A joint imaging method of vertical seismic profiling data by generalized radon transform migration

The images produced by conventional vertical seismic profile imaging methods often suffer from the problems of illumination limitation and uncompleted wavefield separation. In this paper, we give a deep insight into the illumination behaviours of the upgoing primary and downgoing multiple signals and illustrate their merits and demerits in illuminating the subsurface structure around the well trajectory. Based on this, we develop an efficient joint imaging method of acoustic vertical seismic profile data based on the generalized Radon transform migration inversion theory. By analysing the interference characteristics of the primary and multiple reflections, we verify the capability of this method that can handle the joint imaging directly. The proposed method combines the advantages of primary and multiple contributions to the subsurface image without additional wavefield separation. The numerical results of synthetic data and field data demonstrate high-quality construction of the structure in the vicinity of the borehole, also away from the well trajectory.