Abstract: An earth formation tool measures pressure from within a borehole. A portion of the borehole wall is isolated from surrounding borehole fluids by placing a chamber of a borehole tool against the borehole wall. The chamber comprises a recess in an exterior surface of a borehole tool. Mudcake present on the isolated portion of the borehole wall is disintegrated by an ultrasonic transducer within the chamber. In this manner, there is no resistance to fluid flow from the chamber to the formation. A pressure gauge measures pressure of the chamber to indicate pressure of the earth formation. This approach can be used to make moving or stationary measurements of earth formation pressure.

Abstract: A portion of a borehole wall is isolated from surrounding borehole fluids by placing a chamber of a borehole tool against the borehole wall. The chamber comprises a cylindrical recess in an exterior surface of the borehole tool. The recess is open at one end to receive borehole fluids, and closed at the opposite end by a concave ultrasonic acoustic transducer. Mudcake present within the chamber and on the isolated portion of the borehole wall is disintegrated by the concave ultrasonic transducer. This approach can be used to remove mudcake from a borehole wall with a moving or stationary borehole tool.

Abstract: Images of rock formations below the earth's surface can be obtained on a microscopic scale. A borehole tool uses a seal to isolate an interval of the formation from borehole fluids which are outside the seal. A probe of the tool engages a wall of the formation and then draws formation fluid from the formation into the interior of the tool. The tool then produces an optical image of the formation which indicates rock texture. The seal can comprise a pad, inflatable packers, compressional packers, or cement plugs. The images of the formation can be obtained with electro-optic imagers such as charge-coupled devices (CCD) or a camera operating in the visible and/or near infrared range, or with ultrasonic transducers operating in the sub-MHz to mid GHz range, for example. The near infrared range provides an optical image of the formation through opaque fluids such as oil based muds or oil itself.