Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Determination of a safe drilling mud window and optimal drilling mud pressure by shear and tensile failure criteria

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Arabian Journal of Geosciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Wellbore drilling is the main activity to access oil reservoirs for oil production. This study aimed at presenting a safe drilling mud window using two criteria for estimating the minimum and maximum drilling mud pressure in order to prevent tensile and shear failure in oil wells. To this end, data on oil wells was first collected. To calculate the lower limit of the mud window, the oil well was modeled at different drilling mud pressures with the help of the finite difference software FLAC2D. By plotting the normalized yield zone area (NYZA) versus the mud pressure, NYZA = 1 was considered as the shear failure threshold, the corresponding pressure to which was considered as the lower limit for the drilling mud weight. To calculate the upper limit of the mud window, the wellbore was modeled with the help of the finite element software, Abaqus. To this end, the drilling mud pressure was gradually increased, and according to the increase in the crack length in the borehole, the pressure causing tensile failure was considered as the upper limit of mud weight. Ultimately, two linear relationships were proposed using the multivariate linear regression analysis in SPSS. In the first relationship, the minimum drilling mud pressure to prevent a shear failure is estimated using pore pressure, minimum and maximum horizontal stresses, cohesion, and internal friction angle. The second relationship estimates the maximum drilling mud pressure to prevent a tensile failure using pore pressure, minimum and maximum horizontal stresses, and maximum and minimum tensile strengths. Combining these two relationships, a new correlation was obtained to estimate the optimal drilling mud pressure. As its main innovative aspect, this study aimed at providing a safe window for drilling mud using two criteria for estimating the minimum and maximum drilling mud pressures in order to prevent shear and tensile failures in oil wells in south Iran oilfields.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aadnoy BS, Kaarstad E (2010, January) History model for sand production during depletion. In: SPE EUROPEC/EAGE Annual Conference and Exhibition, Society of Petroleum Engineers

  • Abdollahipour A, Soltanian H, Pourmazaheri Y, Kazemzadeh E, Fatehi-Marji M (2019) Sensitivity analysis of geomechanical parameters affecting a wellbore stability. J Cent South Univ 26(3):768–778

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Akarmi A, Hosseini M (2017) Experimental modeling of hydraulic fracturing. New Applied Geology Findings 11(21):83–91

    Google Scholar 

  • Al-Ajmi A, Zimmerman R (2005) Wellbore stability analysis using the Mogi-coulomb failure criterion

    Google Scholar 

  • Al-Ajmi AM, Zimmerman RW (2006) Stability analysis of vertical boreholes using the Mogi–coulomb failure criterion. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci 43(8):1200–1211

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ali AHA, Brown T, Delgado R, Lee D, Plumb D, Smirnov N, Marsden R, Prado-Velarde E, Ramsey L, Spooner D, Stone T (2003) Watching rocks change—Mechanical earth modeling. Oilfield Review 15(1):22–39

    Google Scholar 

  • Ameen MS, Smart BG, Somerville JM, Hammilton S, Naji NA (2009) Predicting rock mechanical properties of carbonates from wireline logs (A case study: Arab-D reservoir, Ghawar field, Saudi Arabia). Mar Pet Geol 26(4):430–444

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Asgari R, Heidarizadeh M, Memarian H (2017) Wellbore stability and determination of drilling mud weight in an oil field in south Iran by NYZA method. Oil and Gas Discovery and Production 96(146):59–65

    Google Scholar 

  • Behnam N, Hosseini M, Shahbazi S (2019) A criterion for estimating the minimum drilling mud pressure to prevent shear failure in oil wells. Geotech Geol Eng:1–10

  • Blanton TL (1986, January) Propagation of hydraulically and dynamically induced fractures in naturally fractured reservoirs. In: SPE unconventional gas technology symposium. Society of Petroleum Engineers

  • Charlez PA (1997) The impact of constitutive laws on wellbore stability: a general review. SPE Drill Completion 12(02):119–128

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Daneshy AA (1974, January) Hydraulic fracture propagation in the presence of planes of weakness. In: SPE European spring meeting, Society of Petroleum Engineers

  • Dehghan AN, Goshtasbi K, Ahangari K, Jain Y, Miskiminis J (2015) A mechanism for fracture initiation and propagation by triaxial hydraulic fracture test on block cement specimens. Pet Res 2(85):180–189

    Google Scholar 

  • De Pater CJ, Beugelsdijk LJL (2005, January) Experiments and numerical simulation of hydraulic fracturing in naturally fractured rock. In: Alaska rocks 2005, the 40th US Symposium on Rock Mechanics (USRMS). American Rock Mechanics Association

  • Desroches J, Lenoach B, Papanastasiou P, Thiercelin M (1993, January) On the modelling of near tip processes in hydraulic fractures. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci Geomech Abstr 30(7):1127–1134

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Drucker DC, Prager W (1952) Soil mechanics and plastic analysis or limite design. Q Appl Math 10:157–165

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Esmailian M, Rabiee MR (2015) Comprehensive SPSS 22 Help, published by Dibagaran Tehran Art & Cultural Institute

    Google Scholar 

  • Ewy RT (1999) Wellbore-stability predictions by use of a modified lade criterion. SPE Drill Completion 14(02):85–91

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fjar E, Holt RM, Raaen AM, Risnes R, Horsrud P (2008) Petroleum related rock mechanics, (Vol. 53), Elsevier

  • Hawkes CD, McLellan PJ (1996) Modeling of yielded zone enlargement around a wellbore. In: 2nd North American Rock Mechanics Symposium. American Rock Mechanics Association

  • Hubbert MK, Willis DG (1972) Mechanics of hydraulic fracturing. Shell Development Co, Houston

  • Kristiansen TG, Barkved O, Pattillo P (2000) Use of passive seismic monitoring in well and casing design in the compacting and subsiding Valhall field, North Sea. Paper presented at the SPE European Petroleum Conference, Paris

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Lak M, Marji MF, Bafghi AY, Abdollahipour A (2019) A coupled finite difference-boundary element method for modeling the propagation of explosion-induced radial cracks around a wellbore. J Nat Gas Sci Eng 64:41–51

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li Q, Tang Z (2016) Optimization of wellbore trajectory using the initial collapse volume. J Nat Gas Sci Eng 29:80–88

    Google Scholar 

  • Maleki S, Gholami R, Rasouli V, Moradzadeh A, Riabi RG, Sadaghzadeh F (2014) Comparison of different failure criteria in prediction of safe mud weigh window in drilling practice. Earth Sci Rev 136:36–58

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mirzaghorbanali A, Afshar M (2011) A mud weight window investigation based on the Mogi-coulomb failure criterion and elasto-plastic constitutive model. Pet Sci Technol 29(2):121–131

  • Molla Ali M, Yazdani M (2014) Numerical modeling of hydraulic fracturing in oil reservoirs by extended finite element method, Journal of Civil Engineering. Sharif Univ Technol 30(4):3–11

    Google Scholar 

  • Moomivand H (2017) Rock Mechanics (First Volume: Fundamental and Advanced). Urmia University, 645 pages

  • Moos D, Barton CA, Willson S (2007, January) Impact of rock properties on the relationship between wellbore breakout width and depth. In: 1st Canada-US rock mechanics symposium. Association, American Rock Mechanics

  • Najafipour AR, Ahangari K, Ale Ali SM (2017) Determination of optimal mud window and sensitivity analysis of stability of horizontal wells in an oil field southwest of Iran by numerical modeling. Oil Gas Discov Prod:60–67

  • Najibi AR, Ghafoori M, Lashkaripour GR, Asef MR (2015) Empirical relations between strength and static and dynamic elastic properties of Asmari and Sarvak limestones, two main oil reservoirs in Iran. J Pet Sci Eng 126:78–82

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shahbazi S (2015) Numerical modeling of oil well behavior in shale formations, MSc Thesis, Imam Khomeini International University.

  • Wiprut DJ, Zoback MD (1998, January) High horizontal stress in the Visund field, Norwegian North Sea: consequences for borehole stability and sand production. In: SPE/ISRM rock mechanics in petroleum engineering. Society of Petroleum Engineers, Trondheim

    Google Scholar 

  • Xu G (2007) Wellbore stability in geomechanics, doctoral dissertation. University of Nottingham

  • Yousefian H, Soltanian H, Marji MF, Abdollahipour A, Pourmazaheri Y (2018) Numerical simulation of a wellbore stability in an Iranian oilfield utilizing core data. J Pet Sci Eng 168:577–592

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yuan JL, Deng JG, Tan Q, Yu BH, Jin XC (2013) Borehole stability analysis of horizontal drilling in shale gas reservoirs. Rock Mech Rock Eng 46(5):1157–1164

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang ZX (2002, An empirical Sciences) Relation between mode I fracture toughness and the tensile strength of rock. Int J Rock Mech Min 39(3):401–406

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang GQ, Chen M (2010) Dynamic fracture propagation in hydraulic re-fracturing. J Pet Sci Eng 70(3–4):266–272

  • Zhang L, Radha KC (2010) Stability analysis of vertical boreholes using a three-dimensional hoek-brown strength criterion. In: GeoFlorida 2010: Advances in Analysis, Modeling & Design (pp. 283–292)

  • Zhang W, Gao J, Lan K, Liu X, Feng G, Ma Q (2015) Analysis of borehole collapse and fracture initiation positions and drilling trajectory optimization. J Pet Sci Eng 129:29–39

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zoback MD (2010) Reservoir geomechanics. Cambridge University Press

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Imam Khomeini International University, Qazvin, Iran

    Mehdi Hosseini, Naser Behnam & Mehdi Aria

Authors
  1. Mehdi Hosseini
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Naser Behnam
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Mehdi Aria
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mehdi Hosseini.

Additional information

Responsible Editor: Murat Karakus

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Hosseini, M., Behnam, N. & Aria, M. Determination of a safe drilling mud window and optimal drilling mud pressure by shear and tensile failure criteria. Arab J Geosci 13, 649 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-020-05594-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-020-05594-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation