• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.403-430
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• 2014

Shale gas formations exhibit strong mechanical and strength anisotropies. Thus, it is necessary to study the effect of anisotropy on the hydraulic fracture initiation pressure. The calculation model for the in-situ stress of the bedding formation is improved according to the effective stress theory. An analytical model of the stresses around wellbore in shale gas reservoirs, in consideration of stratum dip direction, dip angle, and in-situ stress azimuth, has been built. Besides, this work established a calculation model for the stress around the perforation holes. In combination with the tensile failure criterion, a prediction model for the hydraulic fracture initiation pressure in the shale gas reservoirs is put forward. The error between the prediction result and the measured value for the shale gas reservoir in the southern Sichuan Province is only 3.5%. Specifically, effects of factors including elasticity modulus, Poisson's ratio, in-situ stress ratio, tensile strength, perforation angle (the angle between perforation direction and the maximum principal stress) of anisotropic formations on hydraulic fracture initiation pressure have been investigated. The perforation angle has the largest effect on the fracture initiation pressure, followed by the in-situ stress ratio, ratio of tensile strength to pore pressure, and the anisotropy ratio of elasticity moduli as the last. The effect of the anisotropy ratio of the Poisson's ratio on the fracture initiation pressure can be ignored. This study provides a reference for the hydraulic fracturing design in shale gas wells.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.11-20
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• 2019

The use of electrokinetic dissipation method to study the fluid flow law in micro-pores is of great significance to reservoir rock microfluidics. In this paper, the micro-capillary theory was combined with the coupling model of the seepage field and the current field under the excitation of the harmonic signal, and the coupling theory of the electrokinetic effect under the first-order approximation condition was derived. The dissipation equation of electrokinetic dissipation and viscous resistance dissipation and its solution were established by using Green's function method. The physical and mathematical models for the electrokinetic dissipation of reservoir rocks were constructed. The microscopic mechanism of the electrokinetic dissipation of reservoir rock were theoretically clarified. The influencing factors of the electrokinetic dissipation frequency of the reservoir rock were analyzed quantitatively. The results show that the electrokinetic effect transforms the fluid flow profile in the pores of the reservoir from parabolic to wavy; under low-frequency conditions, the apparent viscosity coefficient is greater that one and is basically unchanged. The apparent viscosity coefficient gradually approaches 1 as the frequency increases further. The viscous resistance dissipation is two orders of magnitude higher than the electrokinetic effect dissipation. When the concentration of the electrolyte exceeds 0.1mol/L, the electrokinetic dissipation can be neglected, while for the electrolyte solution (<$10^{-2}M$) in low concentration, the electrokinetic dissipation is very significant and cannot be ignored.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.205-213
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• 2019

A calculation model of reservoir pressure field distribution around multiple production wells in a heavy oil reservoir is established, which can overcome the unreasonable uniform-pressure value calculated by the traditional mathematical model in the multiwell mining areas. A calculating program is developed based on the deduced equations by using Visual Basic computer language. Based on the proposed mathematical model, the effects of drainage rate and formation permeability on the distribution of reservoir pressure are studied. Results show that the reservoir pressure drops most at the wellbore. The farther the distance away from the borehole, the sparser the isobaric lines distribute. Increasing drainage rate results in decreasing reservoir pressure and bottom-hole pressure, especially the latter. The permeability has a significant effect on bottom hole pressure. The study provides a reference basis for studying the dynamic pressure field distribution before thermal recovery technology in heavy oilfield and optimizing construction parameters.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.207-214
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• 2019

Dams have a great importance on energy and irrigation. Dams must be evaluated statically and dynamically even after construction. For this purpose, Torul dam built between years 2000 and 2007 Harsit River in Gümüşhane province, Turkey, is selected as an application. The Torul dam has 137 m height and 322 GWh annual energy production capacity. Torul dam is a kind of concrete face rock fill dam (CFRD). In this study, static and pseudo seismic stability of Torul dam was investigated using finite element method. Torul dam model is constituted by numerical stress analysis named Phase2 which is based on finite element method. The dam was examined under 11 different water filling levels. Thirteenth stage of the numerical model is corresponding full reservoir condition which water filled up under crest line. Besides, pseudo static coefficients for dynamic condition applied to the dam in fourteenth stage of the model. Stability assessment of the Torul dam has been discussed according to the displacement throughout the dam body. For static and pseudo seismic cases, the displacements in the dam body have been compared. The total displacements of the dam according to its the empty state increase dramatically at the height of the water level of about 70 m and above. Compared to the pseudo-seismic analysis, the displacement of dam at the full reservoir condition is approximately two times as high as static analysis.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.523-532
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• 2019

Based on the formation characteristics, wellbore parameters and insulated tubing (IT) parameters of the Shengli oilfield, Shandong, China, a geomechanical model is built to predict the temperature distributions of the wellbore and formation. The effects of the IT heat conductivity coefficient (HCC), well depth and IT joint on the temperature distribution of the IT, completion casing, cement sheath, and formation are investigated. Results show the temperature of the formation around the wellbore has an exponentially decreasing relation with the distance to the wellbore. The temperature of the formation around the wellbore has an inverse relation with the IT HCC when the temperatures of the steam and the formation are given. The temperature of the casing outer wall is mainly determined by the steam temperature and IT HCC rather than by the initial formation temperature. The temperature of the casing at the IT joint is much larger than that of the other location. Due to the IT joint having a small size, the effects of the IT joint on the casing temperature distribution are limited to a small area only.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.327-338
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• 2020

The role of precise prediction of subsurface fluids and discrimination among them cannot be ignored in reservoir characterization and petroleum prospecting. A suitable rock physics model should be build for the extraction of valuable information form seismic data. The main intent of current work is to present a rock physics model to analyze the characteristics of seismic wave propagating through a cracked porous rock saturated by a three phase fluid. Furthermore, the influence on wave characteristics due to variation in saturation of water, oil and gas were also analyzed for oil and water as wet cases. With this approach the objective to explore wave attenuation and dispersion due to wave induce fluid flow (WIFF) at seismic and sub-seismic frequencies can be precisely achieved. We accomplished our proposed approach by using BISQ equations and by applying appropriate boundary conditions to incorporate heterogeneity due to saturation of three immiscible fluids forming a layered system. To authenticate the proposed methodology, we compared our results with White's mesoscopic theory and with the results obtained by using Biot's poroelastic relations. The outcomes reveals that, at low frequencies seismic wave characteristics are in good agreement with White's mesoscopic theory, however a slight increase in attenuation at seismic frequencies is because of the squirt flow. Moreover, our work crop up as a practical tool for the development of rock physical theories with the intention to identify and estimate properties of different fluids from seismic data.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.343-354
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• 2019

The present study demonstrates the application of seismic petrophysics and amplitude versus angle (AVA) forward modeling to identify the reservoir fluids, discriminate their saturation levels and natural gas composition. Two case studies of the Lumshiwal Formation (mainly sandstone) of the Lower Cretaceous age have been studied from the Kohat Sub-basin and the Middle Indus Basin of Pakistan. The conventional angle-dependent reflection amplitudes such as P converted P ($R_{PP}$) and S ($R_{PS}$), S converted S ($R_{SS}$) and P ($R_{SP}$) and newly developed AVA attributes (${\Delta}R_{PP}$, ${\Delta}R_{PS}$, ${\Delta}R_{SS}$ and ${\Delta}R_{SP}$) are analyzed at different gas saturation levels in the reservoir rock. These attributes are generated by taking the differences between the water wet reflection coefficient and the reflection coefficient at unknown gas saturation. Intercept (A) and gradient (B) attributes are also computed and cross-plotted at different gas compositions and gas/water scenarios to define the AVO class of reservoir sands. The numerical simulation reveals that ${\Delta}R_{PP}$, ${\Delta}R_{PS}$, ${\Delta}R_{SS}$ and ${\Delta}R_{SP}$ are good indicators and able to distinguish low and high gas saturation with a high level of confidence as compared to conventional reflection amplitudes such as P-P, P-S, S-S and S-P. In A-B cross-plots, the gas lines move towards the fluid (wet) lines as the proportion of heavier gases increase in the Lumshiwal Sands. Because of the upper contacts with different sedimentary rocks (Shale/Limestone) in both wells, the same reservoir sand exhibits different response similar to AVO classes like class I and class IV. This study will help to analyze gas sands by using amplitude based attributes as direct gas indicators in further gas drilling wells in clastic successions.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.495-510
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• 2015

The applications of water jet cutting (WJC) in coal mine have progressed slowly. In this paper, we analyzed the possibility and reasonableness of WJC application to pressure relief in hard coal seam, simulated the distributive characteristics of stress and energy fields suffered by hard coal roadway wallrock and the internal relationships of the fields to the instability due to WJC (including horizontal radial slot and vertical annular slot) on roadway wallrock. The results showed that: (1) WJC can unload hard coal seam effectively by inducing stress release and energy dissipation in coal mass near its slots; its annular slots also can block or weaken stress and energy transfer in coal mass; (2) the two slots may cause "the beam structure" and "the small pillar skeleton", and "the layered energy reservoir structure", respectively, which lead to the increase in stress concentration and energy accumulation in coal element mass near the slots; (3) the reasonable design and optimization of slots' positions and their combination not only can significantly reduce the scope of stress concentration and energy accumulation, but also destroy coal mass structure on a larger scale to force stress to transfer deeper coal mass.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.965-972
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• 2018

In deep braced excavations, struts and walers play an essential role in the whole supporting system. For multi-level strut systems, accidental strut failure is possible. Once a single strut fails, it is possible for the loads carried from the previous failed strut to be transferred to the adjacent struts and therefore cause one or more struts to fail. Consequently, progressive collapse may occur and cause the whole excavation system to fail. One of the reasons for the Nicoll Highway Collapse was attributed to the failure of the struts and walers. Consequently, for the design of braced excavation systems in Singapore, one of the requirements by the building authorities is to perform one-strut failure analyses, in order to ensure that there is no progressive collapse when one strut was damaged due to a construction accident. Therefore, plane strain 2D and three-dimensional (3D) finite element analyses of one-strut failure of the braced excavation system were carried out in this study to investigate the effects of one-strut failure on the adjacent struts.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.465-481
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• 2017

Thermal effect has great influence on wellbore stability in Dongfang 1-1 (DF 1-1) gas field, a reservoir with high-temperature and high-pressure. In order to analyze the wellbore stability in DF1-1 gas field, the variation of temperature field after drilling was analyzed. In addition, the effect of temperature changing on formation strength and the thermal expansion coefficients of formation were tested. On this basis, a wellbore stability model considering thermal effect was developed and the thermal effect on fracture pressure and collapse pressure was analyzed. One of the main challenges in this gas field is the decreasing temperature of the wellbore will reduce fracture pressure substantially, resulting in the drilling fluid leakage. If the drilling fluid density was reduced, kick or blowout may happen. Therefore, the key of safe drilling in DF1-1 gas field is to predict the fracture pressure accurately.