TENS
SchlumbergerkdyneCable Tension
The surface tension on the wireline cable during logging — an operations and quality-control curve, not a formation measurement. Tension anomalies flag stuck tools, differential sticking, and depth-control problems that can corrupt the logs.
- Property
- Surface Cable Tension
- Tension
- Quantity
- force
- kdyne · pN · klbf · EN · 10 kN · daN · pdl · kN · tonf[UK] · tonf[US] · kgf · N · dyne · µN · ozf · TN · GN · mN · Mgf · fN · dN · cN · nN · hN · MN · gf · lbf
- Typical range
- ~-2,597.2–3,551.7 lbf
- pounds-force (lbf), operational
Logging tool
No logging tool is associated with this curve.
Service company
Browse the full Schlumberger mnemonic dictionary, including legacy and current tool families.
View Schlumberger mnemonics →What is the TENS curve?
How it's measured
A load cell at the surface measures the pull on the logging cable as the tool string moves, recorded versus depth.
How it's used
Logging QC and depth control — smooth tension means clean tool movement; spikes or a rising baseline warn of drag, sticking, or hole problems that may distort depth and log quality.
Common gotchas
It is an engineering curve, not petrophysics — do not interpret it geologically. Tension spikes often coincide with intervals where depth matching should be double-checked.
In LAS files
Recorded as TENS (or TEN, CTEN) in lbf (sometimes daN). Use it to QC depth and flag suspect intervals, not for formation evaluation.
Also known as
Variants of TENS seen in real LAS files — PetroCurve maps each of these on import.
Based on 10,923,099 samples in the public corpus.
Also seen with TENS in real logs
Curves that appear alongside TENS in the same wells across the public corpus.