Analysis of Geomechanical Properties in Well Design and Well Optimization
Main aspect in wellbore instability is the selection of an appropriate rock failure criterion. This criterion involves only the maximum and minimum principal stresses 1  and 3  and therefore assumes that the intermediate stress 2  has no influence on the rock strength. When Mohr-Coulomb criterion was developed it justified by experimental evidence from conventional triaxial test ( 1  > 3 2    ). Based on triaxal failure machine the Mohr-Coulomb criterion has been extensively used to represent rock failure under the polyaxial stress state ( 1  > 3 2    ). In contrast to the prediction of redistribution Mohr-Coulomb much evidence has been accumulating to suggest that 2  thus indeed have a strengthening effect. This research shown that Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion only represent, that triaxial stress state ( 1  = 1 2 3     or ) which only occasionally encountered in-situ.The linear failure criterion has been justified by experimental evidence from triaxial tests as well as polyaxial test. It is natural extension of the classical Mohr-Coulomb criterion into three dimensions. As the Mohr-Coulomb criterion only represents rock failure under triaxial stress state, it is expected to be conservative in predicting well bore instability. The 3D analytical model employed by MogiCoulomb has been achieved by using linear elasticity theory to calculate the stresses. A model was developed used in analyzing shale intrusion, at depth 6100ft the well bore pressure of the formation is found to be 0.9180psi/ft and decreases to 0.420psi/ft at depth 7300ft. The membrane efficiency of the formation increases from 0.698 to 0.719 at the depth considered above.
Coupled salt and water flows in a groundwater basin
The postulates of irreversible thermodynamics and the law of conservation of mass were combined to yield two simultaneous partial differential equations describing the simultaneous transient-state flow of salt and water in fine-grained sediments. The resulting equations have been used to analyze the movements of groundwater and salt in a subterranean aquitard in the Oxnard, California, basin, a multiple aquifer system, which has been subjected to lateral seawater invasion of an upper aquifer. Chemico-osmotic coupling may induce a small chemico-osmotic consolidation of the aquitard (0.3 mm) over a period of about 25 years, but the aquitard should act as an effective pollution barrier to the movement of NaCl into a freshwater aquifer below. The ‘tightness’ of the aquitard to salt movement depends mainly on aquitard thickness, hydraulic permeability, and drawdown in overlying and underlying aquifers.
Igneous Rock Associations 23. The Bushveld Complex, South Africa: New Insights and Paradigms
SUMMARYThe Bushveld Complex has continued to serve as the basis for study into the fundamental nature of petrological processes for layered intrusion formation and for oxide and sulphide hosted Platinum Group Element (PGE)–Cu–Ni ore deposits. These studies have included discoveries in terms of the physical extent of Bushveld magmatism, both laterally and internally. Lateral variations in the mafic to ultramafic Rustenburg Layered Suite of the Northern Lobe of the complex have also revealed petrologically distinctive Upper Critical Zone equivalent rocks (the so-called Flatreef) with enhanced contamination and mineralization traits that reflect a transition between Eastern and Western Lobe equivalent stratigraphy and Platreef-style complexity. Traditional magma mixing models have been re-examined in light of radiogenic isotopic evidence for crustal involvement early in the chromite precipitation or formation process, combined with evidence for associated heterogeneous fluid contents, cryptic layering profiles, and textural evidence. A wide variety of alternative ore-genesis models have been proposed as a consequence. The fundamental mechanics of magma chamber processes and the existence of the magma chamber as an entity have been called into question through various lines of evidence which have promoted the concept of progressive emplacement of the complex as a stack of not-necessarily-quite-sequentially intruded sills (with or without significant quantities of transported phenocrysts), emplaced into variably crystallized and compacted crystal-liquid mush mixtures, modified by compaction-driven late magmatic fluid (silicate and aqueous) activity. Alternatively, petrological and geochemical observations have been used to discount these interpretations in favour of more conventional cooling and gravity-driven accumulation of silicate and ore minerals in a large, liquid-dominated system.RÉSUMÉLe complexe de Bushveld a demeuré à la base d’études sur la nature fondamentale des processus pétrologiques de formation d’intrusions litées et des gîtes des éléments du groupe platine (ÉGP)-Cu-Ni hébergés dans les oxydes et les sulfures. Ces études ont comporté des découvertes sur l’étendue physique, à la fois latérale et interne, du magmatisme de Bushveld. Les variations latérales de la suite stratifiée et mafique à ultramafique Rustenburg du lobe nord du complexe ont également révélé des roches équivalentes pétrologiquement distinctes de la zone critique supérieure (le communément désigné Flatreef) avec des traits de contamination et de minéralisation accrus qui reflètent une transition entre la stratigraphie équivalente des lobes est et ouest et la complexité de type Platreef. Les modèles traditionnels de mélanges magmatiques ont été réexaminés à la lumière de preuves isotopiques radiogéniques indiquant une implication de la croûte au début du processus de précipitation ou de formation de la chromite, combinées à des preuves de contenu fluide hétérogène associé, de profils de litage cryptique et de preuves texturales. Ainsi, une grande variété de modèles alternatifs de genèse de minerai a été proposée. La mécanique fondamentale des processus de la chambre magmatique et l'existence de la chambre magmatique en tant qu'entité ont été remises en question au moyen de divers éléments de preuve qui ont mis en avant le concept de mise en place progressive du complexe sous forme d'un empilement non-nécessairement séquentiel de sills injectés (avec ou sans quantités significatives de phénocristaux transportés) mis en place dans des mélanges de bouillie cristaux/liquide à cristallisation et compaction variable, modifiés par une activité tardive de fluide magmatique (silicaté et aqueux) induite par la compaction. Alternativement, des observations pétrologiques et géochimiques ont été utilisées pour écarter ces interprétations en faveur d'un processus plus conventionnel de refroidissement et d’accumulation de minérais silicatés et minéralisés induite par la gravité dans un vaste système à dominance liquide.