Geomechanical Models of Wellbore Stability and Hydraulic Fractures

Publications

2020

2019

2018 

2016

Before 2015

Presentations

2017

Wellbore Stability in Salt (Salt Dynamics)

Impact of salt migration on hydrocarbon trap formation in the Gulf of Mexico and elsewhere can be concisely modeled using advanced scaling and analytical models.

Why should we bother?

Failure to recognize fast creep zones in salt sheets may cause wellbore failure due to viscous drag. Our models can history match past flow rates from ramps and flats visible on seismic and quantify likely present and future flow rates to help selection of safe drilling trajectories.

Animations

1. Fig. 9 from Reference Paper:
Onset of salt sheet flowwhere the 14 nested sources are started in fourwaves
2. Fig. 10 from Reference Paper:
Progressive infill of salt canopy (pink space) by salt sheets (grey shade) 

1. Fig. 6 from Reference Paper:
Animation of in-salt wellbore closure under conditions specified in Fig. 6 of this article.
2. Fig. 10 from Reference Paper:
Animation of in-salt wellbore closure under conditions specified in Fig. 9 of this article

1. Fig. 16a from Reference Paper:
Animation of downbuilding salt stock under conditions specified in Fig. 16a.
2. Fig. 16b from Reference Paper:
Animation of downbuilding salt stock under conditions specified in Fig. 16b.
3. Fig. 16c from Reference Paper:
Animation of downbuilding salt stock under conditions specified in Fig. 16c.
4. Fig. 17a from Reference Paper:
Animation of downbuilding salt stock under conditions specified in Fig. 17a.
5. Fig. 17b from Reference Paper:
Animation of downbuilding salt stock under conditions specified in Fig. 17b.
6. Fig. 18b from Reference Paper:
Animation of downbuilding salt stock under conditions specified in Fig. 18b.
7. Fig. 23b from Reference Paper:
Animation of downbuilding salt stock under conditions specified in Fig. 23b
8. Fig. 23d from Reference Paper:
Animation of downbuilding salt stock under conditions specified in Fig. 23d.
9. Fig. 24a from Reference Paper:
Animation of downbuilding salt stock under conditions specified in Fig. 24a.

Chaos Simulation (Fig. 9 from the article):
The video shows the most likely emplacement history for the Chaos lava field. Lava is issued from three vents (located in the complex plane at z=-0.8+1.8i, z=0, and z=1.1-1.3i) and their non-dimensional flux strengths are 0.2, 0.6, and 0.3, respectively. The superimposed gravity-driven, far-field flow is (ux, uy) = (-0.16,-0.5).  Red contours are isochrons spaced for ∆t*=1. Different grey shades highlight lava issued from vent 1 starting at t*=0 (dark-grey), vents 1 and 2 starting at t*=2 (medium-grey), and from vents 1, 2, and 3 starting at t*=12 (light-grey). This animation is instructive for understanding the evolution of the flow from the three major vents. Assumed relative rates are specified in Figure 9 of this article.

Landslide Bullet Train:
A landslide is like a bullet train filled with rock, mud and other debris (trees, houses, cars) picked up along the way. In Colombia, torrential rains liquefy the mud layers, which then rips rocks from the steep slopes and the bullet train then careers downhill with a speed and energy that destroys anything in its path. The bullet train only slows down when the slope of the terrain lessens and the pull of gravity subsides. This simple animation shows the motion of a teardrop landslide starting from a failure point on a slope. The down-slope movement by the pull of gravity is shown here in slow motion (from Weijermars and others, 2014, Journal of Geophysical Research, volume 119, p. 7353-7388).

1. Fig. 15 from Reference Paper:
Plume formation for constant flux source with Rk=25 (as in Fig. 15 of this article).
2. Fig. 15 from Reference Paper:
Plume formation for constant flux source with Rk=100 (as in Fig. 15 of this article).
3. Fig. 20a from Reference Paper:
Plume formation for declining flux source with initial Rk=100 (as in Fig. 20a -Racket of this article).
4. Fig. 20b from Reference Paper:
Plume formation for declining flux source with initial Rk=50 (as in Fig. 20b -Tadpole I of this article).
5. Fig. 20c from Reference Paper:
Plume formation for declining flux source with initial Rk=25 (as in Fig. 20c -Tadpole II of this article).
6. Fig. 22 from Reference Paper:
Plume formation for oscillating flux source with initial Rk=100 (as in Fig. 22 of this article).
7. Fig. C1b from Reference Paper:
Plume formation for inflating flux source with initial Rk=20 (as in Fig. C1b of this article).
8. Fig. D1f from Reference Paper:
Plume formation for bell shaped flux source with initial Rk=20 (as in Fig. D1f of this article).

Publications

2015

2014

2013

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