Fundamental Behaviors and Borehole Deformation on Wellbore Stability and Sand Production in Conventional and Hydrates-Bearing Gas Reservoirs

Abstract

A general formulation for a coupled Thermal-Hydraulic-Mechanical with hydrate Dissociation (THMD) system is developed and applied to sand prediction for conventional gas and gas hydrate bearing sediments (GHBS). Two-phase fluid and conductive heat flow are coupled to an elastoplastic geomechanics model. Series of solutions for simplified models are presented. Fundamental geomechanics behaviors before and after plastic yielding, sanding, and gas hydrate dissociation are defined, discussed, and simulated differently and sanding onset for both conventional gas formations and GHBS are defined by an effective plastic strain (EPS) criterion. The accuracy and reliability of the proposed conventional model are verified by comparing the model prediction with the results of hollow cylinder tests on two different types of sandstone. The advantages of using the EPS over stress-based criteria as an indicator for onset of borehole collapse and sand production are discussed. Introducing a moving gas hydrate dissociation zone (front), the fundamental geomechanics behaviour and elastoplastic deformation of the skeleton formation are highlighted. The effects on sand prediction due to the characteristics of non-linear plastic yielding criteria and gas flow in porous media are also emphasized.