US 11,726,224 B2
B annulus acoustic pressure sensing
David Bishop, Cypress, TX (US); Carlos Felipe Rivero, Katy, TX (US); James J. Freeman, Houston, TX (US); Roger Steinsiek, Pearland, TX (US); Marc Samuelson, Houston, TX (US); Shaela Rahman, Houston, TX (US); and Jason Harris, Cypress, TX (US)
Assigned to BAKER HUGHES, A GE COMPANY, LLC, Houston, TX (US)
Filed by David Bishop, Cypress, TX (US); Carlos Felipe Rivero, Katy, TX (US); James J. Freeman, Houston, TX (US); Roger Steinsiek, Pearland, TX (US); Marc Samuelson, Houston, TX (US); Shaela Rahman, Houston, TX (US); and Jason Harris, Cypress, TX (US)
Filed on Nov. 21, 2019, as Appl. No. 16/690,873.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/796,382, filed on Jan. 24, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2020/0241160 A1, Jul. 30, 2020
Int. Cl. G01V 1/46 (2006.01); G01L 19/00 (2006.01); G01V 1/48 (2006.01); G01V 1/52 (2006.01)
CPC G01V 1/46 (2013.01) [G01L 19/0092 (2013.01); G01V 1/48 (2013.01); G01V 1/52 (2013.01); G01V 2001/526 (2013.01); G01V 2210/121 (2013.01); G01V 2210/1299 (2013.01); G01V 2210/1429 (2013.01); G01V 2210/54 (2013.01)] 15 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of determining an am pressure in an annulus between an inner casing and an outer casing, comprising:
generating an acoustic pulse at an acoustic transducer disposed within the inner casing at a selected depth;
measuring, at a processor, a time of flight of the acoustic pulse to an inner surface of the inner casing;
determining, at the processor, an inner diameter of the inner casing from the time of flight;
a comparing, at the processor, the determined inner diameter to a known inner diameter for the inner casing at a known annulus pressure to determine the annulus pressure related to the determined inner diameter; and
detecting a flow of fluid from a formation into the annulus based on the annulus pressure.