AccScience Publishing / JSE / Online First / DOI: 10.36922/JSE025300040
ARTICLE

Application of distributed helically wound cable technology in ground seismic exploration

Jingyuan Wang1* Bin Liu1 Jing Zhu1 Weiwei Duan1
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1 Research and Development Center of Science and Technology, Sinopec Geophysical Corporation, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China
JSE 2025, 34(4), 025300040 https://doi.org/10.36922/JSE025300040
Submitted: 21 July 2025 | Revised: 25 August 2025 | Accepted: 25 August 2025 | Published: 30 September 2025
© 2025 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
Abstract

Fiber optic distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) based on phase-sensitive optical time-domain reflectometry holds significant potential for monitoring applications in seismic exploration, pipeline integrity, and border security. Conventional straight-fiber DAS systems are inherently limited to detecting single-component vibration signals along the fiber axis. To address this limitation, we propose a distributed helically wound cable (HWC). In this article, we present a theoretical analysis of the fundamental mathematical model governing HWC response and the selection criteria for an optimal spiral wrapping angle. We conducted a pioneering three-dimensional seismic field experiment in Xinghua, Jiangsu, China. An innovative underwater cable deployment scheme was implemented to ensure effective coupling between the cable and the surrounding medium. Experimental results demonstrated that HWC with a 30° wrapping angle yielded single-shot records characterized by a high signal-to-noise ratio and a broad effective frequency bandwidth, and enabled clear identification of shallow reflection events in stacked sections. This confirms the capability of HWC to acquire ground seismic reflection signals. Our findings provide an effective pathway for advancing next-generation fiber optic distributed seismic exploration technology.

Keywords
Helical wound cable
Surface seismic exploration
Wrapping angle
Fiber optic sensing
Distributed acoustic sensing
Funding
This study was financially supported by the Sinopec Project “Development and Pilot Test of Distributed Spiral Optical Fiber Sensing System” (Grant No. SGC-2024-21).
Conflict of interest
The authors declare they have no competing interests.
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Journal of Seismic Exploration, Print ISSN: 0963-0651, Published by AccScience Publishing