scholarly journals Study on Thermo-Hydro-Mechanical Coupling and the Stability of a Geothermal Wellbore Structure

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 649
Author(s):  
Xiaolin Huan ◽  
Gao Xu ◽  
Yi Zhang ◽  
Feng Sun ◽  
Shifeng Xue
Keyword(s):  
Effective Stress ◽  
Cold Water ◽  
Drilling Fluid ◽  
Water Injection ◽  
Coupled Model ◽  
In Situ Stress ◽  
Excess Pore Pressure ◽  
Mechanical Coupling ◽  
Open Hole ◽  
Cement Sheath

For processes such as water injection in deep geothermal production, heat transfer and fluid flow are coupled and affect one another, which leads to numerous challenges in wellbore structure safety. Due to complicated wellbore structures, consisting of casing, cement sheaths, and formations under high temperature, pressure, and in situ stress, the effects of thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) coupling are crucial for the instability control of geothermal wellbores. A THM-coupled model was developed to describe the thermal, fluid, and mechanical behavior of the casing, cement sheath, and geological environment around the geothermal wellbore. The results show that a significant disturbance of effective stress occurred mainly due to the excess pore pressure and temperature changes during cold water injection. The effective stress gradually propagated to the far-field and disrupted the integrity of the wellbore structure. A serious thermal stress concentration occurred at the junction of the cased-hole and open-hole section. When the temperature difference between the injected water and the formation was up to 160 °C, the maximum hoop tensile stress in the granite formation reached up to 43.7 MPa, as high as twice the tensile strength, which may increase the risk of collapse or rupture of the wellbore structure. The tensile radial stress, with a maximum of 31.9 MPa concentrated at the interface between the casing and cement sheath, can cause the debonding of the cementing sheath. This study provides a reference for both the prediction of THM responses and the design of drilling fluid density in geothermal development.

scholarly journals Numerical Study on Damage Zones Induced by Excavation and Ventilation in a High-Temperature Tunnel at Depth

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (16) ◽  
pp. 4773
Author(s):  
Jianyu Li ◽  
Hong Li ◽  
Zheming Zhu ◽  
Ye Tao ◽  
Chun’an Tang
Keyword(s):  
High Temperature ◽  
Lateral Pressure ◽  
Numerical Study ◽  
Pressure Coefficient ◽  
Fracture Morphology ◽  
In Situ Stress ◽  
Surrounding Rock ◽  
Geothermal System ◽  
Mechanical Coupling ◽  
Lateral Pressure Coefficient

Geothermal power is being regarded as depending on techniques derived from hydrocarbon production in worldwide current strategy. However, it has artificially been developed far less than its natural potentials due to technical restrictions. This paper introduces the Enhanced Geothermal System based on Excavation (EGS-E), which is an innovative scheme of geothermal energy extraction. Then, based on cohesion-weakening-friction-strengthening model (CWFS) and literature investigation of granite test at high temperature, the initiation, propagation of excavation damaged zones (EDZs) under unloading and the EDZs scale in EGS-E closed to hydrostatic pressure state is studied. Finally, we have a discussion about the further evolution of surrounding rock stress and EDZs during ventilation is studied by thermal-mechanical coupling. The results show that the influence of high temperature damage on the mechanical parameters of granite should be considered; Lateral pressure coefficient affects the fracture morphology and scale of tunnel surrounding rock, and EDZs area is larger when the lateral pressure coefficient is 1.0 or 1.2; Ventilation of high temperature and high in-situ stress tunnel have a significant effect on the EDZs scale; Additional tensile stress is generated in the shallow of tunnel surrounding rock, and the compressive stress concentration transfers to the deep. EDZs experiences three expansion stages of slow, rapid and deceleration with cooling time, and the thermal insulation layer prolongs the slow growth stage.

A Novel Method to Determine the Drilling Fluid Density for Gypsum-Salt Layer

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jitong Liu ◽  
Wanjun Li ◽  
Haiqiu Zhou ◽  
Yixin Gu ◽  
Fuhua Jiang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drilling Fluid ◽  
In Situ Stress ◽  
Wellbore Stability ◽  
Shrinkage Rate ◽  
Fluid Density ◽  
Salt Layer ◽  
Rock Creep ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Well Abandonment

Abstract The reservoir underneath the salt bed usually has high formation pressure and large production rate. However, downhole complexities such as wellbore shrinkage, stuck pipe, casing deformation and brine crystallization prone to occur in the drilling and completion of the salt bed. The drilling safety is affected and may lead to the failure of drilling to the target reservoir. The drilling fluid density is the key factor to maintain the salt bed’s wellbore stability. The in-situ stress of the composite salt bed (gypsum-salt -gypsum-salt-gypsum) is usually uneven distributed. Creep deformation and wellbore shrinkage affect each other within layers. The wellbore stability is difficult to maintain. Limited theorical reference existed for drilling fluid density selection to mitigate the borehole shrinkage in the composite gypsum-salt layers. This paper established a composite gypsum-salt model based on the rock mechanism and experiments, and a safe-drilling density selection layout is formed to solve the borehole shrinkage problem. This study provides fundamental basis for drilling fluid density selection for gypsum-salt layers. The experiment results show that, with the same drilling fluid density, the borehole shrinkage rate of the minimum horizontal in-situ stress azimuth is higher than that of the maximum horizontal in-situ stress azimuth. However, the borehole shrinkage rate of the gypsum layer is higher than salt layer. The hydration expansion of the gypsum is the dominant reason for the shrinkage of the composite salt-gypsum layer. In order to mitigate the borehole diameter reduction, the drilling fluid density is determined that can lower the creep rate less than 0.001, as a result, the borehole shrinkage of salt-gypsum layer is slowed. At the same time, it is necessary to improve the salinity, filter loss and plugging ability of the drilling fluid to inhibit the creep of the soft shale formation. The research results provide technical support for the safe drilling of composite salt-gypsum layers. This achievement has been applied to 135 wells in the Amu Darya, which completely solved the of wellbore shrinkage problem caused by salt rock creep. Complexities such as stuck string and well abandonment due to high-pressure brine crystallization are eliminated. The drilling cycle is shortened by 21% and the drilling costs is reduced by 15%.

scholarly journals Artificial Interference of Stress Field in a Near-Fracture show="" $6#?=""Zone by Water Injection in a Preexisting Crack

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yongxiang Zheng ◽  
Jianjun Liu ◽  
Bohu Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Fractured Reservoirs ◽  
Water Injection ◽  
Fluid Pressure ◽  
In Situ Stress ◽  
Stress Intervention ◽  
Oil And Gas Resources ◽  
Favorable State ◽  
Artificial Stress

The in situ stress has an important influence on fracture propagation and fault stability in deep formation. However, the development of oil and gas resources can only be determined according to the existing state of in situ stress in most cases. It is passive acceptance of existing in situ stress. Unfortunately, in some cases, the in situ stress conditions are not conducive to resource development. If the in situ stress can be interfered in some ways, the stress can be adjusted to a more favorable state. In order to explore the method of artificial interference, this paper established the calculation method of the in situ stress around the cracks based on fracture mechanics at first and obtained the redistribution law of the in situ stress. Based on the obtained redistribution law, attempts were made to interfere with the surrounding in situ stress by water injection in the preexisting crack. On this basis, the artificial stress intervention was applied. The results show that artificial interference of stress can effectively be achieved by water injection in the fracture. And changing the fluid pressure in the crack is the most effective way. By stress artificial intervention, critical pressure for water channelling in fractured reservoirs, directional propagation of cracks in hydraulic fracturing, and stress adjustment on the structural plane were applied. This study provides guidance for artificial stress intervention in the exploitation of the underground resource.

scholarly journals Application of Effective Stress Model to Analysis of Liquefaction and Seismic Performance of an Earth Dam in China

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Changqing Qi ◽  
Wei Lu ◽  
Jimin Wu ◽  
Xing Liu
Keyword(s):  
Pore Pressure ◽  
Seismic Performance ◽  
Effective Stress ◽  
Earth Dam ◽  
Dam Failure ◽  
Excess Pore Pressure ◽  
Stress Model ◽  
Gravelly Soil ◽  
Excess Pore

Earthquake-induced liquefaction is one of the major causes of catastrophic earth dam failure. In order to assess the liquefaction potential and analyze the seismic performance of an earth dam in Fujian, Southeastern China, the in situ shear wave velocity test was firstly carried out. Results indicate that the gravelly filling is a type of liquefiable soil at present seismic setting. Then the effective stress model was adopted to thoroughly simulate the response of the soil to a proposed earthquake. Numerical result generally coincides with that of the empirical judgment based on in situ test. Negative excess pore pressure developed in the upper part of the saturated gravelly filling and positive excess pore pressure developed in the lower part. The excess pore pressure ratio increases with depth until it reaches a maximum value of 0.45. The displacement of the saturated gravelly soil is relatively small and tolerable. Results show that the saturated gravelly filling cannot reach a fully liquefied state. The dam is overall stable under the proposed earthquake.

Effect of Pore Pressure Variation on Borehole Stability of Drilling in Sandstone Reservoir

2012 ◽  
Vol 577 ◽  
pp. 163-166
Author(s):  
Yu Wei Li ◽  
Jia Liu ◽  
Chao Yang Hu ◽  
Shuang Li ◽  
Yu Liu
Keyword(s):  
Pore Pressure ◽  
Effective Stress ◽  
Drilling Fluid ◽  
Calculation Model ◽  
Pressure Variation ◽  
Stress Factor ◽  
Borehole Stability ◽  
Porosity Variation ◽  
Sandstone Reservoir ◽  
Variation Model

Considering pore pressure variation of sidewall rock, which is caused by drilling fluid filtering, the porosity variation model of sidewall rock in sandstone reservoir and effective stress factor variation model are established, and according to relationship between pore pressure and total volume strain of sandstone, the calculation model of safe window of drilling fluid density on sandstone reservoir, with which considered variation of porosity and effective stress factor are finally established. Applying the calculation of this model shows that: with increased function of drilling fluid filtering, which is as increased as pore pressure of sidewall rock, caving pressure that ensures well hole stability is increased, fracturing pressure is decreased, safe window of drilling fluid is narrowing, and that is against of safety drilling.

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