Distinguished Author Series

Wellbore Stability
by J.B. Cheatham Jr., SPE

John Cheatham is professor of mechanical engineering at Rice U. Before his faculty

appointment in 1963 he was head of drilling research at Shell Development Co. in
Houston. His research and consulting activities include work in rock mechanics,
drilling technology, drillstring mechanics, and mechanical design. Cheatham has
served on the Editorial Review Committee and on the organizing committee for a
Forum Series meeting on drilling. He received mechanical engineering degrees from
Southern Methodist U. and Rice U.

Introduction Stresses Around Wellbores

Maintaining a stable wellbore is of primary importance
during drilling and production of oil and gas wells.
The shape and direction of the hole must be controlled
during drilling, and hole collapse and solid particle
influx must be prevented during production. Wellbore
stability requires a proper balance between the
uncontrollable factors of earth stresses, rock strength,
and pore pressure, and the controllable factors of
wellbore fluid pressure and mud chemical
composition.
Wellbore instabilities can take several forms (Fig.
1). Hole size reduction can occur when plastic rock is
squeezed into the hole, and hole enlargement can be
caused by caving shales or hard rock spalling. If the
wellbore fluid pressure is too high, lost circulation can
occur as a result of unintentional hydraulic fracturing
of the formation; if it is too low, the hole may
collapse. Excessive production rates can lead to solid
particle influx. Hole instabilities can cause stuck
drillpipe as well as casing or liner collapse. These
problems can result in sidetracked holes and
abandoned wells.
Since 1940 considerable effort has been directed
toward solving rock mechanics problems associated
with wellbore instabilities, and much progress has
been made during the past 10 years toward providing
predictive analytical methods. Some of the literature
representative of this work is discussed in this article.
Emphasis here is on understanding factors that
influence wellbore stability in open holes, prediction
of wellbore failures, and applications of rock
mechanics concepts to control wellbore stability. A
brief historical overview is followed by discussion of
various types of wellbore instabilities and descriptions
of studies of field wellbore stability problems.
0149-2136/84/0061-3340
Copyright 1984 Society of Petroleum Engineers of AIME
H.M. Westergaard 1 published a paper entitled
"Plastic State of Stress Around a Deep Well" in
1940. This now-classic paper defined the wellbore
stability problem as follows.
The analysis that follows is a result of conversations with
Dr. Karl Terzaghi who raised this question: What
distributions of stress are possible in the soil around an
unlined drill hole for a deep well? What distributions of
stress make it possible for the hole not to collapse but
remain stable for some time, either with no lining or with a
thin "stove pipe" lining of small structural strength? 1
Westergaard uses stress functions in cylindrical coor-
dinates to solve the elastic-plastic wellbore problem for
zero pressure in the hole and all normal stress com-
ponents equal to the overburden far from the hole.
Hooke's law was applied for the elastic region and a
Coulomb yield condition* where "the limiting curve
for Mohr's circle is a straight line" was assumed for
the plastic region. His conclusions were:
The plastic action makes it possible for the great cir-
cumferential pressures that are necessary for stability to oc-
cur not at the cylindrical surface of the hole but at some
distance behind the surface, where they may be combined
with sufficiently great radial pressures. The formulas that
have been derived serve to explain the circumstances under
which the drill hole for a deep well may remain stable.
Westergaard's elasticity solution agrees with the Lame
solution for a thick-walled cylinder subjected to the
same boundary conditions.
Hubbert and Willis 2 (1957) demonstrated how earth
stresses can vary from regions of normal faulting to
those with thrust faulting. On the basis of a Coulomb
failure model, they suggest that the maximum value of
the ratio of the maximum to the minimum principal
stress in the earth's crust should be about 3: 1. They
applied an elasticity solution due to Kirsch to solve for
• See Appendix for definition of terms.

JUNE 1984 889

 FLOW INTO FORMATION
FRACTURING
FILTER CAKE
ENLARGEMENT

W
0:::
COLLAPSE ::J
(J)
(J)
W
0::: FLOW INTO WELLBORE
0....

Fig. 1-Types of wellbore instabilities (after Bradley21).

RADIAL DISTANCE FROM HOLE

the stresses around a hole in a biaxial stress field. The
effect of fluid pressure in an impermeable hole was
superposed with the above solution using a Lame
solution for internal pressure in a thick-walled
cylinder.
Recognizing that many holes are inclined to the in-
situ principal stress axes, Fairhurst 3 (1964) adapted an
elasticity solution by Barenblatt and Cherepanov to
include the effects of longitudinal shear on wellbore
stresses. This work permits computation of elastic
stresses around wellbores for any orientation of the
hole axis relative to the earth's stress field.
Effective Stress Principle
The work described above is restricted to isotropic,
homogeneous, impermeable rocks. Many hole
instability problems are associated with flow of fluids
into or out of the wellbore in porous, permeable rocks.
Fig. 2 illustrates the pressure distribution around a
hole for various flow conditions. In 1943 Terzaghi 4
proposed his effective stress principle based on
experimental observations of saturated soils. According
to this principle the effective compressive stress is
obtained by subtracting the pore fluid pressure from
the total compressive stress. Carroll 5 (1980) recently
analyzed various effective stress laws proposed since
the time of Terzaghi's work. He concludes that the
effective normal stress < (J z >, for example, has the
form
<(Jz>=(Jz+CP (0:5C:51),
where (J z is total normal stress along the z axis and P
is pore fluid pressure.
Since tensile stresses are positive in his equation it
follows that some fraction of the pore pressure is
subtracted from a compressive normal stress. He
points out that the value of the constant C has been
"somewhat controversial" because it has not always
been recognized that its value depends on the
particular application of the effective stress concept.
For an incompressible solid matrix he shows that c= 1
890
Fig. 2-Pressure distribution near wellbore.
and Eq. 1 agrees with Terzaghi's equation. Carroll
also derives an effective stress equation for an
anisotropic elastic material. 5
Poroelasticity. Poroelasticity equations were
developed by Biot 6 in 1941 and extended to analysis
of the consolidation of a porous, anisotropic solid in
1955. 7 Bowen 8 generalized Biot's theory using the
continuum mechanics theory of mixtures to develop
compressible porous media models. A thermoelastic-
poroelastic analogy has been shown valid by
Lubinski. 9 He showed that Hooke's law for a porous
material can be written as
1 1-2v
Ex = E[(Jx-v (Jy+(Jz)]+~(1-{j-<f»p, '" (2)
where Ex = X component of strain,
(Jx,(Jy' (Jz = x, y, z components of stress,
v = Poisson's ratio of porous material,
E = Young's modulus of porous material,
{j = ratio of compressibility of interpore
material to compressibility of
porous material, and
<f> = porosity.
(1) Similar equations can be written for E y and f z .
Using this analogy, elasticity solutions for thermal
stress problems can be applied to problems involving
stresses caused by pore pressure in porous solids.
A couple of complications are involved in using
Lubinski's analogy. First, body forces are developed
by flowing fluids and not by heat flow. This body
force is the product of porosity and pressure gradient,
or
Jp
X= -<f>a;' (3)
JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY
where X is body force per unit volume of porous
material in the x direction. Second, one must evaluate
boundary conditions for pressure forces on the external
surfaces. The surface force per unit area for pressure p
at a point on a permeable boundary is
X = [- (l - cP )p] e, (4)
where e is the direction cosine of the external normal
to the surface at the point. If p c is pressure outside an
impermeable boundary, then
X=(cPP-Pc) e (5)
Lubinski uses the thermal stress analogy to solve a
numerical example for the stress distribution in a long
porous cylinder subjected to a steady-state radial
flow. 9
Poroplasticity. Plasticity of porous media or
poroplasticity provides a theoretical basis for studying
the permanent deformation of porous rocks around
boreholes. An objective of work by Weidler and
Paslay 10 was to develop a stress/plastic-strain
increment relation for granular media that would
account for both work hardening (yield strength
increase) and work softening (yield strength decrease).
Their theory is based on the observation that generally
when plastic flow makes material more dense, it work-
hardens, and when it becomes less dense, it work-
softens. References to earlier work in plasticity of
porous media can be found in their paper. 10
Johnson and Green II summarized mathematical
models describing porous media behavior and
presented new theoretical results for the analytical
description of fluid-saturated rocks. They concluded
that the most promising modeling of material
constitutive properties is based on a microscopic model
of pore collapse that describes the pressure-volume
response of porous media with fewer material
parameters than formal plasticity theories require.
A general theory of plasticity of porous media under
the influence of fluid flow was proposed by Kojic and
Cheatham. 12 They write the equilibrium equation for
the solid in terms of an effective stress tensor, a body
force per unit volume of solid, and an interaction force
between the solid and fluid. From the equation of
motion for the fluid the interaction force is obtained in
terms of an inertial force of the fluid, a fluid body
force, and the fluid pressure. A yield function based
on the effective stress in the solid then can be used to
solve for the incipient plastic deformation of the
porous medium subjected to given external loads and
body forces.
The frequently used Coulomb yield condition
predicts a linear increase of rock shear strength with
increasing mean compressive stress for any value of
the compression. This is not realistic for high stress
levels in porous rocks since compaction and pore
collapse can occur.
JUNE 1984
Cheatham et ai. 13 developed a kinematic hardening
plasticity model to describe the plastic behavior of a
porous limestone. This model permits yielding under a
hydrostatic state of stress and provides an explanation
for induced anisotropy when the rock is yielded under
unequal principal stresses. Nordgren 14 used a
parabolic yield function that can fit triaxial test data
for rocks more accurately than does the Coulomb
assumption. A theory of strain softening plasticity was
used by Geertsma 15 in his analysis of wellbore failure.
Causes of Wellbore Instabilities
A stable open hole depends on the mechanical and
chemical interaction between the wellbore fluid and
the walls of the hole. Hydration of swelling shales can
cause caving and hole enlargement. Excessive
wellbore pressure can cause lost circulation, and low
wellbore pressure can result in a blowout or hole
collapse. Excessive production rates can cause solid
particle influx and hole enlargement.
Once the cause of a wellbore instability is
recognized, remedial or preventive action can be
taken. An understanding of the basic principles
underlying the hole failure can be helpful. Although
all the basic rock mechanics principles related to
wellbore failures are not completely understood at this
time, progress has been made in recent years. Each of
these causes of wellbore instability is discussed in the
following.
Hydration of Swelling Shales. According to Gray
and Darley, 16 hydration of shales has been one of the
most significant causes of wellbore instabilities in the
past. However, improved drilling fluids during the past
2 decades have done much to provide control of
swelling shales and to minimize wellbore problems in
shale sections.
Water adsorption on the clay surfaces of shales
causes increase of bulk volume or swelling pressure if
expansion is restricted. All clays are subject to
crystalline swelling or surface hydration where
monomolecular layers of water are adsorbed onto the
planar surfaces of the clay crystal lattices. The water is
strongly held and the increase of bulk volume is small.
Some clays such as sodium montmorillonite are
subject to osmotic swelling where high concentrations
of ions are held by electrostatic forces in the vicinity
of the clay surfaces. This type of swelling causes large
bulk volume increases, but the water is lightly held. 16
Swelling pressure in shales can be predicted by a
method developed by Chenevert. 17 Adsorption/
desorption curves are determined by measuring the
water content of laboratory samples in equilibrium
with water vapor at known relative humidities. The
swelling pressure at any water content then can be
expressed as a function of the water activity of the
shale, where the activity of the water in the shale is
approximately equal to the relative water vapor
pressure at equilibrium with the shale. On the basis of
891

STRESSES FAR FROM
IN-SITU STRESSES WELL BORE
Fig. 3- Transformation to wellbore coordinates.
this knowledge, Chenevert 18 proposed the use of
balanced-activity oil-continuous muds with
concentrated brines as the internal phase. Field
experience has shown that these muds can prevent hole
instability caused by hydration.
Shales contain fracture lines that have partially
healed with time at high confining pressures. Water
penetration along these fractures lines can cause
swelling pressure to break the adhesive bond and
thereby cause disintegration of the shale. Hydrational
spalling occurs when the swelling pressure increases
the hoop stress around the wellbore to exceed the yield
strength of the shale.
If an oil mud contains excessive salts, its activity
may be less than that of the water in the shale. Model
borehole experiments 19 and field experiences 16 have
shown that the resulting water transfer from the shale
to the mud does not destabilize the hole. This can be
explained as follows. Oil cannot enter a fine-grained
shale at pressures less than the threshold capillary
pressure, which can be extremely high. Therefore, for
the oil mud, the full mud pressure acts as confining
pressure on the wellbore walls while the confining
pressure for a water-based mud is onll the difference
between the mud and pore pressure. I Thus different
mud types with identical mud weights may not achieve
the same hole stability effects.
Recently polymer muds containing soluble salts have
been develoged to inhibit shale swelling and
dispersion. 2 Successful use of these muds depends on
the use of mechanical separators to prevent
accumulation of drilled solids. The oil muds with
controlled activity are superior in controlling shale
hydration, but their cost is high and they can cause
pollution problems.
It can be concluded that the selection of mud
properties for maintaining hole stability is a complex
problem. Gray and Darley 16 list geological and other
field data that should be collected, and they describe
laboratory tests that should be made on cores or
cuttings from "problem shales."
892
Wellbore Failures in Tension
Unintentional fracturing and lost circulation can occur
when the difference between the wellbore pressure and
the formation pore pressure exceeds the sum of the
compressive stress around the wellbore plus the tensile
strength of the rock. Often the tensile strength is
neglected since it is small for most rocks and can be
zero across pre-existing fractures.
The geostatic gradient is usually taken as 1 psi/ft
[22.6 kPa/m], but the overburden gradient can be less
in sedimentary basins that are still undergoing
compaction. Pore pressure gradients can vary from a
normal value of about 0.46 psi/ft [l0.4 kPa/m] to a
value greater than 0.9 psi/ft [20.4 kPa/m] in
geopressured formations. 21 For normally stressed
regions the maximum principal compressive stress is
the vertical overburden stress. The horizontal stresses
are approximately equal and vary from about one-third
to one-half of the overburden. In highly overpressured
formations there may be only a small, safe operating
range of values for the mud pressure: exceed the safe
range and lost circulation occurs, and a blowout can
occur if the mud pressure is less than the pore
pressure. 16
Equations for the elastic stresses around inclined
wellbores were published by Bradley 21 and based on
work by Fairhurst. 3 Denoting the in-situ stresses as
S I , S 2, and S 3 and transforming these into stress
components with the z axis aligned with the wellbore
axis gives stresses Sx, Sy, Sz' 7 xy , 7 xz ' and t yz far
from the hole (Fig. 3). Boundary conditions at the
hole are a r =Pw (the wellbore pressure) and
7 rl) =7 rz =0, and the elasticity solution for the other
stress components at the wellbore wall gives 21
70 z =2(7 yZ cos ()-7 xz sin ()), (6)
where v is Poisson's ratio and () is measured from the
x axis.
For a vertical wellbore in a normally stressed region
with SI =SV>S2=S3=SH, the stresses are
The effective tangential stress is
where p is formation pore pressure. Neglecting the
tensile strength of the formation rock, fracturing and
lost circulation are predicted for a wellbore pressure
given by
p w > 2S H - P (9)
JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY
when the effective stress becomes tensile ( < a() > < 0).
For the inclined hole, the fracture orientation at the
wellbore is assumed oriented perpendicular to the
minimum compressive principal stress as it changes
from compression to tension with increasing Pw (Fig.
4). In a given normally stressed formation, all holes
with the same inclination have identical stresses in the
wellbore coordinates (i.e., Sx, Sy, etc.) regardless of
hole direction (azimuth); however, in regions with
unequal horizontal earth stresses, the stresses in
wellbore coordinates will vary with azimuth. For all
cases the wellbore coordinate shear stresses, T yz and
T xz' will depend on hole inclination.
The wellbore pressure needed to initiate fracturing
decreases as the hole inclination increases. Using
numerical values to approximate a normally stressed
region, Bradley 21 shows that increasing the hole angle
from 0 to 60° can reduce the mud weight for fracture
initiation by 3 Ibm/gal [0.36 Mg/m 3]. Note, however,
that once the fracture extends beyond the influence of
the hole the fracture extension pressure is independent
of wellbore inclination and direction.
Wellbore Failures in Compression
Compression failures of wellbores can cause hole size
reductions due to plastic flow as well as hole
enlargement in brittle rocks due to spalling. An
extended Mises yield condition can be used to
represent experimental failure data for rocks in the
form
h=j(ld,
where the generalized shear stress is
1/2
2 has reduced ability to withstand mud pressure without
+T2rl1 +T 2()z +T zr ]]
and the mean stress is
Bradley proposed plotting experimental rock failure
data as II vs. J I, where J 1 =1 1 -p is the effective
mean stress. It is postulated that for a stable hole the
value of 1 2 calculated for the wellbore stresses should
be less than the experimental 1 2 , or 1 2 (calculated)
< 1 2 (experimental) at the calculated value of J 1 for
the wellbore stresses.
Nordgren 14 uses a linear relationship for the yield
function of the form
II: -
h =TO +cxJ 1,
2
where TO and (X are material constants. He also uses a
JUNE 1984
Fig. 4-Fracture perpendicular to least compressive prin-
cipal stress (after Bradley 21).
parabolic yield function of the form
1 2 =C1 I, (12)
where C is a material constant.
For prediction of incipient yielding of the wellbore
wall, stresses calculated by Eq. 6 can be substituted
into a yield function such as those proposed by
Bradley or Nordgren. An inclined hole requires higher
(10) mud weight than a vertical one to prevent wellbore
collapse. For the same earth stress conditions
considered in his lost circulation example, Bradley 21
found that increasing the hole angle from 0 to 60°
requires that the mud weight be increased by 2.5
Ibm/gal [0.30 Mg/m 3] to prevent collapse of the hole.
Compared with a vertical hole, a steeply inclined hole
fracture initiation and requires greater mud pressure to
prevent hole collapse. Therefore, additional casing
strings may be required in inclined holes because of
wellbore stability requirements.
Solid Particle Influx. The tendency for sand
production or formation particle influx in production
wells can be analyzed by modeling the fluid pressure
gradient as a body force. This procedure has been used
to solve the poroelasticity problem where fluid flows
into the wellbore through a region of reduced
permeability.22 In 1982 Risnes et al. 23 extended this
type of analysis to include a plastic zone around the
wellbore with variable permeability. They obtain a
hole stability limit where the fluid flow parameters are
equal to the rock strength parameters as follows.
(II)
(7f- +cP)
p.,q
--=2S - ,
o tan (13)
27fhk c 4 2
893
where
11- =
fluid viscosity,
q = fluid flow rate,
h = height of producing layer,
k c = permeability in plastic zone,
So = rock shear strength, and
cP = angle of internal friction.
The left side of Eq. 13 must be less than the right side
for hole stability according to this analysis.
Complex variable mapping has been applied by
Fahrenthold 24 for both the fluid flow field and the
poroelasticity solution for nonuniform fluid flow into
open and constrained wellbores. This work is aimed at
predicting formation failure around perforations.
In his analysis of particle influx in production wells,
Geertsma 15 considers the rock around the hole to
experience a loss of cohesion while preserving
compatibility. He states that the hole instability is
induced by strain rather than by stress. This
phenomenon is modeled by a strain-softening plasticity
theory that includes the pore-pressure effects.
Geertsma concludes that current hole stability analysis
methods predict safe minimum allowable wellbore
pressures but may predict maximum allowable
pressures that are too high in friable formations.
Future efforts are expected to provide improved
practical evaluation methods.
Studies of Field Wellbore Stability Problems
Most, if not all, wellbore stability studies focus on
some field application. A few of these studies relating
to particular problems are discussed briefly in this
section. Studies include hole failures in and near salt
domes, drilling problems in regions of high lateral
earth stresses, collapse of casing due to plastic flow of
the formation, changes in earth stresses due to pressure
and temperature gradients, and earth stress orientation
determination from well fracture patterns.
Recent work has indicated that hole instabilities
during drilling can be caused by unfavorable earth
stresses. Alteration of the earth's stress field around a
salt dome is believed to increase dangers of both lost
circulation and plastic collapse of weak rocks.
Bradley 25 proposed that wellbore stability theory be
used to estimate the earth stresses and rock strength
from well records, and that these results be applied in
planning well trajectory, mud type and weight, and
casing points for subsequent wells in the same field.
Wellbore instability data from wells drilled in the
Gulf of Alaska were used by Hottman et at. 26 to
calculate approximate magnitudes of the high
horizontal earth stresses in this region. They conclude
that thrust faulting with the resulting high horizontal
stresses is associated with the abnormally high pore
pressures. They discuss the trade-offs associated with
either drilling with high overbalance, which can
adversely affect drilling rates and increase danger of
894
differential pressure sticking, or using lower mud
weights, which can result in hole instability, poor
evaluation, increased torque, stuck pipe, and lost hole.
Plastic flow of rock can collapse casing under some
loading conditions. It is believed that salt pressure on
casing subjected to uniform loading in salt sections
will increase with time and eventually be equal to the
overburden stress. 27 Casing can be designed to
support this uniform loading. However, voids in the
annular cement can cause the salt flow to produce
nonuniform casing loading. It does not appear feasible
to design casing to support the most severe type of
nonuniform loading.
Casing collapse also can occur in chalk producing
sections. Pattillo and Smith 28 analyzed problems
associated with chalk flow around perforated casing.
They modeled the chalk by a quadratic yield condition
and showed that casing failures can be associated with
the effect of reservoir drawdown on stresses in the
chalk around the perforated casing.
Hydraulic fracturing initiation pressures depend on
the earth stresses around the wellbore. Perkins and
Gonzalez 29 analyzed how injection of large quantities
of cool water can reduce the earth stresses around the
wellbore and thereby decrease the pressure required for
fracturing the formation.
The orientations of the maximum and minimum
earth stresses were deduced by Gough and Be1l 30
based on spalling of wellbores in Canada and Texas.
They conclude that elongated holes with the longer
axes aligned northwest-southeast are produced by
stress concentrations where the horizontal earth
stresses are large and unequal. They suggest that the
maximum horizontal compressive stress acts along the
elongated axes of these wells. (If this spalling is
produced by large compressive stresses, it could be
concluded that the maximum earth stress is at 90° to
the direction assumed by Gough and Bell.)
Future Research Needs. Analysis of wellbore
stability depends on knowledge of earth stresses and
rock properties. Progress has been made in inferring
values for the stresses and strength of rock around
wellbores from field data, but greatly improved
wellbore stability predictions require better in-situ
stress determination methods and accurate
measurement techniques for rock strength parameters.
More realistic constitutive relations are needed to
describe strain-hardening and strain-softening plastic
flow of rocks, including strength anisotropy and fluid
pressure gradient effects.
Conclusions
A variety of factors can cause wellbore instabilities.
Shale hydration can develop swelling pressures that
may cause hole failures. Balanced activity oil muds
and polymer muds provide means for controlling this
type of hole instability. The wellbore fluid pressure
JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY
must not exceed the fracturing pressure and must be
greater than the blowout pressure. In geopressured
formations the difference between the upper and lower
bounds on wellbore pressure can be small. Low
wellbore pressure also can lead to hole collapse and to
solid particle influx.
Predictive methods have been developed during the
past 4 decades for dealing with these various causes of
hole instability. Elastic-plastic analysis methods are
available for computing stresses around inclined holes
with static and moving formation pore fluids. Yield
conditions can account for strain softening during
plastic flow of the rock around the wellbore. However,
improved constitutive relations are needed to provide a
more realistic description of the mechanical behavior
of rock such as including the effects of rock
anisotropy.
Better in-situ earth stress determinations and physical
rock-properties measurements can aid greatly in
providing improved wellbore stability control. With
continued progress in the areas described in this
artiele, wellbore stability engineering should become
less of an art and more of an engineering science.
References
I. Westergaard, H.M.: "Plastic State of Stress Around a Deep
Well," J. Boston Soc. Civil Eng. (Jan. 1940) 27,1-5.
2. Hubbert, M.K. and Willis, D.G.: "Mechanics of Hydraulic Frac-
turing," J. Pet. Tech. (June 1957) 153-66; Trans., AIME, 210.
3. Fairhurst, C.: "Measurement of In Situ Rock Stresses, with Par-
ticular Reference to Hydraulic Fracturing," Felsmechanik and In-
genieurgeologie (1964) 2, 129-43.
4. Terzaghi, K.: Theoretical Soil Mechanics, John Wiley & Sons
Inc., New York City (1943).
5. Carroll, M.M.: "Mechanical Response of Fluid-Saturated Porous
Materials," Proc., 15th IntI. Congo Theoretical and Applied
Mechanics, Toronto (Aug. 17-23, 1980) 251-62.
6. Biot, M.A.: "General Theory of Three-Dimensional Consolida-
tion," J. Appl. Phys. (Feb. 1941) 12, 144-64.
7. Biot, M.A.: "Theory of Elasticity and Consolidation for a Porous
Anisotropic Solid," J. Appl. Phys. (Feb. 1955) 26, 182-85.
8. Bowen, R.M.: "Compressible Porous Media Models by Vse of
the Theory of Mixtures," IntI. J. Eng. Science (1982) 20,
697-736.
9. Lubinski, A.: "The Theory of Elasticity for Porous Bodies
Displaying a Strong Pore Structure," Proc., Second V.S. Natl.
Congo Applied Mechanics, ASME (1954) 247-56.
10. Weidler, J.B. and Paslay, P.R.: "Analytical Description of
Behavior of Granular Media," J. Eng. Mech. Div. Proc. ASCE
(April 1969) 379-95.
II. Johnson, J.N. and Green, S.J.: "The Mechanical Response of
Porous Media Subject to Static Loads," The Effects of Voids on
Material Deformation, S.c. Cowin and M.M. Caroll (eds.),
ASME (1976) 93-123.
12. Kojic, M. and Cheatham, J.B.: "Theory of Plasticity of Porous
Media With Fluid Flow," Soc. Pet. Eng. J. (June 1974) 263-70;
Trans., AIME, 257.
13. Cheatham, J.B., Allen, M.B., and Celle, C.C.: "Kinematic
Hardening of a Porous Limestone," accepted for publication,
Rock Mech. and Rock Eng. (1984).
14. Nordgren, R.P.: "Strength of Well Completions," Proc., 18th
Symposium on Rock Mechanics, Keystone, CO (June 1977)
4A3-1-9.
JUNE 1984
15. Geertsma, J.: "Some Rock-Mechanical Aspects of Oil and Gas
Well Completion," paper EVR 38 presented at the European Off-
shore Petroleum Conference and Exhibition, London, Oct. 24-27,
1978.
16. Gray, G.R. and Darley, H.C.H.: Composition and Properties of
Oil Well Drilling Fluids, Gulf Publishing Co., Houston (1980)
338-90.
17. Chenevert, M.E.: "Adsorptive Pressures of Argillaceous Rocks,"
Proc., 11th Symposium on Rock Mechanics, Berkeley, CA (June
1969) 16-19.
18. Chenevert, M.E.: "Shale Control With Balanced Activity Oil-
Continuous Muds," J. Pet. Tech. (Oct. 1970) 1309-16; Trans.,
AIME,249.
19. Darley, H. C. H.: "A Laboratory Investigation of Borehole Stabili-
ty," J. Pet. Tech. (July 1969) 883-92; Trans., AIME, 246.
20. Darley, H.C.H.: "Advantages of Polymer Muds," Pet. Eng. IntI.
(Sept. 1976) 46-52.
21. Bradley, W.B.: "Failure of Inclined Boreholes," J. Energy
Resources Tech. (Dec. 1979) 233-39; Trans., ASME, 101.
22. Paslay, P.R. and Cheatham, J.B.: "Rock Stresses Induced by
Flow of Fluids into Boreholes," Soc. Pet. Ellg. J. (March 1963)
85-94.
23. Risnes, R., Bratli, R.K., and Horsrud, P.: "Sand Stresses Around
a Wellbore," Soc. Pet. Eng. J. (Dec. 1982) 883-94; Trans.,
AIME,273.
24. Fahrenthold, E.P.: "Elastic and Plastic Stresses in a Porous
Medium Containing Spherical and Cylindrical Cavities," PhD
dissertation, Rice V., Houston (May 1984).
25. Bradley, W.B.: "Borehole Failures Near Salt Domes," paper SPE
7503 presented at the 1978 SPE Annual Technical Conference and
Exhibition, Houston, Oct. 1-4.
26. Hottman, C.E., Smith, J.H., and Purcell, W.R.: "Relationship
Among Earth Stresses, Pore Pressure, and Drilling Problems, Off-
shore Gulf of Alaska," paper SPE 750 I presented at the 1978 SPE
Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, Houston, Oct. 1-4.
27. Cheatham, J.B. and McEver, J.W.: "Behavior of Casing Sub-
jected to Salt Loading," J. Pet. Tech. (Sept. 1964) 1070-76.
28. Pattillo, P.D. and Smith, M.B.: "The Effect of Formation Flow
on the Integrity of Perforated Casing," paper SPE 11123
presented at the 1982 SPE Annual Technical Conference and Ex-
hibition, New Orleans, Sept. 26-29.
29. Perkins, T.K. and Gonzalez, J.A.: "Changes in Earth Stresses
Around a Wellbore Caused by Radially Symmetrical Pressure and
Temperature Gradients," Soc. Pet. Eng. J. (April 1984) 129-40.
30. Gough, D.l. and Bell, 1.S.: "Stress Orientations from Oil-Well
Fractures in Alberta and Texas," Cdn. J. Earth Sci. (1981) 18,
638-45.
Nomenclature
c = coefficient for pore pressure in effec-
tive stress equation
C = material constant for parabolic yield
function
E = Young's modulus of elasticity (slope
of elastic stress-strain curve)
f(J d function of j ]
h height of producing layer
1] mean stress
1] = 1] -p (effective mean stress)
h generalized shear stress
kc permeability in plastic zone
£ direction cosine normal to the exter-
nal surface relative to x axis
p = pore fluid pressure
895
 Pc = pressure outside an impermeable
boundary
P w = wellbore fluid pressure
q = pore fluid-flow rate
r, 8, z = cylindrical coordinates with the z axis
aligned with the wellbore
So = rock shear strength
S 1, S2, S3 = in-situ principal stresses
S H, S V = horizontal and vertical earth stresses
Sx' S y' S z stresses far from the wellbore with z
axis aligned with wellbore
x, y, z = rectangular coordinate system with z
axis along wellbore
X = body force due to pore fluid pressure
gradient
X = surface force per unit area
ex = material parameter in linear yield
function
(3 material property in Hooke's law for
porous material (ratio of com-
pressibilities of interpore to porous
material)
v - Poisson's ratio
fluid viscosity
normal strain components in rec-
tangular coordinates
a x' a y' a z = normal stress components in rec-
tangular coordinates
a r, a 0, a z = normal stress components in cylin-
drical coordinates
az + cp (effective normal stress along
z axis with tension positive and
0::;; c::;; 1)
T xy' T xz' T yz shear stresses far from the hole
T rO, T rz, T Oz shear stresses at the wellbore
TO = material parameter in linear yield
function
cP = porosity, angle of internal friction
APPENDIX
Glossary of Terms
Constitutive relation describes mechanical behavior of
material such as stress-strain relation fOf elastic material.
Coulomb yield condition or Coulomb failure model
predicts a linear variation of strength with mean
pressure. Frequently used as an approximate constitutive
relation for soils and rocks.
896
Effective stress principle is used to account for that part
of the total stress in a porous medium that influences the
deformation of the solid. For an incompressible solid
matrix the effective compressive stress is the total com-
pressive stress less the pore pressure.
In-situ stresses are the earth stresses prior to drilling.
Kirsch elasticity solution describes the stress state
around a hole in a plate subjected to a uniform tension or
compression along an axis perpendicular to the hole.
Lame elasticity solution describes the stresses in a
thick-walled cylinder subjected to internal and/or exter-
nal pressure.
Strain hardening refers to an increase of the yield
strength due to plastic strain.
Strain softening refers to a decrease of the yield strength
due to plastic strain.
Yield condition is a mathematical function that predicts
the combinations of stresses that will cause plastic
yielding.
Mises yield condition commonly used for metals
predicts that the yield strength is independent of the
mean stress.
Extended Mises yield condition includes a dependen-
cy of strength on mean stress (see also Coulomb yield
condition).
Quadratic yield condition relates shear strength to
mean stress by a quadratic relation.
Kinematic hardening model provides a description
of strain hardening using the concept of movement of a
yield surface in stress space.
Work hardening is same as strain hardening.
Work softening is same as strain softening.
Distinguished Author Series articles are general, descriptive presentations that sum-
marize the state of the art in an area of technology by describing recent developments
for readers who are not specialists in the topics discussed. Written by individuals
recognized as experts in the areas, these articles provide key references to more
definitive work and present specific details only to illustrate the technology. Purpose:
To inform the general readership of recent advances in various areas of petroleum
engineering.
JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY