Prediction of Mud Pressures for the Stability of Wellbores Drilled in Transversely Isotropic Rocks

Chiara Deangeli and Omoruyi Omoman Omwanghe
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Chiara Deangeli: DIATI Politecnico di Torino, corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, Italy
Omoruyi Omoman Omwanghe: DIATI Politecnico di Torino, corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, Italy

Energies, 2018, vol. 11, issue 8, 1-31

Abstract: Serious borehole instability problems are often related to the presence of weakness planes in rock formations. In this study, we investigated the stability of wellbores drilled along a principal direction and parallel to the weakness planes. We used three different strength criteria (weakness plane model, Hoek and Brown and Nova and Zaninetti) to calculate the mud pressures to avoid slip and tensile failure along the weakness planes. We identified the orientation of the weakness planes that generate the most critical slip condition as a function of the friction angle of the planes. We also identified the range of orientations of the weakness planes that corresponds with the lower mud pressure window. We confirmed the validity of the proposed relationships with comparative stability analyses by using analytical solutions and numerical simulations (Ubiquitous Joint Model, FLAC). We found that the mud pressures calculated with the Hoek and Brown criterion show a particular trend, which cannot be predicted by the weakness plane model. We provided two normalized stability charts to predict mud pressures to prevent slip along the weakness planes in the critical slip condition. Finally, we corroborated our findings by simulating the stability of wellbores drilled in the Pedernales Field (Venezuela) and in oil fields located in Bohai Bay (China).

Keywords: wellbore stability; mud pressure; weakness planes; transverse isotropy; slip failure; fracturing; ubiquitous joints (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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