Course Objectives
- Explain the Mechanical Earth Model and how is the Mechanical Earth Model used.
- Understand the origin of stresses in the subsurface and how in situ stresses can be understood from wellbore data.
- Explain the Mechanical properties such as rock strength, and the origins of pore pressure and how it is measured and estimated.
- Explain the importance of Rock Mechanics and identify the key terms and concepts that are used in studying Rock Mechanics.
- Define the differing characteristics and uses of rock strength tests.
- Explain the wellbore stability, sand production and hydraulic fracturing.
- This course show how these data are applied through the Mechanical Earth Model to critical problems in exploration and field development.
- The course includes an introduction to reservoir geomechanics, showing the geomechanical influence of pressure changes in the reservoir.
Who Should Attend?
- Geologists/Geophysicists/Geomechanics engineers
- Drilling engineers
- Production engineers
- Completion engineers
- Reservoir engineers
- Exploration supervisors and managers concerned with the geomechanics challenges of field development and exploration
- Supervisors and managers concerned with wellbore stability
Course Content
Day 1
- What is geomechanics?
- Mechanical Earth Model
- Principles of Stress and Strain
- Basics of stress and strain
- The relationship between stress and strain
- Principal earth stresses
- Overburden stress
- Mohr circles
- Elasticity and elastic properties
- Effective stress concepts and the importance of pore pressure
- In-situ stress tensor
- Stress field variations – structural effects
- Stress measurements and analysis
Day 2
Rock mechanical properties
- Rock Strength and Weakness
- Hardness vs. Strength
- Mohs Hardness Scale
- Chemical Composition
Porosity and Permeability
- Porosity Definition
- Permeability Definition
- Permeability Illustration
- High Porosity and Low Permeability
- Low Porosity and High Permeability
- Porosity Illustration
- High Porosity and High Permeability
- Mechanical properties
- Elasticity and other stress‐strain behavior
- Failure and beyond
- Thermal effects
- Influence of faults and fractures
- Rock mechanics testing
Day 3
Pore Pressure
- Basic definitions
- Origins of pore pressure
- Causes of over pressure
- Pore pressure and the Mechanical Earth Model
- Leak off tests
- Fracture gradients
- Reservoir compartmentalization
- Mechanisms of overpressure generation
- Estimating pore pressure at depth
Day 4
Reservoir geomechanics
- Compaction
- Thermal
- Depletion effects
- Well integrity
- Plasticity
Day 5
Petroleum Applications
- Well Planning
- Wellbore Stability
- Drilling Optimization
- Reservoir stress management
- Hydraulic fracture design
- Structural Permeability
- Fault Seal Analysis
Sand prediction
- Sanding Evaluation
- Impact of Sand production
- Nature of Sand Production
- Sand Prediction Model
