Finite element analysis of coupled chemo-poro-thermo-mechanical effects around a wellbore in swelling shale

Maintaining wellbore stability is a critical problem when drilling for petroleum production in high pressure and temperature shales that tend to swell and deteriorate in the presence of the water phase of a drilling fluid. In this paper, a finite element model is developed for coupled linear and non...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of rock mechanics and mining sciences (Oxford, England : 1997) England : 1997), 2009-06, Vol.46 (4), p.769-778
Main Authors: Zhou, Xiaoxian, Ghassemi, Ahmad
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applied sciences
Buildings. Public works
Chemical osmosis
Chemical potential
Chemo-poro-thermoelasticity
Computation methods. Tables. Charts
Crude oil, natural gas and petroleum products
Energy
Exact sciences and technology
Fuels
Geotechnics
Miscellaneous
Prospecting and production of crude oil, natural gas, oil shales and tar sands
Shale stability
Structural analysis. Stresses
Wellbore failure
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Summary:Maintaining wellbore stability is a critical problem when drilling for petroleum production in high pressure and temperature shales that tend to swell and deteriorate in the presence of the water phase of a drilling fluid. In this paper, a finite element model is developed for coupled linear and non-linear chemo-poro-thermoelasticity. The model is first verified through comparisons with the analytical results for the cases of linear poroelasticity, poro-thermoelasticity, and chemo-poroelasticity. Then, the non-linear finite element model is used to analyze the problem of a wellbore in a chemo-poro-thermoelastic formation with non-hydrostatic in situ stress field. The results indicate that the coupling between temperature and salinity has an important impact on wellbore stability, namely heating and a lower solute mass fraction in mud increase pore pressures, the radial and tangential total stresses in the formation, and vice versa. Finally, the prediction of the non-linear chemo-poroelastic model are compared to those obtained using a linear model. Results show that for mud properties within the range of interest, the linear model provides good results for the purpose of assessing shale instability.
ISSN:1365-1609
1873-4545
DOI:10.1016/j.ijrmms.2008.11.009