Abstract: A good understanding of the mechanics of a borehole is a prerequisite for safe and effective drilling of
deep wells. This paper gives a short introduction to the topic and summarizes the most important boundary
conditions and mechanisms leading to borehole instability. Based on that the principles for planning the drilling
mud weight (aka mud window) and the geomechanical well layout are explained.
the borehole or creation of hydraulic connections that
1 Introduction
lead to loss of drilling fluid or that have a negative
One of the largest assets of investments required for impact on the reservoir are not supposed to occur.
the extraction of geothermal energy is the
development of the reservoir. A cost effective drilling The stability of a deep borehole is basically
directly improves the rentability of geothermal controlled by three factors:
projects; therefore an efficient drilling phase without the in-situ state of stress
major delays due to instability issues should be aimed the geomechanical properties of penetrated
at. rocks
Drilling of deep boreholes and pressure variations in the drilling fluid
the reservoir lead to the alteration of the local stress The first two factors are given and should be
field close to the wellbore at depth. This may have a determined as exactly as possible. The drilling fluid
negative impact on the construction of a well or the on the other hand, with its crucial properties for
reservoir performance. Possible consequences borehole stability like weight, mud cake formation,
include and temperature, is the parameter that can be used to
Failure of borehole walls with resulting control the geomechanical integrity of the borehole.
breakouts Given the geological model that summarizes the
Swelling of shales or creep of evaporites sequence of rocks and their thicknesses, faults and
into the well further observations, the geomechanical analysis of a
Activation of existent joints resulting in fluid borehole is done as a function of the drilling fluids
loss density aka mud weight. The typical procedure of a
Initiation of kicks (or the like) borehole stability analysis is given in Figure 1. The
Compaction of porous rocks resulting in single steps shown are explained in more detail in the
reduction of reservoir porosity/permeability. following section.
This contribution describes and discusses the main
boundary conditions, mechanisms and consequences
that should be considered from a geomechanical
point of view.
The drilling of a borehole aims at creating a
dimensionally stable cylindric excavation, in which
the casing can be installed. Operation situations that
put the drilling progress at risk due to instability of
Backers: Borehole Geomechanics and Well Design IGA Academy Report 0103-2013
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Backers: Borehole Geomechanics and Well Design IGA Academy Report 0103-2013
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Backers: Borehole Geomechanics and Well Design IGA Academy Report 0103-2013
Table 1: Typical ranges of rock strength for several larger the breakout angle. An increase in mud weight
rock types. limits the breakout width. Breakouts are generally
stable, producing only moderate caving material. The
unconfined breakout width increases with an increasing
rock compressive tensile strength difference in the in-situ stresses (differential stress) or
strength a reduction of the mud weight.
(3) If a certain breakout width is exceeded (typically
[MPa] [MPa] >90) the borehole section is likely to collapse and
significant cavings, potentially blocking the drill
sandstone 30 - 150 3 - 15 string, can be expected.
(4) Swelling or creep can reduce the borehole
limestone 50 - 150 5 - 15 diameter. Most of times such borehole sections need
to be re-drilled. The usage of inhibitors or adequate
shale 5 - 50 0,5 - 5 mud weights can limit swelling or creep processes,
respectively.
granite 100 - 250 10 - 25 (5) A special case of compressive failure are
compactions bands. Under high compressive stresses,
quarzite 250 - 400 25 - 40 porous rocks (e.g. sandstone) develop planar zones
featuring significantly reduced porosity. This
Variations in the hydro-chemical properties of the phenomenon frequently occurs due to a reduction of
rock mass can furthermore induce swelling of clay the pore pressure in the rock, i.e. an increase of the
minerals. Within this process, water particles are built effective stresses, during the production of the energy
into the structure of the clay minerals, which triggers bearing fluid and can reduce the flow towards the
a volumetric expansion. Given an appropriate clay borehole. (Tembe et al. 2008; Fortin et al 2009).
content in the rock mass, this can lead to a stress
(6) Besides the change of the intact rock mass,
increase (some MPa) in the rock.
alterations of the stress state can also lead to
activation of pre-existing faults or fractures.
5 Evaluation of the integrity of a
Especially high mud weights can cause propagation
borehole
of existing fractures. In case of high fracture densities
Figure 3 displays typical changes in the rock mass and unfavorable orientation, the interaction of
due to alterations of the local stress field and drilling fractures can increase the failure zones and the size of
activities. the cavings around the borehole. A so-called slip
(1) Drilling induced tensile fractures (DITF) develop tendency analysis (Moeck and Backers 2011) can
when local tensile stresses exceed the tensile strength identify the fracture sets that may be prone to
of the rock. Tensile stresses occur in direction of SH, reactivation by alterations of the stress field.
if the in-situ stresses differ significantly (i.e. if
differential stresses are high) or the mud weight is too 6 Estimation of the mud window
high. DITFs only develop in the altered stress field in The primary aim of a geomechanical analysis is the
the vicinity of the borehole and, hence, do not have a adjustment of the mud window. Based on the given
significant impact on the stability of the borehole and in-situ stress field and rock strength, the range of
mud losses are low. Under conditions of Pm > Sh possible mud weight (density of the mud) for stable
hydraulic fractures can propagate into the rock mass conditions is adjusted. The lower limit of the possible
(hydraulic fracturing) and increased losses of mud are mud weight is the pore pressure to suppress fluid
at risk, which in turn cause further instabilities due to flow from the rock mass into the borehole (kicks) or
the reduced mud column and resulting pressure the mud weight at which failure (breakout) is
reduction in the borehole. expected. The upper limit for the mud weight is the
(2) In case local, compressive stresses exceed the smallest principal in-situ stress (here Sh), to avoid
hydraulic fractures.
strength of the rock borehole breakouts are
developed. The larger the zone in which the Figure 4 presents a schematic example of a mud
compressive stresses exceed the rock strength, the window in combination with a casing design. The
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Backers: Borehole Geomechanics and Well Design IGA Academy Report 0103-2013
7 Fracture mechanics
So far, borehole stability analysis is treating rock
mass as a homogeneous material. Rock mass,
however, consists of rock and pre-existing fractures.
The rock masss fracture and crack inventory, which
commonly displays a preferred orientation, can
influence the stability of a borehole. In order to
analyse the interaction between stress changes, crack
inventory, and borehole, numerical fracture Figure 5: Schematic comparison of commonly
mechanical simulations can be utilised. In these applied failure analysis with the results of a fracture
simulations, the propagation of fractures is explicitly mechanic based simulation. Latter takes the fracture
modelled using fracture mechanical principles. By inventory of the rock mass into account. (top)
means of such simulations, zones of pronounced hydraulic simulation, (bottom) borehole breakout
fracture growth can be studied with regard to the simulation.
potential of joint reactivation, interaction of fracture
to potentially increase productivity or caving material 8 Conclusions
(Figure 5). Backers (2010) gives an introduction to A detailed analysis of the geomechanics of a deep
fracture mechanics and its application; Figure 6 well can significantly reduce the risk of drilling
displays an exemplary result of a borehole breakout downtime or the loss of a well section; with
simulation by means of a fracture mechanics implications for the cost of a well.
software.
In geothermal applications the well is commonly
drilled in under-balanced conditions, i.e. with a mud
weight below the reservoir pressure. This is done to
avoid the contamination of the reservoir by the
drilling fluid as the hydraulic conductivity between
reservoir and wellbore would be reduced. Hereby, the
risk of borehole breakouts increases, which can lead
to caving material constraining the drilling activities.
Therefore an integrity analysis of the wellbore and
the formation/reservoir should be performed before
the start of the drilling activity, to ensure a failure-
free drilling process.
.
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Backers: Borehole Geomechanics and Well Design IGA Academy Report 0103-2013
Figure 6: Example for simulation of borehole breakouts (software roxol). (left) fracture initiation by means of the
Mohr-Coulomb criterion and subsequent formation of wellbore failure, and (right) interaction of the existing
fracture set with the wellbore. The depth of the breakouts or an interaction with an existing fracture network may
not estimated by classical analysis.