Analysis of Cavern and Well Stability at the Bryan Mound SPR Site Using the M–D Salt Creep Model
- Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
This report presents computational analyses that simulate the structural response of caverns at the Strategic Petroleum Reserve Bryan Mound site. The cavern field comprises 20 caverns. Five caverns (1, 2, 4, and 5; 3 was later plugged and abandoned) were acquired from industry and have unusual shapes and a history dating back to 1946. The other 16 caverns (101-116) were leached according to SPR standards in the mid-1980s and have tall cylindrical shapes. The history of the caverns and their shapes are simulated in a 3-D geomechanics model of the site that predicts deformations, strains, and stresses. Historical wellhead pressures are used to calculate cavern pressures up through July 2016. Because of the extent of heterogeneous creep behavior observed throughout the Bryan Mound site, a set of cavern-specific creep coefficients was developed to produce better matches with measured cavern closure and surface subsidence. For this new implementation of the model, there are two significant advances: the use of the multimechanism deformation (M-D) salt creep model to evaluate both steady-state and transient salt creep; and the creation of finite element mesh geometries for the caverns that nearly exactly match the geometries obtained through sonar measurements. The results of the finite element model are interpreted to provide information on the current and future status of subsidence, well integrity, cavern stability, and drawdown availability.
- Research Organization:
- Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Fossil Energy (FE), Petroleum Reserves
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC04-94AL85000
- OSTI ID:
- 1469064
- Report Number(s):
- SAND-2018-9708; 667601
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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