ACOUSTICAL IMAGING AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF SOFT ROCK AND MARINE SEDIMENTS
The oil and gas industry has encountered significant problems in the production of oil and gas from weak rocks (such as chalks and limestones) and from unconsolidated sand formations. Problems include subsidence, compaction, sand production, and catastrophic shallow water sand flows during deep water drilling. Together these cost the petroleum industry hundreds of millions of dollars annually. The goals of this first quarterly report is to document the progress on the project to provide data on the acoustic imaging and mechanical properties of soft rock and marine sediments. The project is intended to determine the geophysical (acoustic velocities) rock properties of weak, poorly cemented rocks and unconsolidated sands. In some cases these weak formations can create problems for reservoir engineers. For example, it cost Phillips Petroleum 1 billion dollars to repair of offshore production facilities damaged during the unexpected subsidence and compaction of the Ekofisk Field in the North Sea (Sulak 1991). Another example is the problem of shallow water flows (SWF) occurring in sands just below the seafloor encountered during deep water drilling operations. In these cases the unconsolidated sands uncontrollably flow up around the annulus of the borehole resulting in loss of the drill casing. The $150 million dollar loss of the Ursa development project in the U.S. Gulf Coast resulted from an uncontrolled SWF (Furlow 1998a,b; 1999a,b). The first three tasks outlined in the work plan are: (1) obtain rock samples, (2) construct new acoustic platens, (3) calibrate and test the equipment. These have been completed as scheduled. Rock Mechanics Institute researchers at the University of Oklahoma have obtained eight different types of samples for the experimental program. These include: (a) Danian Chalk, (b) Cordoba Cream Limestone, (c) Indiana Limestone, (d) Ekofisk Chalk, (e) Oil Creek Sandstone, (f) unconsolidated Oil Creek sand, and (g) unconsolidated Brazos river sand. These weak rocks and sands are intended to represent analogs to the formations that present oil and gas engineers with problems during oil and gas production and drilling operations. A series of new axial acoustic sensors have been constructed (and tested) to allow measurement of compressional and shear wave velocities during high pressure triaxial tests on these weak rock and sand samples. In addition, equipment to be utilized over the next 18 months of the project have tested and calibrated. These include the load frames, triaxial pressure cells, pressure sensors, load cells, extensometers, and oscilloscopes have been calibrated and tested. The multichannel acoustic emission and acoustic pulse transmission systems have also been tested. Graduate research assistant, research faculty, and the laboratory technician have begun Tasks 4 and 5 which involve preparing the sand samples and rock samples for testing. The construction of the lateral acoustic sensors has also been started during this quarter as outlined in the project timeline. With the equipment having been tested and calibrated, and the samples now being prepared, the experiments are on schedule to be started in April, 2001.
- Research Organization:
- The University of Oklahoma (US)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- FC26-01BC15302
- OSTI ID:
- 813447
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: 1 Apr 2001
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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ACOUSTICAL IMAGING AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF SOFT ROCK AND MARINE SEDIMENTS
ACOUSTICAL IMAGING AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF SOFT ROCK AND MARINE SEDIMENTS