Application of Distinct Element Method to Analyze the Fracture and In-situ Stress on Wellbore Stability under Triaxial Compression

Shirinabadi, Reza; Moosavi, Ehsan; Gholinejad, Mehran

doi:10.1007/s40098-021-00549-0

Cited by 6 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…Liao et al (2021) presented a fully connected wellbore-reservoir heat and mass transfer embodiment for horizontal drilling via a hydrate reservoir. Shirinabadi et al (2021) applied a distinct element method to analyze the fracture and in-situ stress on wellbore stability under triaxial compression. Nazarisaram and Ebrahimabadi (2022) applied a wellbore stability design for the Shadegan wells in Bangestan Reservoir, leading to the best orientation for directional and horizontal drilling in the northwestern direction.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wellbore Stability in a Depleted Reservoir by Finite Element Analysis of Coupled thermo-poro-elastic Units in an Oilfield, SW Iran

Pirhadi,

Kianoush,

Ebrahimabadi

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Maintaining wellbore stability in depleted reservoirs is a critical problem. With production from hydrocarbon reservoirs, the pore pressure of the reservoir is reduced over time, and the reservoir is depleted since field development is one of the main purposes for oil companies. Heavy mud weight in depleted reservoir caused fracture due to reduced fracture gradient, and low mud weight caused blow out in high-pressure zone or well collapse due to shale beds that required high mud weight to prevent collapse. Considering geomechanics and coupled equilibrium equation, continuity equation, Hook’s law, compatibility equation, Darcy’s law, and thermal relation, the Thermo-poro-elastic equation was derived in this research. A finite element method has been developed to implement the fully coupled thermo-poro-elastic non-linear models. The finite element model was validated by comparing it to the available analytical solutions for the thermo-poro-elastic wellbore problems in shale. The non-linear thermal-poro-elasticity finite element model was used to analyze wellbore stability in a depleted limestone reservoir during drilling. The numerical results showed that a decrease drilling fluid’s temperature (cooling) causes to increase in the potential for tensile failure and reduces the potential of shear failure. Due to the depletion reservoir, the potential of tensile failure increased than shear failure, so heating the drilling fluid could cause wellbore stability in the depleted reservoir. Furthermore, based on the numerical results, it may be concluded that the drilling fluid’s temperature is one of the important factors in the wellbore stability analysis in depleted reservoirs.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%