Compaction of the Groningen Gas Reservoir Sandstone: Discrete Element Modeling Using Microphysically Based Grain‐Scale Interaction Laws

Abstract

Reservoir compaction, surface subsidence and induced seismicity are often associated with prolonged hydrocarbon production. Recent experiments conducted on the Groningen gas field's Slochteren sandstone reservoir rock, at in-situ conditions, have shown that compaction involves both poro-elastic strain and time-independent, permanent strain, caused by consolidation and shear of clay films coating the sandstone grains, with grain failure occurring at higher stresses. To model compaction of the reservoir in space and time, numerical approaches, such as the Discrete Element Method (DEM), populated with realistic grain-scale mechanisms are needed. We developed a new particle-interaction law (contact model) for classic DEM to explicitly account for the experimentally observed mechanisms of non-linear elasticity, intergranular clay film deformation, and grain breakage. It was calibrated against both hydrostatic and conventional triaxial Accepted ArticleThis article has been accepted for publication and undergone full peer review but has not been through the copyediting, typesetting, pagination and proofreading process, which may lead to differences between this version and the Version of Record. Please cite this article as

Time–Space Evolution of the Groningen Gas Field in Terms ofb-Value: Insights and Implications for Seismic Hazard

“…Anthropogenic activities lead to an increasing number of induced phenomena, including earthquakes. In the case of gas-production, extraction of mass and depletion of the pressure cause reservoir compaction, a process accompanied by both seismicity and surface subsidence (e.g., Segall, 1992;Zoback, 2007); these related processes show a delay with respect to gas extraction and the strict link between production, compaction and seismicity has been established in numerous studies (Bourne et al, 2014;Van Thienen-Visser and Fokker, 2017;Hol et al, 2018;Smith et al, 2019;Mehranpour et al, 2021).…”