Evaluation of Geomechanical Characteristics

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Earth Sciences".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 December 2021) | Viewed by 8536

Special Issue Editor

University of Southern California
Interests: computational and experimental geomechanics; multiphase flow through porous media

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

It is our pleasure to announce the opening of a Special Issue on the evaluation of geomechanical characteristics in the Applied Sciences journal. Recently, geomechanics has become a major research topic in the geosciences area due to its role in hydrocarbon recovery, underground waste disposal, groundwater pumping, geothermal energy extraction, and geologic carbon sequestration. Problems of fluid-induced seismicity, hydraulic and thermal stimulation of rocks, enhanced oil/gas recovery from fractured or unconsolidated rocks, and ground subsidence or uplift cannot be solved without recourse to the concepts of geomechanics. One of the requirements for applying these concepts to a real subsurface site is that we understand the geomechanical characteristics of the rock that makes up the reservoir/caprock system and dictate its strength and failure response under thermo-hydromechanical loads. These characteristics often depend on geologic structure and mineralogic composition of the rock across nano–micro–macro scales. Recent advances in optical, acoustic, electrical, and mechanical testing and measurements have enabled higher resolution and more accurate characterization of geomechanical properties and processes in the lab and in wells. Application of machine learning methods on noisy and/or big datasets from lab and field measurements or computer simulations has shown promise in improving the structural and functional characterization of geomaterials.

This Special Issue is aimed at encouraging and publishing cutting-edge research in these areas. Some of the topics relevant for this issue include the following:

  • Effect of pore fluid type and properties on strength and failure response of geomaterials under various thermo-hydromechanical loads;
  • Recent advances in optical imaging and image correlation and tracking for stress and deformation mapping;
  • Active and passive acoustic monitoring with transmitted and reflected waves;
  • Electrical and electromagnetic characterization of porous structure and poroelastic properties;
  • Numerical modeling and simulation of acoustic/electrical/mechanical processes relevant for property measurement;
  • Relation between length/time scales of measurement and geomechanical properties;
  • Application of machine learning methods to process measured/simulated data to infer or estimate geomechanical properties. 

We look forward to receiving and publishing your research contributions in these and similar areas.

Dr. Birendra Jha
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • acoustic monitoring
  • experimental geomechanics
  • digital image correlation
  • numerical modeling
  • multiscale properties
  • electrical logging
  • resistivity imaging
  • fracture mapping
  • mechanical testing
  • machine learning

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 2538 KiB  
Article
Hydraulic Fracture Propagation Near the Cavity in a Poroelastic Media
by Anton Azarov, Andrey Patutin and Sergey Serdyukov
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(22), 11004; https://doi.org/10.3390/app112211004 - 20 Nov 2021
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1287
Abstract
In this paper, we investigate the problem of the propagation of hydraulic fractures in a poroelastic medium that has a circular cavity. The research was conducted using the extended finite element method (XFEM) implemented in the ABAQUS software package. The problem was considered [...] Read more.
In this paper, we investigate the problem of the propagation of hydraulic fractures in a poroelastic medium that has a circular cavity. The research was conducted using the extended finite element method (XFEM) implemented in the ABAQUS software package. The problem was considered in a plane formulation. The initial crack was oriented parallel to the surface of the cavity. It was shown that the path of the hydraulic fracture depends strongly on the hydrostatic stress in the medium and the distance between the crack and the cavity. We studied the influences of the poroelastic parameters, such as permeability and the Biot coefficient, on the propagation of cracks. It was shown that the cracks were less curved when the coupled problem of poroelasticity was considered. The features of fluid pressure changes inside the fracture and at the opening of the mouth were studied. It was shown that the fluid pressure in the fracture during injection was minimally sensitive to the state of the stress in the medium, to the position of the initial crack, and to the poroelastic parameters. The solution to the problem in this setting can be used to simulate hydraulic fracturing close to mine workings during a controlled roof’s collapse to prevent it from hanging, and the formation of impervious screens to reduce airflow from the mine to degassing boreholes through the rock, for example. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Evaluation of Geomechanical Characteristics)
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27 pages, 5549 KiB  
Article
A Machine Learning-Based Seismic Data Compression and Interpretation Using a Novel Shifted-Matrix Decomposition Algorithm
by Milan Brankovic, Eduardo Gildin, Richard L. Gibson and Mark E. Everett
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(11), 4874; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11114874 - 26 May 2021
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2063
Abstract
Seismic data provides integral information in geophysical exploration, for locating hydrocarbon rich areas as well as for fracture monitoring during well stimulation. Because of its high frequency acquisition rate and dense spatial sampling, distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) has seen increasing application in microseimic [...] Read more.
Seismic data provides integral information in geophysical exploration, for locating hydrocarbon rich areas as well as for fracture monitoring during well stimulation. Because of its high frequency acquisition rate and dense spatial sampling, distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) has seen increasing application in microseimic monitoring. Given large volumes of data to be analyzed in real-time and impractical memory and storage requirements, fast compression and accurate interpretation methods are necessary for real-time monitoring campaigns using DAS. In response to the developments in data acquisition, we have created shifted-matrix decomposition (SMD) to compress seismic data by storing it into pairs of singular vectors coupled with shift vectors. This is achieved by shifting the columns of a matrix of seismic data before applying singular value decomposition (SVD) to it to extract a pair of singular vectors. The purpose of SMD is data denoising as well as compression, as reconstructing seismic data from its compressed form creates a denoised version of the original data. By analyzing the data in its compressed form, we can also run signal detection and velocity estimation analysis. Therefore, the developed algorithm can simultaneously compress and denoise seismic data while also analyzing compressed data to estimate signal presence and wave velocities. To show its efficiency, we compare SMD to local SVD and structure-oriented SVD, which are similar SVD-based methods used only for denoising seismic data. While the development of SMD is motivated by the increasing use of DAS, SMD can be applied to any seismic data obtained from a large number of receivers. For example, here we present initial applications of SMD to readily available marine seismic data. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Evaluation of Geomechanical Characteristics)
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14 pages, 2847 KiB  
Article
Rock Emissivity Measurement for Infrared Thermography Engineering Geological Applications
by Simone Mineo and Giovanna Pappalardo
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(9), 3773; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11093773 - 22 Apr 2021
Cited by 29 | Viewed by 3151
Abstract
Infrared thermography is a growing technology in the engineering geological field both for the remote survey of rock masses and as a laboratory tool for the non-destructive characterization of intact rock. In this latter case, its utility can be found either from a [...] Read more.
Infrared thermography is a growing technology in the engineering geological field both for the remote survey of rock masses and as a laboratory tool for the non-destructive characterization of intact rock. In this latter case, its utility can be found either from a qualitative point of view, highlighting thermal contrasts on the rock surface, or from a quantitative point of view, involving the study of the surface temperature variations. Since the surface temperature of an object is proportional to its emissivity, the knowledge of this last value is crucial for the correct calibration of the instrument and for the achievement of reliable thermal outcomes. Although rock emissivity can be measured according to specific procedures, there is not always the time or possibility to carry out such measurements. Therefore, referring to reliable literature values is useful. In this frame, this paper aims at providing reference emissivity values belonging to 15 rock types among sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic categories, which underwent laboratory emissivity estimation by employing a high-sensitivity thermal camera. The results show that rocks can be defined as “emitters”, with emissivity generally ranging from 0.89 to 0.99. Such variability arises from both their intrinsic properties, such as the presence of pores and the different thermal behavior of minerals, and the surface conditions, such as polishing treatments for ornamental stones. The resulting emissivity values are reported and commented on herein for each different studied lithology, thus providing not only a reference dataset for practical use, but also laying the foundation for further scientific studies, also aimed at widening the rock aspects to investigate through IRT. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Evaluation of Geomechanical Characteristics)
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11 pages, 3059 KiB  
Article
Global Mechanical Behavior Characterization of Uniaxially Loaded Rock Specimen Based on Its Structural Evolution
by Tongzhen Xing, Haibin Zhu, Guangyan Liu, Yimin Song and Shaopeng Ma
Appl. Sci. 2020, 10(21), 7647; https://doi.org/10.3390/app10217647 - 29 Oct 2020
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1318
Abstract
Characterizing global mechanical behavior accurately is important for a detailed understanding of the deformation mechanism of rock material. In this paper, a new characterization model of the global mechanical behavior of rock is proposed, based on the structural characteristics of rock deformation. Uniaxial [...] Read more.
Characterizing global mechanical behavior accurately is important for a detailed understanding of the deformation mechanism of rock material. In this paper, a new characterization model of the global mechanical behavior of rock is proposed, based on the structural characteristics of rock deformation. Uniaxial compression tests were carried out using the digital image correlation method and acoustic emission to obtain the interrelationship between mechanical behavior and deformation evolution. The test results show that the appearance of deformation localization leads to non-linear evolution of global mechanical behavior in a rock specimen. Further, due to the gradual evolution of deformation localization bands, the rock specimen evolves from a complete whole to a rock structure with a “weak interlayer”. Thus, the global mechanical behavior of the rock specimen depends heavily on the structural evolution process, especially when close to failure. A simplified characterization model was established according to the deformation process. The finite element method was used to verify the rationality of the proposed structural model. The verification result showed that under uniaxial compression, the structural model can reproduce the global mechanical behavior evolution process of the rock specimen. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Evaluation of Geomechanical Characteristics)
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