Borehole stability in naturally fractured rocks with drilling mud intrusion and associated fracture strength weakening:A coupled DFN-DEM approach

Borehole instability in naturally fractured rocks poses significant challenges to drilling.Drilling mud invades the surrounding formations through natural fractures under the difference between the wellbore pressure(P w)and pore pressure(P p)during drilling,which may cause wellbore instability.However,the weakening of fracture strength due to mud intrusion is not considered in most existing borehole stability analyses,which may yield significant errors and misleading predictions.In addition,only limited factors were analyzed,and the fracture distribution was oversimplified.In this paper,the impacts of mud intrusion and associated fracture strength weakening on borehole stability in fractured rocks under both isotropic and anisotropic stress states are investigated using a coupled DEM(distinct element method)and DFN(discrete fracture network)method.It provides estimates of the effect of fracture strength weakening,wellbore pressure,in situ stresses,and sealing efficiency on borehole stability.The results show that mud intrusion and weakening of fracture strength can damage the borehole.This is demonstrated by the large displacement around the borehole,shear displacement on natural fractures,and the generation of fracture at shear limit.Mud intrusion reduces the shear strength of the fracture surface and leads to shear failure,which explains that the increase in mud weight may worsen borehole stability during overbalanced drilling in fractured formations.A higher in situ stress anisotropy exerts a significant influence on the mechanism of shear failure distribution around the wellbore.Moreover,the effect of sealing natural fractures on maintaining borehole stability is verified in this study,and the increase in sealing efficiency reduces the radial invasion distance of drilling mud.This study provides a directly quantitative prediction method of borehole instability in naturally fractured formations,which can consider the discrete fracture network,mud intrusion,and associated weakening of fracture strength.The information provided by the numerical approach(e.g.displacement around the borehole,shear displacement on fracture,and fracture at shear limit)is helpful for managing wellbore stability and designing wellbore-strengthening operations.

Experimental investigation on the reformation and strength weakening of hard limestone by acidizing

Several derivative disasters such as ground pressure disasters and methane explosions can be caused by the hard roof in coal mines.For limestone roofs with fine integrity and extreme hardness,collapse is difficult and the effect of conventional roof control methods is limited.Acidizing reformation is an effective way to weaken the strength of roof strata based on acid-rock reaction.In this study,the rock strength damage law and acid reaction characteristics were tested by the limestone acidification experiment.Besides,the strength degradation mechanism of limestone under the acidity effect was analyzed.The results show that the acid corrosion characteristics of limestone are obvious,as numerous mineral grains generate voids under the effects of acid corrosion,and more defects are formed inside.The acid-rock reaction is the most intense at the early stage and then gradually reaches dynamic equilibrium,and the acid corrosion rate of limestone is 4.24%(10%HCl,360 min).The hard limestone is damaged after acidification.Furthermore,the internal cracks can be induced to rapid initiation and unstable propagation under load,which reduces the strain required for rock failure by 33.33%.The failure morphology is more complicated,and the uniaxial compressive strength and elastic modulus decrease by 52.42%and 34.44%respectively.The strength weakening of hard roof after acidification is due to the defects such as intergranular cracking caused by the corrosion of rock crystals under acidity effect,which accelerate the initiation and propagation of internal cracks with external force.Macroscopically,acidification induced the deterioration of rock mechanical properties by reforming the roof structure.The feasibility of acidizing reformation method to control hard roof is confirmed in this study.

Stability of the Guiding Dike in Yangtze Estuary Under the Wave Load

During the construction of the guiding dike in the Yangtze Estuary, some of the caisson structures sank into the soil for 1 -5 m or slid about 20 m away from the original place when a strong storm attacked this area. Dynamic triaxial tests were carried out to simulate the behavior of foundation soils under wave loading. The test results show that the excessive settlement and lateral movement of the caissons are due to the weakening of the soft clay strength during the strong storm. The test results also show that the ability of the soft clay to resist the wave force will be greatly increased when the soft soil samples are suitably improved. Based on the test results, an improvement method combining vertical drains with surcharge loading was proposed to strengthen the foundation soil. On the improved soil foundation, the dike has been reconstructed and undergone several strong storms without any damage. A finite element approach has been developed for analyzing the settlement and stability of the dike under the action of strong storm.