In situ stress field of eastern Australia

New in situ data based on hydraulic fracturing and overcoring have been compiled for eastern Australia, increasing from 23 to 110 the number of in situ stress analyses available for the area between and including the Bowen and Sydney Basins. The Bowen Basin displays a consistent north‐northeast maximum horizontal stress (σ_H) orientation over some 500 km. Stress orientations in the Sydney Basin are more variable than in the Bowen Basin, with areas of the Sydney Basin exhibiting north‐northeast, northeast, east‐west and bimodal σ_H orientations. Most new data indicate that the overburden stress (σ_V) is the minimum principal stress in both the Bowen and Sydney Basins. The Sydney Basin is relatively seismically active, whereas the Bowen Basin is relatively aseismic. Despite the fact that in situ stress measurements sample the stress field at shallower depth than the seismogenic zone, there is a correlation between the stress measurements and seismicity in the two areas. Mohr‐Coulomb analysis of the propensity for failure in the Sydney Basin suggests 41% of the new in situ stress data are indicative of failure, as opposed to 13% in the Bowen Basin. The multiple pre‐existing structural grains in the Sydney Basin further emphasise the difference between propensity for failure in the two areas. Previous modelling of intraplate stresses due to plate boundary forces has been less successful at predicting stress orientations in eastern than in western and central Australia. Nonetheless, stress orientation in the Bowen Basin is consistent with that predicted by modelling of stresses due to plate boundary forces. Variable stress orientations in the Sydney Basin suggest that more local sources of stress, such as those associated with the continental margin and with local structure, significantly influence stress orientation. The effect of local sources of stress may be relatively pronounced because stresses due to plate boundary forces result in low horizontal stress anisotropy in the Sydney Basin.     

Numerical analysis of the effect of natural microcracks on the supercritical CO2 fracturing crack network of shale rock based on bonded particle models

The problem of predicting the geometric structure of induced fractures is highly complex and significant in the fracturing stimulation of rock reservoirs. In the traditional continuous fracturing models, the mechanical properties of reservoir rock are input as macroscopic quantities. These models neglect the microcracks and discontinuous characteristics of rock, which are important factors influencing the geometric structure of the induced fractures. In this paper, we simulate supercritical CO₂ fracturing based on the bonded particle model to investigate the effect of original natural microcracks on the induced‐fracture network distribution. The microcracks are simulated explicitly as broken bonds that form and coalesce into macroscopic fractures in the supercritical CO₂ fracturing process. A calculation method for the distribution uniformity index (DUI) is proposed. The influence of the total number and DUI of initial microcracks on the mechanical properties of the rock sample is studied. The DUI of the induced fractures of supercritical CO₂ fracturing and hydraulic fracturing for different DUIs of initial microcracks are compared, holding other conditions constant. The sensitivity of the DUI of the induced fractures to that of initial natural microcracks under different horizontal stress ratios is also probed. The numerical results indicate that the distribution of induced fractures of supercritical CO₂ fracturing is more uniform than that of common hydraulic fracturing when the horizontal stress ratio is small.     

Coupled finite‐element simulation of injection well testing in unconsolidated oil sands reservoir

This paper presents a finite‐element (FE) model for simulating injection well testing in unconsolidated oil sands reservoir. In injection well testing, the bottom‐hole pressure (BHP) is monitored during the injection and shut‐in period. The flow characteristics of a reservoir can be determined from transient BHP data using conventional reservoir or well‐testing analysis. However, conventional reservoir or well‐testing analysis does not consider geomechanics coupling effects. This simplified assumption has limitations when applied to unconsolidated (uncemented) oil sands reservoirs because oil sands deform and dilate subjected to pressure variation. In addition, hydraulic fracturing may occur in unconsolidated oil sands when high water injection rate is used. This research is motivated in numerical modeling of injection well testing in unconsolidated oil sands reservoir considering the geomechanics coupling effects including hydraulic fracturing. To simulate the strong anisotropy in mechanical and hydraulic behaviour of unconsolidated oil sands induced by fluid injection in injection well testing, a nonlinear stress‐dependent poro‐elasto‐plastic constitutive model together with a strain‐induced anisotropic permeability model are formulated and implemented into a 3D FE simulator. The 3D FE model is used to history match the BHP response measured from an injection well in an oil sands reservoir. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

新疆乌鲁木齐地区地震水化震例深入剖析

本文在水化前兆清理研究的基础上,采用统一的异常判别方法,应用适合本地区的“异常可靠性评价标准”,对新疆乌鲁木齐地区150km范围内的中强地震和反例事件进行了深入剖析,对水化异常与地震三要素的关系进行了统计分析。研究结果是制定地震水化异常判据和定量化指标的基础。     

岩石压剪性断裂特性及Ⅰ—Ⅱ型复合断裂判据

本文系统阐述了岩石压剪性断裂的特性,认为金属断裂力学复合断裂判据基本上不适用于压剪状态下的岩石斯裂;在此基础上,提出了新的岩石压剪性断裂判据:2COSθ_0/2(cosθ_0-1)[(1+1/f~2)~(1/2)-1]K_Ⅰ+[(sin θ_0/2-3sin 3θ_0/2)(1+1/f~2)~1/2+4sin θ_0/2]K_Ⅱ=4K_(Ⅰc),推导了起始断裂角ψ_0,说明了实验验证结果,指出了该判据在工程地质领域中的应用途径。     

地幔平衡部分熔融和岩浆分离结晶成因岩浆岩的判别

本文在讨论Ⅰ型（地幔平衡部分熔融成因）和Ⅱ型（岩浆分离结晶成因）岩浆岩元素丰度关系公式的基础上，建立了Ⅰ型和Ⅱ型岩浆岩系成因判别公式及判别法则。     

Statistical distribution of natural fractures and the possible physical generating mechanism

We have fitted field measurements of fracture spacings (from the vicinity of Lake Strom Thurmond, Georgia, U.S.A.) to the Weibull, Schuhmann and fractal distributions. The fracture spacings follow a fractal and Weibull distribution which implies that they were formed as a result of a repetitive fragmentation process. The limited variation of the fracture density with orientation in the study area suggests that the stress distribution generating these fractures may be uniform.     

用油田压裂资料估算应力值

本文比较了从油田压裂资料获得的应力值与专门的水压致裂应力测量结果。研究结果表明,前者的最小水平主应力可以和后者的精度相当,最大水平主应力的精度略低。以长庆油田岭261—2井1985年11月15日实际压裂记录结果和吉林油田东33—35井的压裂记录为例,提出了处理油田资料的方法,给出了相应的处理结果     

断裂对地下水力扩散的影响及其与诱发地震关系的讨论

本文重点讨论了断裂规模、断裂相交网络和断裂力学的性质对地下水力扩散的影响,及其与诱发地震的关系。指出断裂密集成带的地方,水力扩散大。根据流体流动规律,水力扩散沿断裂方向流体流速大,断裂越长越深,沿断裂方向水力扩散距离就越大。而水力扩散随深度的变化,由于不同深度上岩性变化和应力状态的不同,有的深度上的岩类可能出现扩容而增大水力扩散。因此它并不是随围压的增大而单值地减少。 文章指出断裂的末端和断裂的交汇处是地下水富集的地方,在水富集地方的四周,水力扩散比其它地方要大。另外现代活动的张性和张扭性断裂比压性和压扭性断裂的水力扩散大。文章还提出水沿断裂扩散是水库诱发地震的直接原因。水力扩散大的断裂,水库诱发地震的可能性大,规模大而活的断裂诱发地震的震级可能大。