Elastic-Plastic Compaction of Geopressured Sandstone

Abstract

The economic development of United States Gulf Coast geopressured-geothermal energy resources depends in part upon an improved understanding of reservoir rock response to long-term aquifer production. Although field experiments have shown that rock mechanical response can significantly influence well production rates and that sand production problems can prevent efficient reservoir depletion, the absence of general reservoir rock models has hindered analytical studies of such problems. This paper provides experimental property measurements and a three-dimensional elastic-plastic constitutive model for sandstone cored from the most active Gulf Coast geopressured well currently in operation.