Local Rotations in Borehole Breakouts—Observed and Modeled Stress Field Rotations and Their Implications for the Petroleum Industry
Publication: International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 6, Issue 6
Abstract
Existing borehole breakout techniques are used to estimate the orientation of maximum horizontal stress (SHmax) with depth at a single borehole location. This method often results in regional (between boreholes) and local (with depth) scatter. It is important to understand the reason for the variability rather than disregard data because it does not conform to a tight data set. SHmax variability can be due to rotations of the stress field caused by a stiffness differential between the fault plane and surrounding rock mass. A case study in the Penola Trough, Otway Basin, South Australia, is presented where the orientation of borehole breakouts rotate with depth. The stress field rotations at the well locations can be successfully modeled with the two-dimensional distinct-element code, and compared with borehole breakout data. It is, therefore, possible to use borehole breakouts to assist in the selection of fault parameters for input into simple computational stress models.
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Acknowledgments
The writers would like to thank Origin Energy Resources Ltd., particularly Dr. Richard Suttill, for providing data and technical advice and Dr. Lee Allison for his assistance during this study, Commonwealth Science Industry Research Organization (C.S.I.R.O.) Petroleum Division, the University of Adelaide for providing financial support; and also Itasca for providing the 2D code UDEC.
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Published In
International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 6 • Issue 6 • November 2006
Pages: 399 - 410
Copyright
© 2006 ASCE.
History
Received: Nov 3, 2004
Accepted: Jul 18, 2005
Published online: Nov 1, 2006
Published in print: Nov 2006
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