SPE/ISRM 78194 SOME ADVANCES IN NEAR WELLBORE GEOMECHANICS 7

Virgin/Intact
Wellbore

Disaggregated

Dilatant

Elastic Compacting

Fig. 1—Schematic drawing of radially damaged/altered zones around a wellbore.

radial vertical hoop pore pres. perm

20000 100
Tensile
Effective Stress and Pressure (kPa)

Plastic 80
15000

Permeability (m2 x 10-15 )

60
10000
40

5000
20

0 0
0 5 10 15 20
Radial Distance (m)
Fig.2—A coupled numerical simulation of drilling-induced alterations of the permeability around a wellbore associated with constitutive
behavior. Notice the anticipated transfer of stresses away from the wellbore and the development of highly elevated permeability in a dilatant
zone immediately adjacent to the opening, surrounded by a zone of depressed permeability (courtesy H. Vaziri, BP Amoco).

Fig. 3—Development of measured permeability around a “rigid,” screened liner, as effective stress was progressively increased (modified
3
from Khodaverdian et al., 1998 ).
8 J. MCLENNAN, A. ABOU-SAYED SPE/ISRM 78194

Far-Field Far Field Yielded Zone

Yielded Zone

Undisturbed Undisturbed
Zone Zone

Wellbore
Diameter Ablated
Gap Material Gap
Screen OD Screen OD

Before Ablation During Ablation

Far Field Yielded Zone

Far Field Yielded Zone
Undisturbed
Zone

Ablated
Ablated Material
Material
Screen OD Undisturbed
Screen OD Zone

During Ablation After Ablation

Fig. 4—Conceptual representation of some of the potential phases of screen loading.
SPE/ISRM 78194 SOME ADVANCES IN NEAR WELLBORE GEOMECHANICS 9

3500

3000
Gulf of Mexico

Radial Stress, psi

2500

2000 North Sea

1500

1000
0 10 20 30 40 50

Radial Position, in

4000

3500
Tangential Stress, psi

3000
Gulf
Gulfof
of Mexico
Mexico

2500

2000
North Sea
North Sea

1500

1000

500

0
0 10 20 30 40 50

Radial Position, in

Fig. 5—Variation of the radial and tangential stresses with radial position, accounting for ablation and liner loading, for typical GOM and
North Sea situations.

radial vertical hoop pore pres. perm

16000 500
Tensile
14000
Effective Stress and Pressure (kPa)

Plastic
400
12000
Permeability (m2 x 10-15 )

10000 300
8000
200
6000

4000
100
2000

0 0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Radial Distance (m)
Fig. 6—A coupled numerical simulation of surging-induced alteration of the permeability around a wellbore associated with constitutive
behavior. The formation was surged to create a physical cavity. Notice the anticipated transfer of stresses away from the wellbore and the
development of highly elevated permeability in a dilatant zone immediately adjacent to the opening, surrounded by a zone of depressed
permeability (courtesy H. Vaziri, BP Amoco).
10 J. MCLENNAN, A. ABOU-SAYED SPE/ISRM 78194

Fig. 7—X-Ray tomograph of a zone (around a perforated liner) in weak sand that has been cavitated. Complete details and description of this
11
tomograph are available in Palmer et al., 1999 ).

S a n d C o n c e n tra tio n
360 0.060
P e rm e a b ility ( 1 0 - P o in t M o v in g A v e ra g e )

300 0.050

S a n d C o n c e n tra tio n ( g / c m )
3
P e rm e a b ility ( m d )

240 0.040

180 0.030
Permeability
120 0.020

60 0.010

0 0.000
4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
T im e ( h o u rs )
Sand Concentration

Fig. 8—Evolution of overall permeability (from the outer radial boundary of the laboratory test to the wellbore) for a large-scale laboratory
11
cavitation experiment in completely uncemented sand. More details and description of this experiment are available in Palmer et al., 1999 ).
SPE/ISRM 78194 SOME ADVANCES IN NEAR WELLBORE GEOMECHANICS 11

11000

Strain along z-axis (ε zz)

12000

Field test data

13000
Strain along well axis

Depth ( ft) 14000

15000

16000

17000

18000

19000

20000
-5.0% -4.0% -3.0% -2.0% -1.0% 0.0% 1.0% 2.0%

Strain from July 1996 through January 2001

Fig. 9—Comparison of field-observed and predicted casing strains.

Fig. 10—The rapid decline in injection rate at nominally constant pressure for the injection of very clean seawater into a soft Gulf of Mexico
13
formation under matrix injection conditions (modified from Sharma et al., 1997 ).
12 J. MCLENNAN, A. ABOU-SAYED SPE/ISRM 78194

Fig. 11—Evolution of a compacted zone in a restrained reservoir with a concurrent dilation zone.

Fig. 12—Evolution of a compacted zone around a propagating fracture. Dilatant and compacted zones can be associated with previous
effects at the tip of an initially shorter fracture or due to loading and poroelastic effects around the current fracture.
SPE/ISRM 78194 SOME ADVANCES IN NEAR WELLBORE GEOMECHANICS 13

3000

2500

WELLHEAD INJECTION PRESSURE (psi) 2000

1500

1000

500
PW injection periods
SW injection periods

0
0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000
INJECTION RATE (bwpd)

Fig. 13—Injection pressures for seawater are characteristically lower than for hotter produced water – under known fracturing conditions
15
(modified from Martins et al, 1994 ).