Stress orientations from borehole wall fractures with examples from Colorado, east Texas, and northern Canada

1982 ◽  
Vol 19 (7) ◽  
pp. 1358-1370 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. I. Gough ◽  
J. S. Bell
Keyword(s):  
Principal Stress ◽  
Structural Evolution ◽  
Horizontal Stress ◽  
Hydraulic Fractures ◽  
Mechanism Analysis ◽  
East Texas ◽  
Principal Stresses ◽  
Northern Canada ◽  
East Texas Basin ◽  
Stress Orientations

Azimuthally aligned breakouts in oil wells are explained as shear fractures in the zone of amplified stress difference near the borehole, in a stress field having unequal horizontal principal stresses. Brittle fracture theory, on the Mohr–Coulomb failure criterion, shows that the fractures will propagate from the wall and cause wide spalled zones observable with the four-arm dipmeter. In homogeneous rock, breakouts formed in this way should lengthen the diameter by no more than 8–10%. The breakouts occur near the ends of the diameter parallel to the smaller horizontal stress. Tensile fractures may occur in the orthogonal azimuth, but are unlikely to be seen by the four-arm dipmeter calipers.Three examples are given of principal stress orientations inferred from borehole breakouts. At Rangely, Colorado, breakout azimuths suggest an approximately east–west principal compression in agreement with results obtained previously from direct stress measurements, hydrofracture, and earthquake mechanism analysis. In the east Texas Basin, north-northwest to northwest aligned breakouts suggest maximum horizontal stresses oriented at right angles to these directions. This is consistent with inferences from recent extensional faulting and one hydraulic fracture determination. In the Norman Wells area of northern Canada, northwest–southeast aligned breakouts suggest a contemporary horizontal principal compression closely parallel to natural, probably hydraulic fractures of Laramide age in a subsurface limestone reservoir. The inferred principal stress axes are consistent with the structural evolution of this area, and extend the evidence for coherent stress orientation in western Canada from southern Alberta to Norman Wells, a distance of 1900 km.

scholarly journals Determination of the Paleostress Orientations and Magnitudes for Missan Structures, Southeastern Iraq

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (10) ◽  
pp. 213-233
Author(s):  
Atheer Edan Khalil AL- Hachem ◽  
Mustafa Rasheed Salih Al – Obaidi
Keyword(s):  
Principal Stress ◽  
Graphical Methods ◽  
Principal Stresses ◽  
Unstable Region ◽  
Diagram Method ◽  
Stress Orientations

        The use of  Right dihedral method and Mohr diagram method allow determination of the paleostress orientation and its magnitude in Missan structures, Southeastern Iraq. The principal stress orientations and its magnitudes have been determined by the measure of the striation on the faults planes. The measurement of orientation of the principal stress was deduced by different graphical methods, the horizontal maximum principal stresses (σ1) magnitudes were (3600, 4360,4650, 4750 and 5700) bars, the horizontal  intermediate  principal stresses (σ2) magnitudes   were (1528, 1842,1962.5, 1998.5 and 2390.5) bars and the vertical minimum principal stresses (σ3) magnitudes were (544, 676,725, 753 and 919) bars. This study shows that area is located within the unstable region since the poles of measured faults lie in the area of reactivated faults in Mohr diagram.

Some influences of stratigraphy and structure on reservoir stress orientation

Geophysics ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 59 (6) ◽  
pp. 954-962 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael S. Bruno ◽  
Don F. Winterstein
Keyword(s):  
Principal Stress ◽  
Compressive Stress ◽  
Horizontal Stress ◽  
Oil Fields ◽  
Fold Axis ◽  
Principal Stresses ◽  
Stress Orientation ◽  
Stress Direction ◽  
Well Pattern ◽  
Maximum Horizontal Stress

The azimuth of maximum horizontal stress in a reservoir can vary significantly with depth and with position on a subsurface structure. We present and discuss evidence from field data for such variation and demonstrate both analytically and with finite‐element modeling how such changes might take place. Under boundary conditions of uniform far‐field displacement, changes in stratigraphic layering can reorient the principal stress direction if the formation is intrinsically anisotropic. If the formation stiffness is lower perpendicular to bedding than parallel to bedding (as is often the case in layered geologic media), an increase in dip will reduce the component of compressive stress in the dip azimuth direction. Folds can reorient principal stresses because flexural strain varies with depth and position. Compressive stress perpendicular to a fold axis increases with depth at the crest of an anticline and decreases with depth at the limb. When the regional stress anisotropy is weak, this change in stress magnitude can reorient the local principal stress directions. Numerical simulations of such effects gave results consistent with changes in stress orientation at the Cymric and Lost Hills oil fields in California as observed via shear‐wave polarization analyses and tiltmeter surveys of hydraulic fracturing. Knowledge of such variation of stress direction with depth and structural position is critical for drilling, completions, hydraulic fracture, and well pattern designs.

Stress orientations from oil-well fractures in Alberta and Texas

1981 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 638-645 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. I. Gough ◽  
J. S. Bell
Keyword(s):  
Stress Field ◽  
Steam Injection ◽  
Horizontal Stress ◽  
Oil Wells ◽  
Oil Well ◽  
Carbonate Sediments ◽  
Principal Stresses ◽  
Stress Orientations ◽  
Shale Formation ◽  
Llano Uplift

Many oil wells in Alberta exhibit spalling of the walls (known as breakouts), which elongates the holes with the longer axis aligned northwest–southeast. This alignment is observed over an area in excess of 4 × 105 km2, in siltstones, sandstones, carbonate sediments, and one shale formation, through the stratigraphic column from Devonian to Cretaceous. It is unrelated to dip of the beds. We have elsewhere suggested that these breakouts are produced through stress concentration near the hole walls, in a stress field having large, unequal horizontal principal stresses and with the larger compression oriented northeast–southwest. It is probable that this northeast–southwest principal stress is σ1. This paper adds new data from oil wells in Alberta and northern British Columbia and shows that the breakouts, and by inference the stress orientations, are consistent through much of the western Canadian sedimentary basin. It also uses evidence from hydraulic fracturing in west-central Alberta and from steam-injection fracturing in eastern Alberta to support the view that σ1 is aligned northeast–southwest. The breakouts are consistent with either a thrust stress field or a strike–slip stress field, but the fractures formed by excess pressures in wells favour the latter. Recently Schafer has reported oil wells systematically elongated with a mean azimuth of N39°E in the Austin Chalk of southern Texas. We regard these elongations as formed by breakouts in a stress field with greater horizontal stress near N51°W, and this view is supported by overcoring measurements by Hooker and Johnson in granite of the Llano Uplift, 225 km from Schafer's wells, that reveal large horizontal compressions at the surface with the larger oriented N33°W.

scholarly journals Investigations on the Directional Propagation of Hydraulic Fracture in Hard Roof of Mine: Utilizing a Set of Fractures and the Stress Disturbance of Hydraulic Fracture

Lithosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (Special 4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuekun Xing ◽  
Bingxiang Huang ◽  
Binghong Li ◽  
Jiangfeng Liu ◽  
Qingwang Cai ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Principal Stress ◽  
Hydraulic Fracture ◽  
Rock Fracture ◽  
Cohesive Crack ◽  
Hydraulic Fractures ◽  
Principal Stresses ◽  
Direction Parallel ◽  
Hard Roof ◽  
Fracturing Process ◽  
Simulation Results

Abstract Directional fracturing is fundamental to weakening the hard roof in the mine. However, due to the significant stress disturbance in the mine, principal stresses present complicated and unmeasurable. Consequently, the designed hydraulic fracture (HF) extension path is always oblique to principal stresses. Then, the HF will present deflecting propagation, which will restrict the weakness of the hard roof. In this work, we proposed an approach to drive the HF to propagate directionally in the hard roof, utilizing a set of hydraulic fractures and their stress disturbance. In this approach, directional fracturing in the hard roof is conducted via the sequential fracturing of three linear distribution slots. The disturbed stresses produced by the first fracturing (in the middle) are utilized to restrict the HF deflecting extension of the subsequent fracturing. Then, the combined hydraulic fractures constitute a roughly directional fracturing trajectory in rock, i.e., the directional fracturing. To validate the directional fracturing approach, the cohesive crack (representing rock fracture process zone (FPZ)) model coupled with the extended finite element method (XFEM) was employed to simulate the 2D hydraulic fracturing process. The benchmark of the above fracturing simulation method was firstly conducted, which presents the high consistency between simulation results and the fracturing experiments. Then, the published geological data of the hard roof in Datong coal mine (in Shanxi, China) was employed in the fracturing simulation model, with various principal stress differences (2~6 MPa) and designed fracturing directions (30°~60°). The simulation results show that the disturbing stress of the first fracturing significantly inhibits the deflecting propagation of the subsequent fractures. More specifically, along the direction parallel to the initial minimum principal stress, the extension distance of the subsequent hydraulic fractures is 2~3 times higher than that of the deflecting HF in the first fracturing. The fracturing trajectory of the proposed direction fracturing method deviates from the designed fracturing path by only 2°~14°, reduced by 76%~93% compared with the traditional fracturing method utilizing a single hydraulic fracture. This newly proposed method can enhance the HF directional propagation ability more effectively and conveniently in the complex and unmeasurable stress field. Besides, this directional fracturing method can also provide references for the directional fracturing in the oil-gas and geothermal reservoir.

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