Publications

Electronic neutron sources for compensated porosity well logging

Chen, A.X.; Antolak, Arlyn J.; Leung, K.N.

The viability of replacing Americium-Beryllium (Am-Be) radiological neutron sources in compensated porosity nuclear well logging tools with D-T or D-D accelerator-driven neutron sources is explored. The analysis consisted of developing a model for a typical well-logging borehole configuration and computing the helium-3 detector response to varying formation porosities using three different neutron sources (Am-Be, D-D, and D-T). The results indicate that, when normalized to the same source intensity, the use of a D-D neutron source has greater sensitivity for measuring the formation porosity than either an Am-Be or D-T source. The results of the study provide operational requirements that enable compensated porosity well logging with a compact, low power D-D neutron generator, which the current state-of-the-art indicates is technically achievable. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.