Coupled hydro-mechanical analysis of fault reactivation in reservoir
Sarita Maria de Figueiredo Souza Melo1; Lícia Mouta da Costa1; Igor Fernandes Gomes1; Telmo Rosario Santos2
1 Federal University of Pernambuco; 2 Technical Institute of Lisbon
Baixar PDF doi:10.20906/CPS/CILAMCE2015-0237
Resumo
Pressure increase inside a faulted reservoir, due to an advanced oil recovery method changes the state of stresses in its interior and the surrounding rocks, which can be irreversible, leading to the occurrence of new fractures and the reactivation of existing faults (Rutqvist et al, 2007; Soltanzadeh & Hawkes, 2008). Fault reactivation increases its permeability, which may create new paths for oil flow through overburden formations with high capillarity and low permeability, thereby compromising the performance of overburden reservoir rock. So fault reactivation can result in problems such as reducing oil production, oil exudation that migrates to the surface, leading to environmental problems and production facilities as well as surface subsidence problems, etc. Therefore, a previous studying of the allowed maximum pressure generated by the oil recovery is essential for fault reactivation analysis, as well as the model that best represents the fault material and its iteration with surrounding rocks. This paper presents a hydro-mechanical coupled analysis adopting as fault mechanical model Mohr-Coulomb with viscous regularization of plasticity through the Perzyna model (Gomes, 2006).
Palavras-chave: fault reactivation; hydro mechanical analysis; finite elements