Estimation of the differential stress from the stress rotation angle in low permeable rock

Abstract Rotations of the principal stress axes are observed as a result of fluid injection into reservoirs. We use a generic, fully coupled 3‐D thermo‐hydro‐mechanical model to investigate systematically the dependence of this stress rotation on different reservoir properties and injection scenario...

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Main Authors: Moritz O. Ziegler, Oliver Heidbach, Arno Zang, Patricia Martínez‐Garzón, Marco Bohnhoff
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2017-07-01
Series:Geophysical Research Letters
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL073598
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author Moritz O. Ziegler
Oliver Heidbach
Arno Zang
Patricia Martínez‐Garzón
Marco Bohnhoff
author_facet Moritz O. Ziegler
Oliver Heidbach
Arno Zang
Patricia Martínez‐Garzón
Marco Bohnhoff
author_sort Moritz O. Ziegler
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Rotations of the principal stress axes are observed as a result of fluid injection into reservoirs. We use a generic, fully coupled 3‐D thermo‐hydro‐mechanical model to investigate systematically the dependence of this stress rotation on different reservoir properties and injection scenarios. We find that permeability, injection rate, and initial differential stress are the key factors, while other reservoir properties only play a negligible role. In particular, we find that thermal effects do not significantly contribute to stress rotations. For reservoir types with usual differential stress and reservoir treatment the occurrence of significant stress rotations is limited to reservoirs with a permeability of less than approximately 10−12 m2. Higher permeability effectively prevents stress rotations to occur. Thus, according to these general findings, the observed principal stress axes rotation can be used as a proxy of the initial differential stress provided that rock permeability and fluid injection rate are known a priori.
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institution DOAJ
issn 0094-8276
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publishDate 2017-07-01
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series Geophysical Research Letters
spelling doaj-art-d5758f5ce57946ba8acfe1cf872332602025-08-20T03:10:28ZengWileyGeophysical Research Letters0094-82761944-80072017-07-0144136761677010.1002/2017GL073598Estimation of the differential stress from the stress rotation angle in low permeable rockMoritz O. Ziegler0Oliver Heidbach1Arno Zang2Patricia Martínez‐Garzón3Marco Bohnhoff4Helmholtz Centre Potsdam GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences Potsdam GermanyHelmholtz Centre Potsdam GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences Potsdam GermanyHelmholtz Centre Potsdam GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences Potsdam GermanyHelmholtz Centre Potsdam GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences Potsdam GermanyHelmholtz Centre Potsdam GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences Potsdam GermanyAbstract Rotations of the principal stress axes are observed as a result of fluid injection into reservoirs. We use a generic, fully coupled 3‐D thermo‐hydro‐mechanical model to investigate systematically the dependence of this stress rotation on different reservoir properties and injection scenarios. We find that permeability, injection rate, and initial differential stress are the key factors, while other reservoir properties only play a negligible role. In particular, we find that thermal effects do not significantly contribute to stress rotations. For reservoir types with usual differential stress and reservoir treatment the occurrence of significant stress rotations is limited to reservoirs with a permeability of less than approximately 10−12 m2. Higher permeability effectively prevents stress rotations to occur. Thus, according to these general findings, the observed principal stress axes rotation can be used as a proxy of the initial differential stress provided that rock permeability and fluid injection rate are known a priori.https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL073598stress tensor rotationfluid injectionthermo‐hydro‐mechanical modeling
spellingShingle Moritz O. Ziegler
Oliver Heidbach
Arno Zang
Patricia Martínez‐Garzón
Marco Bohnhoff
Estimation of the differential stress from the stress rotation angle in low permeable rock
Geophysical Research Letters
stress tensor rotation
fluid injection
thermo‐hydro‐mechanical modeling
title Estimation of the differential stress from the stress rotation angle in low permeable rock
title_full Estimation of the differential stress from the stress rotation angle in low permeable rock
title_fullStr Estimation of the differential stress from the stress rotation angle in low permeable rock
title_full_unstemmed Estimation of the differential stress from the stress rotation angle in low permeable rock
title_short Estimation of the differential stress from the stress rotation angle in low permeable rock
title_sort estimation of the differential stress from the stress rotation angle in low permeable rock
topic stress tensor rotation
fluid injection
thermo‐hydro‐mechanical modeling
url https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL073598
work_keys_str_mv AT moritzoziegler estimationofthedifferentialstressfromthestressrotationangleinlowpermeablerock
AT oliverheidbach estimationofthedifferentialstressfromthestressrotationangleinlowpermeablerock
AT arnozang estimationofthedifferentialstressfromthestressrotationangleinlowpermeablerock
AT patriciamartinezgarzon estimationofthedifferentialstressfromthestressrotationangleinlowpermeablerock
AT marcobohnhoff estimationofthedifferentialstressfromthestressrotationangleinlowpermeablerock