Module C-2:

Stresses Around a Borehole - II

Argentina SPE 2005 Course on

Earth Stresses and Drilling Rock Mechanics

Maurice B. Dusseault
University of Waterloo and Geomec a.s.
Stress Trajectories
sv stress trajectories are
lines which represent
the “flow” of stresses
sHMAX through the solid body

shear stresses cannot

circular
opening,
pass through a fluid,
pw however, compressive
stresses can (i.e. a fluid
pressure in a borehole)
sHMAX
on the boundary of the
opening, t is zero and
sr = pw (pressure)
sv

Example of a horizontal well

Stress Trajectories
 These are plots of how the principal
stresses “flow” around a hole or reservoir
 If the trajectories are closely spaced, the
compressive stresses are large
 If they are sparse, stresses are lower
 They provide a good visualization of how
the stresses are distributed
 For more detail and analysis, we plot them
along a radial line from the borehole (see
previous Module for examples)
Typical Borehole Instability Issues
 Pack-offs
 Excessive tripping and reaming time
 Excessive mud losses (fracturing losses)
 Stuck pipe and stuck or wedged BHAs
 Loss of equipment and costly fishing trips
 Sidetracks, often several in the same hole
 Cannot get casing to bottom
 Poor logging conditions, cleaning trips…
 Poor cementing conditions, large washouts
 These are all related in some way to rock
failure and sloughing
 Yield of Rock Around a Borehole
sHMAX
Axial borehole fractures develop
during drilling when MW is higher
shmin than sq (surges, yield). (This is
related to ballooning as well.)

Swelling or other geochemical filtrate

effects (strength deterioration,
Borehole pressure cohesion loss) lead to rock yield
= pw = MW  z

High sq
High shear stresses cause shear
yield, destroying cohesion
(cementation), weakening the rock
Low sq
Shear yield
Tensile yield
 Borehole Stability and Rock Failure
 The rock can yield somewhat around a borehole
but drilling can continue. Why?
 The yield process relieves high stresses, so
the yield zone stops propagating
 If we can still trip and drill ahead, the
borehole fulfils its function: it has not “failed”
 But, the rock around the borehole has yielded
and lost its cohesive strength
 This distinction is very important:
 Rock yield does not mean borehole loss
 Mud support pressure can sustain the hole, even if
the hole is surrounded by yielded (fragmented) rock
Cat-Scan of Hole Yield
 This is a tomographic
Equal far-field stresses - sh
Intact portion
Sheared region
reconstruction of a
hollow cylinder test
 The dark lines are
higher-porosity shear
bands around the hole
 The central part of
the hole is filled with
spalled rubble
 This is evidence of
typical borehole yield
in a symmetrical
stress field
Are Breakouts Serious?
Breakouts are evidence that there is a
stress difference in the plane normal
to the hole. They also indicate that
the rock in the breakout area has
sMAX surpassed its strength. However, they
are not a sign of impending full
collapse unless they grow in an
uncontrolled manner.

Rock mechanics analysis can predict

the onset of breakouts and yield, but
less successful in predicting complete
opening collapse. Collapse is a
smin complex structural response affected
by many factors including stresses,
strength, fabric of the rock, drilling and
tripping practices, and so on…
Geochemical Effects
 Swelling or shrinkage can occur because of
geochemical effects in shales
 Geochemical changes lead to swelling or shrinkage!
 This ΔV changes the tangential stresses (Δσ’θ)

 Swelling always leads to problems:

 Rock yield from high hoop stresses
 Deterioration of cohesion from chemistry changes
and small volume changes
 Squeezing of borehole, mudrings, poor mud…

 Shrinkage can also reduce strength because

any ΔV helps degrade grain-to-grain cohesion
 Modest shrinkage or no shrinkage are best
 What is a Washout?
 When shale yields (high sq), it weakens and
tends to fragment
 If filter cake is poor, sr is low (no support
for the shale fragments)  sloughing
 Washouts develop all around the borehole,
roughly symmetric (made worse by fissility)

gage = ri Washouts,
Stresses
“flow” gage no strong
shmin
around orientation
borehole

breakouts yielded shale

sHMAX
Borehole Wall Features & Failure
0 90 180 270 360
 Axial fractures (high axial fractures
MW) are not rock
failure and deterioration
breakouts
 Breakouts are evidence
of rock shear failure
 Large washouts as well,
leading to problems…
 Natural fractures are washout
not usually a problem,
except if they are high-
angle and can slip
 This case is more
common than thought
Natural fracture traces
 Sandstone Mudcake, p Support
pressure
Excellent support pw
MW

p across p(r), steady-state,

mudcake no mud-cake

po

p(r) with mudcake

distance (r)
borehole

mudcake

sandstone
limited solids
invasion depth
 Filter Cake in Sandstones
sHMAX
 Filter cake is made of
clays, polymers, etc.
po
 Very low permeability
shmin

Filter cake
 Sand k is much larger
than cake k…
 Allowing the pressure
pw difference to give a
direct support stress
Damaged rock held  Therefore: sands almost
in place by +ve never slough, but:
mud support
 Differential sticking is
an issue in sandstones
The positive support pressure in a
sandstone is usually close to pw – po
because permeability is high
 Shale Mudcake, p Support
pressure

MW pw
p(r), steady-state, @ t = ∞
now, no more mud-cake effect!

mudcake? shale
This is a time-dependent process

po

p(r) initially, @ t = 0. This is an

excellent support condition
distance (r)
borehole

Because no mudcake can form on a shale, slow

shale pressure penetration takes place, and the support
pressure effect is slowly destroyed
 Filter Cake in Shales
sHMAX
 Intact shale k is much
lower than cake k…
po
Support lost with time A true filter cake cannot
shmin

form on the borehole wall

 Initially, support is good
 But, with t, it decays…
pw  Rock yields = microfissures
 pw penetrates more fully
into the damaged region
Damaged rock is not
held in place by mud  p support is lost leading
pressure and high k
to sloughing, breakouts…
 A time-dependent process!
The support pressure in
shale is a function of time
Cake Efficiency Management
 Using OBM in intact shale gives excellent
efficiency, good p support, reducing the
shear stresses in the borehole wall
 In fractured shale, OBM often ineffective:
 Filtratepenetrates the small fractures
 No p across wall can be sustained (no cake)
 These shales easily slough on trips, connections

 When using WBM

 Gilsonite, dispersed glycol, fn.-gr. solids can
help plug small induced microfissures
 This helps maintain good p across the wall
 But! Geochemical effects can take place.
 Damage Effect on p Support
pressure no p for wall support
mud pressure
pw

B(damaged borehole)

transient A(intact p(r) curves

pressure borehole) with time
curves

po
formation pressure
pressure gradient
drops with time

borehole
distance (r)
shale low permeability shale, no mudcake

High sq leads to rock damage. This permits pressure penetration, loss of

radial mud support. It is time-dependent, and reduces stability.
Thermal Destabilization
shear stress Shear strength criterion for
the rock around the borehole

heating leads to initial

Y conditions
borehole destabilization
sr To
po
sq
mud
support T + T si,j

sq

normal
stress
sr sq sq + sq

When the stress state semicircle “touches” the strength

criterion, it is assumed that this is the onset of rock
deterioration (not necessarily borehole collapse…)
 Thermal Alterations of sq
These curves show the hoop stress calculated using an assumption of
heating and an assumption of cooling. Clearly, heating a borehole
increases the magnitude of the stress, and leads to hole problems.
Cooling the borehole is generally always beneficial to stability.
tangential
Except for heating, most
stress - sq
processes reduce the sq]max
sq (r) for heating value at the borehole wall

sq]max
sq (r) for cooling

Kirsch elastic solution Initial sh

To thermoelastic heating (convection)
thermoelastic cooling (convection) radius
Tw
borehole
What Happens with Hot Mud?
 The rock in the borehole wall is heated
 Thermal expansion takes place
 This “attracts” stress to the expanding
zone around the well
 The peak stress rises right at the borehole
wall, and yield and sloughing is likely
 For cooling, the rock shrinks; this allows
the stress concentration to be displaced
away from the borehole, helping stability
 Cooling occurs at and above the bit
 Heating occurs farther uphole
Heating and Cooling in the Hole
T
cooling
in tanks Heating occurs uphole, cooling
downhole. The heating effect can
mud up casing be large, exceptionally 30-35°C in
annulus
long open-hole sections in areas
with high T gradients.
heating
geothermal shoe Heating is most serious at the last
temperature shoe. The shale expands, and this
+T
open increases sq, often promoting
hole
mud failure and sloughing.
down
pipe drill
pipe At the bit, cooling, shrinkage, both
of which enhance stability.
mud
temperature -T Commercial software exists to draw
BHA

cooling these curves

depth bit
 Expansion and Borehole Stresses
D
See Module C
This is the standard
“lost” s elastic case of borehole
“elastic” rocks resistribute the “lost” stress stress redistribution

D
High sq near the hole

This is the case of rock

heating when the mud is
hotter than the formation
“elastic” rocks redistribute thermal stresses as well

expanding
“rocks”
Thermal Stresses Around Boreholes
 Heat transfer: conductive or convective
 Conductive: low permeability rock – shale, salt
 Convective: high permeability rocks – sandstone

 The stress distributions are different for

these cases, and conduction is much slower
 Heating increases σθ, and shear failure is
more likely (= sloughing)
 Cooling reduces hoop stresses, and short
axial fracturing is more likely
 In general, the effects of axial fracturing
on stability are not substantial
 Effect of Rock Yield on sq
These curves show sq calculated assuming that rock yield occurs once
a limit stress has been exceeded. One curve is for a very simple model
of yield, the other for a more complex case. In all yield cases, the stress
concentration is reduced, and the peak pushed away from the borehole.
tangential
stress - sq
Except for heating, most
sq]max sq (r) processes reduce the sq]max
value at the borehole wall

Initial sh
Kirsch elastic solution
Yield solution A
Yield solution B radius
Rock Yield and Borehole Stresses
 When rock yields, it loses some of its load
carrying capacity, thus “shedding” stress
 This stress is pushed out into the rock
mass, and may cause adjacent rock to fail
 This reduces the magnitude of the hoop
stresses around the hole
 Therefore, yield is evidence of the rock
trying to find a stable equilibrium
 If the damaged (weakened) rock can be
held in place, the hole becomes stable
 If not, sloughing occurs & yield propagates
 Drilling-Induced Fractures

shift of peak stress site

stress
reduction in sq]min
sq,
damaged
sq
sq, intact
sr
damaged zone
po fractures are propagated
during drilling and trips
when effective mud
pressures exceed sq
borehole,
σHMAX pw
radius
limited depth fractures

σhmin
Induced Axial Fractures
 Near the borehole, yield causes a reduction
in the hoop stress, sq
 The MW may exceed sq near the wall
 When this happens, a short hydraulic
fracture opens up, but it terminates
against the zone of higher sq
 This can be exacerbated by high surges,
high ECD, etc.
 If this is significant, it leads to
“ballooning” or “breathing” of the well
Borehole Shear Displacement
 Vincent Maury (1987, Elf-Aquitaine)
 High angle faults, fractures can slip and
cause pipe pinching
 Near-slipearth stresses condition
 High MW causes pw charging sn pw
 Reduction in sn leads to slip
 BHA gets stuck on trip out

 Probably more common than we realize: we

never check for it, its effect is subtle on
logs because drilling destroys “evidence”
 Raising MW makes it worse! Lower MW…
Lessons Learned
 The hoop stress around the borehole can
be counteracted by good MW support
 In sands, no problem, in shales, problems
 Stresses around the borehole can be
affected by a number of factors:
 Geochemical effects that lead to shrinkage,
swelling, loss of cohesion…
 Thermal effects of heating or cooling
 Rock damage effects, breakouts

 Axial fractures are related to stresses

 Even slip of old fault planes or joints
Additional Material Relevant to
Stresses Around a Borehole
Review of Stresses and Boreholes
 In situ stresses:
 σv (Vertical/overburden stress) (or Sv)
 σh (Two horizontal stresses),, shmin and sHMAX
(sometimes you will see Sh, Shmin, SHMAX
 (sh - po) = K·(sv - po)
 In other words… sh = K·sv
 K = ƒ [n/(1- n)] if no tectonics…

 But, n is not constant; it varies with f (depth)

 Fracture gradients (shale vs. sand)

 Eaton’s curve
 Ballooning/fracturing (clean sand fractures
first in most stress regimes!)
MORE REVIEW
 Depleted sands
 Fracture gradient is lower than expected
 A “hesitation squeeze” can increase PF
 LCM injection, drilling with LCM + solids

 Stress concentration around a wellbore

 Gravity dominated stress system - GoM
 Tectonic system – high compression or extension
(Rocky Mtn. Foreland, North Sea Central Graben)
 Borehole breakouts are evidence of large
differences in stresses – s is large
 Breakouts vs. hole washouts: not the same

 These issues should be well understood

In RM, We Can Calculate Strength
 Rock Strength (next Modules)
 Failure in shear
 Failure in tension
 Borehole stability calculations (example…)
Minimum pressure for hole collapse:
Pw=[(3.shmax-shmin)/2](1 - sinf) + Pres·sinf
- So.cos f
Co = 2·So·tan (45+ f/2) (shear strength)
 We want to calculate stability, and use logs,
etc. to make assessments, predictions
Borehole Stability Philosophy
 Calculate stresses, compare to strengths
 Check for yield (rock failure)
 In many cases we must live with yield
 Breakouts, sloughing, etc.
 Careful surveillance to manage it

 If we avoid yielding the rock it is stronger

 If we reduce the hoop stress: less yield
 If we increase support p: less yield
 We do the best we can, but there is much
uncertainty.
EQUATIONS
 Effective (s) vs. Total stress (S or s)
s = (S - po) or (s - po) Pore press. = po
 Gravity dominated basin:
 Sv or sv  Overburden weight (known)
 sh = sv·[n/(1- n)] (estimate)
 [Sh - po] = [n/(1- n)]·[Sv - po]
 Here, n is Poisson’s ratio, see next section
 Remember that this is just an estimate;
measurements are always preferred…
E Q U A T I O N S (Contd.)
 Eaton & Pilkington’s Correlation to estimate
stresses, developed for the GoM
[Sh - po] = K[Sv - po]
K-> Stress Factor, empirically derived
Sv-> Overburden total stress = sv
Sh-> Minimum horizontal total stress = shmin
(Also called fracture gradient, PF)
SHMAX = sHMAX ~ Shmin in “relaxed” basins
Different in tectonically stressed cases
E Q U A T I O N S (Contd.)
 The General Stress System
 sv = (Sv - po) or (sv - po)
 sHMAX = (SHMAX - po) or (sHMAX - po)
 shmin = (Shmin - po) or (shmin - po)
 Tangential stress at the borehole wall:
 Vertical well case (best direction for drlg
in a relaxed basin or offshore continental
margin case where sHMAX ~ shmin < sv)
 Parallel to vertical wellbore (assuming pw = po)
 sq]max = 3sHMAX - shmin
 sq]min = 3shmin - sHMAX
E Q U A T I O N S (Contd.)
 Stress at the borehole wall (Contd.):
 Horizontal well cases
 Well parallel to maximum horizontal direction:
sq]max = 3sv - shmin
sq]min = 3shmin - sv

 Well parallel to minimum horizontal direction:

sq]max = 3sHMAX - sv
sq]min = 3sv - sHMAX
E Q U A T I O N S (Contd.)
 Borehole Stability (Contd.):
Pressure for vertical borehole fracture
breakdown:

pw = (3shmin) - sHMAX - po +To

To - Rock tensile strength, psi

We have to try to estimate and measure
these rock parameters, but going from lab
to field in this case seems not possible…