Pushing the vibrator envelope: extending low and high frequency limits

Abstract

At low frequencies the energy produced from a seismic vibrator is constrained by several mechanical and hydraulic limitations. These include reaction mass stroke, hydraulic pump flow, pump response time, servo valve stroke, accumulator size, engine horsepower, peak-decoupling force, harmonic distortion, and the vehicle chassis isolation. We have developed a model that can simulate seismic vibrator dynamics to evaluate the impact of these parameters on the vibrator fundamental force envelope at low frequencies.