Behavior of Hydrocarbon Reservoir Sands and Sandstones
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 129, Issue 11
Abstract
Most new oil and gas reservoirs are discovered in sands and weak sandstones, and the petroleum industry has therefore generated an extensive amount of data from laboratory tests on these materials. Some of these data are reexamined in this paper within the context of recent soil mechanics research. Of key importance to petroleum engineers is the compressibility of the sands, and this is shown to be related both to the current density and stress level of the soil and to the location of its normal compression line. When present, the cement bonds between the particles appear to be weaker than the particles themselves, so that the major yield point during compression is still associated with breakage of the particles rather than of the cement bonds. The paper also examines the behavior of the sands and sandstones in shearing, allowing a more general understanding of the mechanics of the materials to be developed.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Airey, D. W., and Fahey, M.(1991). “Cyclic response of calcareous soil from the north-west shelf of Australia.” Geotechnique, 41(1), 101–121.
Baldi, G., Hight, D. W., and Thomas, G. E.(1988). “A re-evaluation of conventional triaxial test methods.” ASTM Spec. Tech. Publ., 977, 219–263.
Been, K., and Jefferies, M. G.(1985). “A state parameter for sands.” Geotechnique, 35(2), 99–112.
Been, K., Jefferies, M. G., and Hachey, J.(1991). “The critical state of sands.” Geotechnique, 41(3), 365–381.
Clough, G. W., Rad, N. S., Bachus, R. C., and Sitar, N.(1981). “Cemented sands under static loading.” J. Geotech. Eng. Div., Am. Soc. Civ. Eng., 107(6), pp. 799–817.
Coop, M. R., and Jovicic, V. (1999). “The influence of state on the very small strain stiffness of sands.” 2nd Int. Symp. Pre-failure Deformation of Geomaterials, IS-Torino 99, Turin, Italy, 175–181.
Coop, M. R., and Lee, I. K. (1993). “The behaviour of granular soils at elevated stress.” Predictive soil mechanics, Proc. Wroth Mem Symp., Thomas Telford, London, 101–112.
Cuccovillo, T., and Coop, M. R.(1997). “The measurement of local axial strains in triaxial tests using LVDTs.” Geotechnique,47(1), 167–171.
Cuccovillo, T., and Coop M. R.(1999). “On the mechanics of structured sands.” Geotechnique,49(6), 741–760.
Fernandez, A. L., and Santamarina, J. C.(2001). “Effect of cementation on the small-strain parameters of sand.” Can. Geotech. J., 38, 191–199.
Hendron, A. (1963). The behavior of sand in one-dimensional compression, PhD disseration, Univ. of Illinois, Urbana, Ill.
Jovicic, V., and Coop, M. R.(1997). “Stiffness of coarse grained soils at small strains.” Geotechnique, 47(3), 545–561.
Kwag, J. M., Ochiai, H., and Yasafuku, N. (1999). “Yielding stress characteristics of carbonate sand in relation to individual particle fragmentation strength.” Engineering for calcareous sediments, Bahrain, Al-Shafei, ed., Balkema, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, (1), 79–86.
Lade, P. V., and Yamamuro, J. A.(1996). “Undrained sand behavior in axisymmetric tests at high pressures.” J. Geotech. Eng., 122(2), 120–129.
Lagioia, R., and Nova, R.(1995). “An experimental and theoretical study of the behaviour of a calcarenite in triaxial compression.” Geotechnique, 45(4), 633–648.
Lee, K. L., and Seed, H. B.(1967). “Drained strength characteristics of sands.” Soil Mech. Found. Eng. (Engl. Transl.), 93(6), 117–141.
Mesri, G., and Hayat, T. M.(1993). “The coefficient of earth pressure at rest.” Can. Geotech. J., 30, 647–666.
Miura, N., and Yamonouchi, T.(1975). “Effect of water on the behaviour of quartz-rich sand under high stresses.” Soils Found., 15(4), 23–34.
Pestana, J. M., and Whittle, A. J.(1995). “Compression model for cohesionless soils.” Geotechnique, 45(4), 611–631.
Plona, T. J., and Cook, J. M. (1995). “Effects of stress cycles on static and dynamic Young’s moduli in Castlegate sandstone.” Rock Mechanics, 35th Rock Mechanics Symp., U. Nevada, Reno, June 1995, Daemen and Schultz, eds., Balkema, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Rampello, S., Viggiani, G., and Silvestri, F. (1995). “Panelist discussion: The dependence of on stress state and history in cohesive soils.” Pre-failure deformation of geomaterials, Balkema, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 1155–1160.
Schofield, A. N., and Wroth, C. P. (1968). Critical state soil mechanics, McGraw-Hill, London.
Tatsuoka, F., Kohata, K., Mizumoto, K., Ochi, K., Kim, Y-S., and Shi, D. (1993). “Measuring small strain stiffness of soft rocks.” Geotechnical engineering of hard soils—Soft rocks, Anagnostopolous et al., eds., Balkema, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 809–816.
Verdugo, R., and Ishihara, K.(1996). “The steady state of sand soils.” Soils Found., 36(2), 81–91.
Vesic, A. S., and Clough, E. W.(1968). “Behaviour of granular materials under high stresses.” Soil Mech. Found. Eng. (Engl. Transl.), 94(3), 661–688.
Yamamuro, J. A., Bopp, P. A., and Lade, P. V.(1996). “One-dimensional compression of sands as high pressures.” J. Geotech. Eng., 122(2), 147–154.
Zhang, J., Rai, C. S., and Sondergeld, C. H. (1998). “Mechanical strength of reservoir materials: key information for sand prediction.” Society Petroleum Engineers/Int. Society Rock Mechanics, Eurock ’98, Trondheim, 291–298.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
Copyright © 2003 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 16, 2000
Accepted: Jan 15, 2003
Published online: Oct 15, 2003
Published in print: Nov 2003
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.