Multiphysics Modeling for

Petroleum Geomechanics
Comsol Conference, Las Vegas
Oct 26 27, 2006
by Roberto Suarez-Rivera
TerraTek a Schlumberger Company

Outline
What is petroleum geomechanics?
Why is petroleum geomechanics important?
What type of problems are relevant to
Comsol Multiphysics?
Examples
Potential and relevance of coupled physics

What is Petroleum Geomechanics?

Petroleum (related)
geomechanics applies the
principles of engineering
mechanics to predict the
failure of porous,
discontinuous, granular,
heterogeneous, and
anisotropic, materials,
whose properties vary with
the type and the degree of
loading.
It is the mechanics for
difficult materials

Why is Important?
Shale-related problems
$400 - $500 Million/year (Bol et al.,1992)
H=h
h=H
Borehole stability
$80 - $110 Million/year (SPE-Bali, 1994)
Compaction/Subsidence
in excess of 1 Billion Dollars (Ekofisk Field)
Cusiana field in Colombia
$23M/well -> $17M/well (Hagan, 1998)
Completion (GOM):
Horiz. Well + GP Completion $2.5 M/well
Casing Integrity (Loss of access to the well): 150M$ excluding loss
due to deferred production. (Conoco Phillips, 1999)

Relevant problems?
Mechanical stability
Compaction and subsidence (coupled mechanical/fluid flow)
Fluid flow in fractures
Two phase flow in porous media
Electro-osmotic flow in porous media
Free convection in a porous medium
Groundwater flow and solute transport
Transport and adsorption
Darcy-Brinkman flow (wellbore to reservoir flow)
Elasto-plastic analysis on a plate with a hole
Hertzian contact
TWC Benchmark problem

Examples: Single well stability

(Mechanics coupled with fluid flow)
1

pp

Failure

Examples: Multilateral wellbore stability

(Mechanics coupled with fluid flow)

Stress concentrations and shear failure at the wellbore walls.

Examples: Multilateral wellbore stability

(Mechanics coupled with fluid flow)

Coupled linear elastic mechanics and Darcy flow

Some Aspects of Multilateral Junction

Modeling
Sig_y
Sig_x

Comparison of 2D planestrain modeling with 3D

modeling

Example: The Effect of Strength Anisotropy on

the Perceived In-Situ Stress Orientation
Tight gas sand

H=h

h=H

Wellbore in an anisotropic medium (i.e., slightly inclined beds) and subjected to hydrostatic
in-situ stress. Borehole breakouts result from the anisotropic nature of the material and not
to the anisotropy in the in-situ stress.

Example: Hydraulic fracturing and fracture

containment

HQ Res.

LQ Res.

Hydraulic Fracturing Design

Stress Profile

LQ Res.

How do the in-situ stress and

the material properties affect
fracture propagation?

Example: Hydraulic fracturing and fracture

containment stressing a pre-existing fracture

A fracture will propagate from the pre-existing fracture once the stress concentrations
overcome the tensile rock strength of the minimum horizontal stress. The ports measure the
fluid pressure during fracturing.

Example: Coupled fracture flow- and porous

media flow
Sand

Brinkman flow

Transition
Shale

Darcy flow

Change in pore pressure ( z coordinate), and fluid penetration into the porous media
during fracture flow with low damage in permeability along the sand face. (k1(sand) =
100 mD, k2(transition) = 10 mD, k3 (shale) = 1 mD).

Example: Coupled fracture flow- and porous

media flow

Sand Transition

Shale

Induced flow in the porous media by a Power Law viscous fluid flow along a hydraulic
induced fracture. High fluid penetration occurs along the sand face. (k1(sand) = 100 mD,
k2(transition) = 10 mD, k3 (shale) = 1 mD).

Example: Coupled fracture flow- and porous

media flow

k1

k2

k3

k1 = k2 = k3 = 100 mD

k1 k2

k3

k1 k2

k3

Newtonian

k1 = 10 mD, k2 = k3 = 100 mD

k1 k2

k3

Power Law

Induced flow in the porous media by a Newtonian viscous fluid flow along a
hydraulic induced fracture. High fluid penetration due to low permeability
impairment along the fracture face ( k1 = k2 = k3 = 100 mD).

Final remarks
Traditionally in petroleum geomechanics, the computational
capacity has always exceeded the availability of data (material
properties and in-situ stress)
This has resulted in simplified models (LE) and partially
coupled behavior.
As data becomes more readily available, there is a growing
need for better modeling capabilities.
Comsol multiphysics, with its powerful computational
algorithms, its coupled-physics capabilities, its user friendly
interface and its outstanding graphics has the potential for
becoming the software of choice in geomechanics.
Current limitations are the absence of sliding contacts and
capabilities for propagating fractures.