Influence of pore pressure on velocity in low-porosity sandstone: Implications for time-lapse feasibility and pore-pressure study

As seismic data quality improves, time‐lapse seismic data is increasingly being called upon to interpret and predict changes during reservoir development and production. Since pressure change is a major component of reservoir change during production, a thorough understanding of the influence of pore pressure on seismic velocity is critical. Laboratory measurements show that differential pressure (overburden minus fluid pressure) does not adequately determine the actual reservoir conditions. Changes in fluid pressure are found to have an additional effect on the physical properties of rocks. The effective‐stress coefficient n is used to quantify the effect of pore pressure compared to confining pressure on rock properties. However, the current practice in time‐lapse feasibility studies, reservoir‐pressure inversion and pore‐pressure prediction is to assume that n= 1. Laboratory measurements, reported in both this and previous research show that n can be significantly less than unity for low‐porosity rocks and that it varies with porosity, rock texture and wave type. We report the results of ultrasonic experiments to estimate n for low‐porosity sandstones with and without microcracks. Our results show that, for P‐waves, n is as low as 0.4 at a differential pressure of 20 MPa (about 3000 psi) for a low‐porosity sandstone. Thus, in pore‐pressure inversion, an assumption of n= 1 would lead to a 150% underestimation of the pore pressure. Comparison of the effective‐stress coefficient for fractured and unfractured samples suggests that the presence of microfractures increases the sensitivity of P‐wave velocity to pore pressure, and therefore the effective‐stress coefficient. Our results show that the effective‐stress coefficient decreases with the differential pressure, with a higher differential pressure resulting in a lower effective‐stress coefficient. While the effective‐stress coefficient for P‐wave velocity can be significantly less than unity, it is close to one for S‐waves.     

Asymmetry in the time-lapse seismic response to injection and depletion

Large changes in seismic reflection amplitude have been observed around injectors, and result from the decrease in elastic‐wave velocity due to the increase in pore pressure in the reservoir. In contrast, the velocity change resulting from the decrease in pore pressure in depleting reservoirs is observed to be smaller in magnitude. Elastic‐wave velocities in sandstones vary with stress due to the presence of stress‐sensitive grain boundaries within the rock. Grain‐boundary stiffness increases non‐linearly with increasing compressive stress, due to increased contact between opposing faces of the boundary. This results in a change in velocity due to a decrease in pore pressure that is smaller than the change in velocity caused by an increase in pore pressure, in agreement with time‐lapse seismic observations. The decrease in porosity resulting from depletion is not fully recovered upon re‐pressurization, and this leads to an additional steepening of the velocity vs. effective stress curve for injection relative to depletion. This difference is enhanced by any breakage of cement or weakening of grain contacts that may occur during depletion and by the reopening or formation of fractures or joints and dilation of grain boundaries that may occur during injection.     

基于ADCIGS预测地层孔隙压力的方法研究

工业界计算孔隙压力系数普遍应用的Eaton和Fillippone方法都需要构建能够准确表征低速层的层速度模型,层速度模型精度及效率成为制约孔隙压力预测的关键参数,但目前工业界层速度建模的精度及效率很难满足孔隙压力预测的要求.本文由正常压实情况下的背景速度场出发,基于时距曲线公式及角道集抽取公式,创新推导了以角度域共成像点道集(ADCIGS)剩余曲率为自变量的孔隙压力系数计算公式,该公式完全由去噪后的地震数据进行驱动,不需要构建层速度模型,该方法大幅提高了计算孔隙压力系数的效率.由模型测试及实际数据应用证明,利用本文提出方法进行孔隙压力预测是有效可行的,该方法可以有效提高预测孔隙压力精度,还可以有效提高预测孔隙压力效率.     

水库蓄放水对库底岩石介质弹性波速影响的数值模拟

为了解水库水体加、卸载及渗透过程中,库底岩石介质有效应力变化对弹性波速的影响,以及弹性波速变化与孔隙压力、有效应力变化之间的定量关系,以四川省紫坪铺水库为例,在前期已建立库区地质构造与水文地质结构模型,并推导出岩石介质变形与流体渗流耦合数学模型的基础上,进一步建立了有效应力对岩石弹性波速影响的数学模型,利用有限元方法定量计算了库底岩石介质的孔隙压力、附加有效应力和弹性波速的变化。结果表明:在水库水体加、卸载及渗透过程中,地下岩石介质弹性波速增量值的变化并不明显,最大变幅仅为±0.013km/s,变化范围主要集中在库底5km以上的局部区域;弹性波速增量值与附加有效应力变化同步,与水库水位变化形态相似;不同观测点弹性波速变化量的大小与埋藏位置、深度及附加有效应力的变化幅度有关,同一观测点,弹性纵波波速变化幅度大于弹性横波波速。文中数值模拟的结果与一些学者通过环境噪声方法获得的紫坪铺水库附近区域相对波速变化的反演结果在变化形态上大体一致,但变化幅度略有差异。     

Pore water pressure increment model for saturated Nanjing fine sand subject to cyclic loading

Three groups of dynamic triaxial tests were performed for saturated Nanjing fine sand subjected to uniform cyclic loading. The tested curves of the excess pore water pressure (EPWP) ratio variation with the ratio of the number of cycles are provided. The concept of the EPWP increment ratio is introduced and two new concepts of the effective dynamic shear stress ratio and the log decrement of effective stress are defined. It is found that the development of the EPWP increment ratio can be divided into three stages: descending, stable and ascending. Furthermore, at the stable and ascending stages, a satisfactory linear relationship is obtained between the accumulative EPWP increment ratio and natural logarithm of the effective dynamic shear stress ratio. Accordingly, the EPWP increment ratio at the number of cycles N has been deduced that is proportional to the log decrement of effective stress at the cycle number N-1, but is independent of the cyclic stress amplitude. Based on the analysis, a new EPWP increment model for saturated Nanjing fine sand is developed from tested data fitting, which provides a better prediction of the curves of EPWP generation, the number of cycles required for initial liquefaction and the liquefaction resistance.     

不同时期水库地震活动主要影响因素讨论以三峡库区微震活动为例

结合微震活动的流体作用强度检测及孔隙压扩散模拟,讨论了三峡库区不同时期微震活动的主要影响因素。以2008年9月蓄水季为界划分前、后期,前期流体渗透导致的孔隙压力增加,使裂隙或断层面强度降低,是库区微震活动的主要影响因素,这一时期微震频次及ETAS模型参数μ值有起伏地缓慢增大,与库水位加卸载过程关系不明显; 后期由于流体渗透引起的孔隙压力变化趋于零,在新的流体平衡条件下,库水位加卸载过程所导致的裂隙或断层面上的应力变化,成为库区微震活动的主要影响因素,这一时期微震频次及μ值显示出与水位变化明显的关联特征。库区小震震源深度的时间变化支持上述观点。在此基础上,进一步讨论了水库“诱发”和水库“触发”地震的力学差异,认为前者主要缘于流体渗透导致的裂隙或断层面强度的“主动”降低,后者则主要与库水加卸载所导致的裂隙或断层面上应力增强有关。进一步推论认为,流体对小地震“诱发”、“触发”皆可能发生,但中强地震缘于流体“诱发”的可能性非常小,对水库区发生的中强地震,流体仅可能对处于临界状态的断层系统起到“触发”作用。     

水渗透引起的应力场调整及岩石强度弱化的初步研究

本文采用二维线弹性的两相多孔介质理论,对水库蓄水后由水渗透引起的耦合应力变化及岩石强度弱化进行了数值模拟计算。结果表明,由于水的渗透使得岩石中的孔隙压力增大,耦合应力随之减小,从而导致岩石的有效应力减小,同时抗剪强度也相应减小,其减小的量值可以与地震时断层面上的应力降相比。根据计算结果,本文讨论了由水渗透引起地震的可能机制。     

Stresses and excess pore pressure induced in saturated poroelastic halfspace by moving line load

This paper examines stresses and excess pore fluid pressure that are induced in a saturated poroelastic soil of halfspace extent by a concentrated line load. The line load is moving at a constant velocity along the surface of the poroelastic halfspace. The governing equations for the proposed analysis are based on the Biot's theory of dynamics in saturated poroelastic soils. The governing partial differential equations are solved using Fourier transforms. The solutions for the stresses and excess pore pressure are expressed in the forms of inverse Fourier transforms. The numerical results are obtained by performing the numerical inversion of the transform integrals. A parametric study is presented to illustrate the influences of the velocity of moving load and the poroelastic material parameters on the stresses and excess pore pressure. At a high velocity, the maximum values of the stresses in a poroelastic halfspace are smaller than those in an elastic solid, whilst at a low velocity the stresses in a poroelastic halfspace are larger than those in an elastic halfspace. The potential of diffusivity has an important influence on the stresses and excess pore pressure.     

Burial stress and elastic strain of carbonate rocks

Burial stress on a sediment or sedimentary rock is relevant for predicting compaction or failure caused by changes in, e.g., pore pressure in the subsurface. For this purpose, the stress is conventionally expressed in terms of its effect: “the effective stress” defined as the consequent elastic strain multiplied by the rock frame modulus. We cannot measure the strain directly in the subsurface, but from the data on bulk density and P‐wave velocity, we can estimate the rock frame modulus and Biot's coefficient and then calculate the “effective vertical stress” as the total vertical stress minus the product of pore pressure and Biot's coefficient. We can now calculate the elastic strain by dividing “effective stress” with the rock frame modulus. By this procedure, the degree of elastic deformation at a given time and depth can be directly expressed. This facilitates the discussion of the deformation mechanisms. The principle is illustrated by comparing carbonate sediments and sedimentary rocks from the North Sea Basin and three oceanic settings: a relatively shallow water setting dominated by coarse carbonate packstones and grainstones and two deep water settings dominated by fine‐grained carbonate mudstones and wackestones.     

Three-dimensional Green's functions for transversely isotropic thermoporoelastic bimaterials

Green's functions for transversely isotropic thermoporoelastic bimaterials are established in the paper. We first express the compact general solutions of transversely isotropic thermoporoelastic material in terms of harmonic functions and introduce eight new harmonic functions. The three-dimensional Green's function having a concentrated liquid source or a concentrated heat source in steady state is completely solved using these new harmonic functions. The analytical results show some new phenomena of the pore fluid pressure increment, thermal increment and stress distributions at the interface. In the two materials, the pore fluid pressure has the same distribution because of the common fluid permeability, but the situation is different for the thermal increment. Shear failure is most likely at the two sources due to the highly degenerated direction of shear stress contours.     

Evolution of the shear wave velocity during shaking modeled in centrifuge shaking table tests

Two in-flight shear wave velocity measurement systems were developed to perform the subsurface exploration of shear wave velocity in a centrifuge model. The bender elements test and the pre-shaking test used in the study provided reliable and consistent shear wave velocity profiles along the model depth before and after shaking in the centrifuge shaking table tests. In addition, the use of the bender elements measurement system particularly developed here allowed continuous examination of the evolution of shear wave velocity not only during and after the shaking periods in the small shaking events but also during the dissipation period of excess pore water pressure after liquefaction in the large shaking events. The test results showed that the shear wave velocity at different values of excess pore water pressure ratio varied as the effective mean stress to the power of 0.27, to a first approximation. Consequently, a relationship between the shear wave velocity evolution ratio and the excess pore water pressure ratio is proposed to evaluate the changes in shear wave velocity due to excess pore water generation and dissipation during shaking events. This relation will assist engineers in determining the shear stiffness reduction ratio at various r_u levels when a sand deposit is subjected to different levels of earthquake shaking.     

颗粒组成对粉土动强度的影响分析

以天津汉沽地区某挡土墙地基粉土为研究对象,首先对不同颗粒组成的粉土做固结不排水动三轴剪切试验,采用各向等压固结,周围压力等于100kPa。固结完成后在不排水条件下施加轴向激振力,试验波形为正弦波,振动频率1.0Hz,试验中以试样在周期剪切时轴向周期应变达到5%作为破坏标准,得出粉土的动强度受颗粒组成的影响。细颗粒含量越大,其动强度越小,黏粒含量为7.2%的粉土循环剪应力比CSR约为20.3%黏粒含量粉土的2倍。粉土的动强度可以用循环剪应力比和破坏振次建立的幂函数关系式较好地拟合。在剪切过程中,粉土的孔隙水压力一直没有达到所施加的围压数值,最终稳定在75%~85%围压之间。同时,试验还得出孔隙水压力的增长模式不能用统一的Seed模型拟合,孔压增长规律的影响因素较多。     

卡里巴水库蓄水引起库区应力场变化影响分析

水库地震是近几年国际上地震学和地球动力学领域研究的热点问题。 作为世界上库容最大的卡里巴(Kariba)水库在其蓄水后库区地震活动性不断增加, 并于1963年9月23日发生M6.1地震, 是世界上公认发生过6级以上水库地震的四大水库之一。 对该水库蓄水引起库区应力场变化进行量化估算, 有助于对特大—大型水库蓄水后库区应力场变化及应力触发地震这一基础性科学问题的深入了解。 本文分别应用解析解和数值解方法对卡里巴水库蓄水引起库区弹性应力场、 不排水和排水孔隙压力变化进行了计算分析。 结果表明, 卡里巴水库蓄水引起M6.1地震震源处孔压变化为0.015~0.22 MPa, 库仑应力变化约0.03~0.17 MPa, 触发了此次地震的发生。     

Mechanical compaction in heterogeneous clastic formations from plastic–poroelastic deformation principles: theory and applications

Mechanical compaction or loss of porosity due to increase in effective stress is a fundamental geological process that governs many of the rock elastic and transport parameters, all of great importance in exploring and developing subsurface reservoirs. The ability to model the compaction process enables us to improve our understanding of the seismic signature of the basin and better relate the geology of deposition to current porosity, velocity, pore pressure, and other mechanical parameters that depend on the state of compaction of the sediment. In this paper, a set of mathematical equations that can be used to model the plastic deformation associated with primary and secondary loading curves is presented. Compaction laws are posed in terms of natural strain increment formulation often used in plasticity theory to model large deformation. Laboratory and field estimates of constitutive plastic deformation relations for sand–shale mixtures are used in a numerical model that generates estimates of porosity under various pore pressures, shale content, and loading scenarios. These estimates can be used in a variety of settings to predict various basin and reservoir properties associated with different loading conditions and/or sedimentation processes.     

Strain energy based evaluation of liquefaction and residual pore water pressure in sands using cyclic torsional shear experiments

In this study, cyclic hollow cylinder torsional tests were conducted on the reconstituted specimens of Toyoura sand in a practical range of initial density and stress states. The results were employed to evaluate the liquefaction resistance and residual pore water pressure of sand using the strain energy concept. A simple pore water pressure (PWP) model with two calibration parameters was developed for the prediction of residual pore pressure as a function of cumulative strain energy density and the capacity energy of sand. Capacity energy is defined as the cumulative strain energy that is required for liquefaction onset. Based on the results of the tests, an equation is then presented for the estimation of capacity energy in terms of relative density and initial effective confining pressure of sand. This equation is shown to work well as a state boundary curve, which can discriminate between the liquefied and non-liquefied field case histories. Several extra tests were also performed to investigate the effect of initial static shear stress on the proposed PWP model and capacity energy. The results show that initial shear stress has a minor effect on the trend of the proposed PWP model; however, it definitely affects the capacity energy. The final part of the paper aims to confirm reasonable performance of the proposed PWP model by the available observations of seismically induced pore water pressure in shaking table, centrifuge, and real site conditions.     

介观尺度孔隙流体流动作用对纵波传播特征的影响研究——以周期性层状孔隙介质为例

介观尺度孔隙流体流动是地震频段岩石表现出较强速度频散与衰减的主要作用.利用周期性层状孔隙介质模型,基于准静态孔弹性理论给出了模型中孔隙压力、孔隙流体相对运动速度以及固体骨架位移等物理量的数学解析表达式,同时利用Biot理论将其扩展至全频段条件下,克服了传统White模型中介质分界面处流体压力不连续的假设. 在此基础上对准静态与全频段下模型介质中孔隙压力、孔隙流体相对运动速度变化形式及其对弹性波传播特征的影响进行了讨论,为更有效理解介观尺度下流体流动耗散和频散机制提供物理依据.研究结果表明,低频条件下快纵波孔压在介质层内近于定值,慢纵波通过流体扩散改变总孔隙压力, 随频率的增加慢波所形成的流体扩散作用逐渐减弱致使介质中总孔压逐渐接近于快纵波孔压,在较高频率下孔压与应力的二次耦合作用使总孔压超过快纵波孔压.介质中孔隙流体相对运动速度与慢纵波形成的流体相对运动速度变化形式一致;随频率的增加孔隙流体逐渐从排水的弛豫状态过渡到非弛豫状态,其纵波速度-含水饱和度变化形式也从符合孔隙流体均匀分布模式过渡到斑块分布模式,同时介质在不同含水饱和度下的衰减峰值与慢纵波所形成的孔隙流体相对流动速度具有明显的相关性.     

自由场典型液化特征数值模拟试验

应用FLAOD实现自由场液化数值模拟试验.试验结果验证了砂土液化典型特征:超静孔隙水压升高,有效应力降低,体积压缩积累增大.证实了液化的隔振作用:砂土在液化状态变为流体,不能传递剪力,液化时砂土位移、速度、加速度振幅显著降低,剪应力降低,动水向上渗流,土体向下沉降,水平残留不可恢复位移.球压应力、有效压应力、动水压力满...     

FRICTIONAL SLIDING OF PLAGIOCLASE GOUGE UNDER LOWER-CRUST TEMPERATURE AND RELATIVELY LOW EFFECTIVE NORMAL STRESS

The discovery of tremors on the lower crust portion of the San Andreas Fault has attracted more attention on the mechanical properties of the lower crust in recent years, and some experimental studies have been carried out to understand the mechanical behavior. Previous experiments under effective normal stresses of 200MPa have shown that pyroxene and plagioclase mineral separated from the gabbro and their mixtures all show velocity weakening in the lower-crust temperature range, which results in unstable slip when frictional sliding is the dominant deformation mechanism. This work is to examine whether the velocity-weakening behavior of plagioclase gouge also applies to relatively lower effective normal stress. Our experiments were performed under effective normal stress of about 100MPa, with a constant confining pressure control, with pore pressure of 30MPa and temperature of 100℃ to 600℃. We found that the frictional sliding of plagioclase are basically the same with the previous results obtained under effective normal stress of 200MPa, both of which show velocity weakening over the entire temperature range. The only difference is the out-of-trend drop of constitutive parameter a at 600℃ for the lower effective normal stress of 100MPa. It is thus concluded that reducing the effective normal stress has little effect on the sliding stability of plagioclase, and the previous conclusion made for mechanical behavior of the lower crust that unstable slips are possible therein also applies to the lower effective normal stress of 100MPa.     

水热条件下富层状硅酸盐矿物糜棱岩的摩擦特性实验研究

为探索断层岩石摩擦特性对于断层力学性质的影响,我们采集了龙门山汶茂断裂韧性剪切带中的富含层状硅酸盐矿物的糜棱岩样品进行了水热条件下摩擦滑动实验研究.实验在三轴压机之上完成,实验温度为100~600℃,有效正压力100MPa,孔隙水压分别为30MPa和130MPa.为获得摩擦滑动的稳定性参数(a-b),剪切滑移速率在1.22μm·s-1,0.244μm·s-1和0.0488μm·s-1之间切换.实验发现在200~500℃的温度范围内,摩擦系数随着温度的增加而显著增大(约0.56~0.72).在200~300℃范围内,随温度的升高糜棱岩的摩擦滑动表现出由稳定的速度强化向不稳定速度弱化转变的趋势.在有效正压力不变的情况下,孔隙水压的增大会促进糜棱岩的摩擦滑动在500~600℃温度范围内由不稳定的速度弱化向稳定的速度强化的转变.实验给出的断层在原地深度处的脆性和塑性变形机制的转变,有助于理解断层深部的地震成核机制以及成核的温压条件.     

Modelling the seismic attributes of overpressured siliciclastic rocks, with a genetic annealing (GAN) algorithm

ABSTRACT A genetic annealing (GAN) algorithm is used to derive an empirical model which predicts compressional-wave velocity values for overpressured siliciclastic rocks. The algorithm involves non-linear random searching and mutation techniques and its annealing component imposes a very strict control over the rate of convergence of the search. This technique provides an alternative to the standard calculations involving the effective stress coefficient ( n ). The pore pressure is introduced into the model as an explicit variable and as part of an overpressure coefficient, ( P _p/ P _c) − the ratio of pore to confining pressure. Empirical model-derived data and known laboratory data are compared and their differences are shown to be within statistically acceptable error limits. The empirical equation fits all under- and overpressured data simultaneously, irrespective of pore fluid pressure level, with the same parameters. It is used to predict seismic velocities very accurately for extreme levels of overpressure, starting from normally pressured experimental data. The model highlights the effect of pore pressure on the compressional-wave velocity of fully saturated samples with different clay contents. It can be used when the experimental data available are sparse and particularly when a prediction of material behaviour is necessary at specific pore fluid pressure and depth conditions.