In a typical oil-based mud environment, the borehole fluid and mud cake are highly resistive and will not permit any significant current flow from the tool to the formation. In order to overcome the high insulation effect of the medium, measurement current must be injected at a relative high frequency since most of the conduction is due to capacitive coupling. In this paper, an OBIT numerical model based on four-terminal method was established to study the tool responses during the measurements. The influences of tool parameters, such as the area and distance of current-injector electrodes, inject frequency, distance of button sensors, standoff and electrical properties of borehole fluid, the tool responses, were investigated and the tool optimization was discussed.