DEVELOPMENTS IN PETROLEUM SCIENCE 53 PETROLEUM RELATED ROCK MECHANICS 2nd EDITION DEVELOPMENTS IN PETROLEUM SCIENCE 53 Volumes 1–7, 9–35, 37–41, 44–45, 48–51 are out of print. 8 Fundamentals of Reservoir Engineering 36 The Practice of Reservoir Engineering (Revised Edition) 42 Casing Design—Theory and Practice 43 Tracers in the Oil Field 46 Hydrocarbon Exploration and Production 47 PVT and Phase Behaviour of Petroleum Reservoir Fluids 52 Geology and Geochemistry of Oil and Gas 53 Petroleum Related Rock Mechanics (2nd Edition) DEVELOPMENTS IN PETROLEUM SCIENCE 53 PETROLEUM RELATED ROCK MECHANICS 2nd EDITION E. FJÆR,R.M.HOLT,P.HORSRUD, A.M. RAAEN &R.RISNES† Amsterdam – Boston – Heidelberg – London – New York – Oxford Paris – San Diego – San Francisco – Singapore – Sydney – Tokyo Elsevier Radarweg 29, PO Box 211, 1000 AE Amsterdam, The Netherlands The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford OX5 1GB, UK First edition 1992 Second edition 2008 Copyright © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publisher Permissions may be sought directly from Elsevier’s Science & Technology Rights Department in Oxford, UK: phone (+44) (0) 1865 843830; fax (+44) (0) 1865 853333; email: permis- [email protected]. Alternatively you can submit your request online by visiting the Elsevier web site at http://elsevier.com/locate/permissions, and selecting Obtaining permission to use Elsevier material Notice No responsibility is assumed by the publisher for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions or ideas contained in the material herein. Because of rapid advances in the medical sciences, in particular, independent verification of diagnoses and drug dosages should be made Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN: 978-0-444-50260-5 ISSN: 0376-7361 For information on all Elsevier publications visit our website at books.elsevier.com Printed and bound in Hungary 0809101112 10987654321 v Rasmus Risnes in Memoriam It is with great regret that we announce the passing of Professor Rasmus Risnes who died on the 3rd of December 2004 after a prolonged struggle against ill health. He was active in the field of rock mechanics right up to the end and made a significant contribution to this second edition which, regretfully, he will never see. Rasmus was a very pleasant individual whose vast knowledge and pedagogical expertise was a continual source of inspiration to us all. He was recognized as one of the pioneers in petroleum-related rock mechanics, both nationally and internationally, and his early work on sand failure is still regarded as a classic. In later years he turned his attention to the Chalk and established a highly reputable research and teaching laboratory at the University of Stavanger (Norway). Rasmus will be sorely missed by his many colleagues and friends in the rock mechanics community. Erling Rune Per Arne Marius This page intentionally left blank vii Preface to the second edition During the years that have passed since the first edition of this book, petroleum related rock mechanics has been well established as a significant supplier of premises and boundary conditions for the petroleum industry. More than ever, it is now recognised that engineers and geologists in the petroleum industry should possess a certain level of knowledge within rock mechanics. The need for a textbook like this is therefore even larger now than it was 15 years ago. Although there are still a lot of uncovered areas within petroleum related rock mechan- ics, the topic has in many ways developed significantly over the later years. This is a natural consequence of the increased focus this area has gained. We are also proud to admit that the general knowledge of petroleum related rock mechanics among the authors of this book has increased since the first edition was prepared. Consequently, when the need for a new printing of the book appeared, we felt the need to revise the manuscript in order to account for this development. The revision has been quite extensive for some parts of the manuscript. The basic struc- ture of the book is however kept as it was, and parts of the text have only been subject to minor revisions. The major guideline for the work has been to update and add information where we felt it was relevant, while maintaining the concept of the book as an introduction to petroleum related rock mechanics as an engineering science. A consequence of this dual objective has been the introduction of a couple of new appendices, where more advanced mathematics and heavy formulas are presented in a compact form. This way, we hope that the main text shall remain easily accessible even for newcomers in the field, while at the same time the more complete formulas shall be available to the readers who need them. The revision has been made by the same team of authors that wrote the first edition. In addition, several friends and colleagues have generously provided suggestions, advice and encouragement for the work. This support is greatly appreciated. Trondheim, October 2004 Erling Fjær Rune M. Holt Per Horsrud Arne M. Raaen Rasmus Risnes This page intentionally left blank ix Foreword to the 1992 edition About 10 years ago, petroleum related rock mechanics was mostly confined to a few spe- cific topics like hydraulic fracturing or drilling bit performance. Although a few precursors had already established the basics of what is now spreading out. In fact, since that time, the whole petroleum industry has progressively realised that the state of underground stresses and its modification due to petroleum related operations, could have a significant impact on performances, in many different aspects of exploration and production. Therefore all those concepts need now to be presented in a simple but comprehensive way. An engineering science, “Petroleum related rock mechanics” is also dependent on the variable and uncertain character of natural geological materials at depth. The limited avail- ability of relevant data is also part of the problem. For that reason, it is essential that any potential user is aware of the high potential of the technique, together with the actual limi- tations. This book should totally fulfill these needs. The reader will be provided with fundamen- tals and basics, but also with the techniques used in data acquisition, and eventually with a series of typical applications like wellbore stability, sand production or subsidence. The book is mostly for students, geologists or engineers who want to know more about rock mechanics, and specifically rock mechanics applied to petroleum industry. It is well suited for instance, for drilling or mud engineers wanting to know more on the mechanical aspect of wellbore stability problems, for reservoir engineers who have to deal with stress related problems in their field, like compaction, stress dependent permeability or fracture injectivity. Operation geologists dealing with drilling in abnormal pressure zones will also benefit from this book. Elf Aquitaine Norge, together with other Norwegian oil companies, has been supporting IKU for several years in their effort to build a strong group in rock mechanics. IKU has now a well-established team, whose competence is recognised on the international level. They have mostly been contributing in the field of acoustic wave propagation in rocks and sand production appraisal. They are also very active in research and consulting activities in the different fields of petroleum related rock mechanics. Stavanger, April 1991 Alain Guenot This page intentionally left blank xi Preface to the 1992 edition Systematic application of rock mechanics is quite new to the petroleum industry. Accord- ingly, the need for an introductory textbook for petroleum engineers and scientists has recently emerged. This need was felt by the authors when we started our research in this area, and it inspired us to develop the first version of this book as a manuscript for a two weeks continuing education course for petroleum engineers. The first 6 chapters deal with the fundamentals of rock mechanics. This includes theories of elasticity and failure mechanics, borehole stresses, and acoustic wave propagation. In addition, sedimentary rocks are viewed from the geological side as well as from the side of idealised mathematical modelling based on microstructure. For readers who wants to further extend their knowledge on rock mechanics, we suggest the book “Fundamentals of rock mechanics” by Jaeger and Cook as a continuation. Deeper insight into acoustic wave propagation in rocks can be achieved from e.g. the book “Acoustics of porous media” by Bourbie, Coussy and Zinszner or “Underground Sound” by White. Chapters 7 and 8 are dedicated to the extremely important task of obtaining parame- ters that are relevant for rock mechanics field application, be it from laboratory tests or from analysis of field data like borehole logs. The last 4 chapters discuss applications of rock mechanics in borehole stability, sand production, hydraulic fracturing and reservoir compaction/surface subsidence analyses. It has also been our intention to make each chapter more or less selfcontained, especially the chapters dealing with applications. Hopefully, this will make the book useful also to those who are interested only in one particular topic. The other chapters can then be used as support depending on the reader’s previous knowledge. Notice, however, that the book is intended to be an introduction to petroleum related rock mechanics as an engineering science, rather than a “tool-box” for petroleum engineers.