Abstract: For the interpretation of Azimuthal Resistivity Imager (ARI) in quantity,a modeling code using finite element method (FEM) is developed to simulate ARI responses in three dimensional inhomogeneous formation models.The code has been benchmarked against analytical solutions and 2D finite difference method (FDM) for subsets of the 3D geometry.The differences between the present results and two others are within 5%.The code has been also used to research some typical formation models in 3D environments.The results show it can provide support for the interpretation of ARI in quantity.

Key words: finite element method (FEM), azimuthal resistivity imager (ARI), inhomogeneous formation