Oil & Gas Geology ›› 2019, Vol. 40 ›› Issue (1): 205-214.doi: 10.11743/ogg20190121

• Methods and Technologies • Previous Articles    

The stress concentration effect at fault end under various boundary conditions and its implications for fracture development

Qiu Dengfeng1,2, Yun Jinbiao1,2, Liu Quanyou1,2, Zhou Yan1,2, Ning Fei1,2, Song Haiming1,2   

  1. 1. State Key Laboratory of Shale Oil and Gas Enrichment Mechanisms and Effective Development, Beijing 100083, China;
    2. Laboratory of Structural and Sedimentological Reservoir Geology, SINOPEC Petroleum Exploration and Production Research Institute, Beijing 100083, China
  • Received:2017-11-28 Revised:2018-10-16 Online:2019-02-28 Published:2018-12-08

Abstract:

A fracture development play related to stress concentration of fault zone has high potentials for tight reservoirs and shale oil and gas.This study combined the methods of photo elastic physical modeling and finite element simulation to discuss the planar distribution patterns of stress field at fault's end,and took advantage of the elasticity mechanical theory to analyze the mechanism of stress field distribution.The results indicate that the fault's end displays the concentration of compression stress under the compression background.The stress concentration district extends outward in the shape of numeral "8" following a hyperbolic path centered on the most salient point of the fault's arc end,and its influence range increases with the growth of boundary stress intensity.The stress concentration degree tends to get stronger with the angle between boundary stress direction and fault strike increasing when the angle in the range of 0° to 90°,and reaches its summit at 75°.Besides,both the shape and the modeling method of fault have a significant impact on fault's end stress field.All in all,the stress concentration district at the fault's end has great potentials for the exploration and development of fracture reservoirs.

Key words: photoelastic, finite element, stress concentration, fracture, fault, tight reservoir, shale

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