Tight gas and shale oil play an important role in energy security and in meeting an increasing energy demand. Hydraulic fracturing is a widely used technology for recovering these resources. The design and evaluation of hydraulic fracture operation is critical for efficient production from tight gas and shale plays. The efficiency of fracturing jobs depends on the interaction between hydraulic (induced) and naturally occurring discrete fractures. In this work, a coupled reservoir-fracture flow model is described which accounts for varying reservoir geometries and complexities including non-planar fractures. Different flow models such as Darcy flow and Reynold's lubrication equation for fractures and reservoir, respectively are utilized to capture flow physics accurately. Furthermore, the geomechanics effects have been included by considering a multiphase Biot's model. An accurate modeling of solid deformations necessitates a better estimation of fluid pressure inside the fracture. The fractures and reservoir are modeled explicitly allowing accurate representation of contrasting physical descriptions associated with each of the two. The approach presented here is in contrast with existing averaging approaches such as dual and discrete-dual porosity models where the effects of fractures are averaged out. A fracture connected to an injection well shows significant width variations as compared to natural fractures where these changes are negligible. The capillary pressure contrast between the fracture and the reservoir is accounted for by utilizing different capillary pressure curves for the two features. Additionally, a quantitative assessment of hydraulic fracturing jobs relies upon accurate predictions of fracture growth during slick water injection for single and multistage fracturing scenarios. It is also important to consistently model the underlying physical processes from hydraulic fracturing to long-term production. A recently introduced thermodynamically consistent phase-field approach for pressurized fractures in porous medium is utilized which captures several characteristic features of crack propagation such as joining, branching and non-planar propagation in heterogeneous porous media. The phase-field approach captures both the fracture-width evolution and the fracture-length propagation. In this work, the phase-field fracture propagation model is briefly discussed followed by a technique for coupling this to a fractured poroelastic reservoir simulator. We also present a general compositional formulation using multipoint flux mixed finite element (MFMFE) method on general hexahedral grids with a future prospect of treating energized fractures. The mixed finite element framework allows for local mass conservation, accurate flux approximation and a more general treatment of boundary conditions. The multipoint flux inherent in MFMFE scheme allows the usage of a full permeability tensor. An accurate treatment of diffusive/dispersive fluxes owing to additional velocity degrees of freedom is also presented. The applications areas of interest include gas flooding, CO₂ sequestration, contaminant removal and groundwater remediation. / text

This Master’s thesis seeks to develop a better understanding of how Indigenous voices can be included in water governance. As a starting point, social learning theory, collaborative governance and Indigenous and Canadian relations were carefully studied. Despite the large body of research on collaborative governance with First Nations and on social learning in water governance, little is known specifically about social learning processes in colonial contexts. Using grounded theory and Indigenous methodologies, this research investigates how the current approach to implementing the Province’s legal constitutional, “duty to consult” affects social learning processes and the inclusion of Indigenous people in water governance. Findings indicate that the laws and policies that have been created based on the Crown’s interpretation of Treaty 8, an agreement signed between the Fort Nelson First Nation and Canada in 1899. This duty to consult constrains social learning, as it does not allow for the flexibility needed for a reframing process that might bring the actors to a common understanding of Treaty 8, the treaty relationship and its application as such today, as a basis for future collaboration. Without reframing processes, the consultation process is perceived by the Fort Nelson First Nation, a Treaty 8 nation, to lack legitimacy and neutral facilitation. Subsequently, consultation is seen as a checkbox that must be completed, but fails to include First Nations’ knowledge, interests and concerns about impacts from development and appropriate accommodation. This research also investigates a new governance arrangement emerging in northeast BC, which changes the way Fort Nelson First Nation voices are included in decision-making. Processes of nation building and capacity building contribute to Fort Nelson First Nation’s New Approach to governance. The New Approach sees changes to the sites of authority, revenue and norms and beliefs, resulting in a governance innovation that circumvents the provincial government’s role in governance by creating a closer working relationship between industry and the Fort Nelson First Nation. The results are development planning and decisions that better reflect the Fort Nelson First Nation’s concerns and interests in the near future. / Graduate

Η ρύπανση του εδάφους από βιομηχανικά και αστικά απόβλητα αποτελεί παγκοσμίως ένα από τα σημαντικότερα περιβαλλοντικά προβλήματα. Ανάμεσα στους πιο επικίνδυνους ρύπους συγκαταλέγονται και οι υδρογονάνθρακες πετρελαιοειδών. Αναπόφευκτη συνέπεια της διαφυγής των υγρών ρύπων στο έδαφος είναι η μεταφορά τους προς στην ακόρεστη ζώνη του εδάφους μέσω μιας σειράς διεργασιών (ροή, διαλυτοποίηση, εξάτμιση, διασπορά, ρόφηση, κτλ) και η ρύπανση των υποκείμενων ταμιευτήρων υπογείων υδάτων. Οι πλέον κλασσικές μέθοδοι απομακρυσμένης (ex situ) απορρύπανσης εδαφών περιλαμβάνουν εκσκαφή και μεταφορά του εδάφους σε κατάλληλους χώρους (π.χ. αποτεφρωτήρες, βιο-σωροί, κλπ). Τα τελευταία χρόνια έχει αναπτυχθεί έντονο ενδιαφέρον για την ανάπτυξη και εφαρμογή τεχνολογιών επιτόπιας απορρύπανσης των εδαφών (in situ soil remediation) με χαμηλό κόστος και ελάχιστο περιβαλλοντικό αποτύπωμα. Στην παρούσα εργασία μελετώνται δύο σχετικά νέες μέθοδοι επιτόπιας απορρύπανσης: α) ο βιοαερισμός και, β) η έγχυση ατμού. Και στις δύο περιπτώσεις, για να αυξηθεί η ακτίνα δράσης της απορρύπανσης, το έδαφος διεγέρθηκε με την δημιουργία οριζόντιων υδραυλικών ρωγμών που λειτουργούν ως οριζόντια φρεάτια διαβίβασης και εξαγωγής ρευστών. Το πεδίο μελέτης είναι ένα πρώην στρατιωτικό αεροδρόμιο της Βόρειο-Δυτικής Πολωνίας, το Kluczewo, το οποίο έχει ρυπανθεί εκτεταμένα με κηροζίνη για μεγάλο χρονικό διάστημα (1935-1992). Το έδαφος της περιοχής αυτής παρουσιάζει ρωγμές ενώ η πορώδης μήτρα έχει σχετικά χαμηλή διαπερατότητα. Οι ίδιες γεωλογικές συνθήκες επικρατούν σε μεγάλο μέρος του υπεδάφους της Βόρειας Ευρώπης. Λόγω της ισχυρά ετερογενούς φύσης αυτών των εδαφών από την κλίμακα των πόρων στην κλίμακα του πεδίου και της δημιουργίας προτιμητέων μονοπατιών ροής, είναι αρκετά δύσκολο να σχεδιαστούν αποδοτικές μέθοδοι απορρύπανσης. Κύριος στόχος της εργασίας είναι η αξιολόγηση της απόδοσης των δύο μεθόδων απορρύπανσης μετά την εφαρμογή τους στην ακόρεστη ζώνη ετερογενούς εδάφους που έχει ρυπανθεί εκτενώς με υδρογονάνθρακες πετρελαιοειδών (κηροζίνη). Για να προσδιοριστεί η απόδοση κάθε μεθόδου, συλλέχθηκαν δείγματα εδάφους από ένα μεγάλο αριθμό σημείων και πραγματοποιήθηκαν χημικές αναλύσεις μέτρησης της συγκέντρωσης και της σύστασης των υδρογονανθράκων με GC-MS και GC-FID. Προκειμένου να διευκρινιστoύν καλύτερα οι κύριοι μηχανισμοί απομάκρυνσης του ρύπου και να εκτιμηθεί η αποδοτικότητα της έγχυσης ατμού και του βιοαερισμού, διεξήχθησαν πειράματα έγχυσης ατμού και βιοαερισμού και σε εργαστηριακή κλίμακα (oρθογώνιο κελί από PMMA με διαστάσεις 55 cm x 50 cm x 12 cm και υπό ακόρεστες συνθήκες). Λόγω των ετερογενειών της πορώδους δομής, στον βιοαερισμό ο κύριος μηχανισμός απομάκρυνσης ρύπου ήταν η εξάτμιση των υδρογονανθράκων και η σχετικά γρήγορη μεταφορά των ατμών μέσω διάχυσης και λόγω της μεγάλης βαθμίδας συγκέντρωσης από την μικροπορώδη μήτρα προς μονοπάτια προτιμητέας ροής (preferential flow paths) αέρα (αερισμός). Αντιστοίχως, λόγω της χαμηλής διαπερατότητας του εδάφους, στην περίπτωση της έγχυσης ατμού ο κύριος μηχανισμός απομάκρυνσης των ημι-πτητικών και μη πτητικών συστατικών ήταν η απόσταξη ατμού (δηλαδή η μείωση του σημείου ζέσεως των υδρογονανθράκων λόγω της παρουσίας μη αναμίξιμης υδατικής φάσης). Η σύγκριση των δύο μεθόδων απορρύπανσης με διάνοιξη οριζόντιων υδραυλικών ρωγμών έδειξε ότι και οι δύο μέθοδοι είναι αρκετά αποδοτικές όσον αφορά στη μείωση της μάζας του ρύπου (~72%) σε ισχυρά ετερογενή εδάφη με ρωγμές. Η έγχυση ατμού όμως είναι πολύ πιο γρήγορη (3 μήνες) από το βιοαερισμό (12 μήνες) αλλά ταυτόχρονα και αρκετά πιο ακριβή από αυτόν (14-25%). Όσον αφορά το ποσοστό μείωσης επικινδυνότητας του υπολειπόμενου ρύπου, ο βιοαερισμός δίνει με μεγάλη διαφορά καλύτερα αποτελέσματα (93%) από ότι η έγχυση ατμού (8-68%) όπου παρατηρείται και μεγάλη διακύμανση τιμών. / Soil contamination by industrial and urban wastes is nowadays one of the most important pollution problems worldwide. The petroleum hydrocarbons are included in the list of toxic pollutants that have contaminated extensive areas all over the world. An inevitable consequence of liquid pollutants release on the ground is their transport by a variety of mechanisms (e.g. gravity flow, dissolution, volatilization, dispersion, sorption, etc) in the unsaturated zone of soil, and subsequent pollution of the underlying aquifers. Conventional methods of ex-situ soil remediation are the soil excavation and its transportation in appropriate places (e.g. incinerator, bio-piles, etc). During the last years, there is a growing interest for the development and application of low-cost and sustainable (low environmental impact) in-situ soil remediation technologies. In the present work, two relatively new in-situ remediation technologies, bioventing and steam injection, were tested on the vadose zone of a low permeability and fractured glacial till sediment that was contaminated by jet fuel. The experimental site is situated in an abandoned military airport (Kluczewo) in North-Western Poland. The area was polluted extensively by jet fuel over a long period (1935-1992). The geological characterization revealed the existence of vertical desiccation fractures at the upper layers and horizontal/sub-horizontal tectonic fractures at the deeper ones, and a relatively low permeability and heterogeneous micro-porous matrix. The same geologic conditions dominate in a major part of the subsurface in Northern and Central Europe. Due to the multi-scale heterogeneities, ranging from the pore-scale to the field-scale, and the creation of preferential flow paths in such soils, it is very difficult to design successful remediation strategies based on vertical wells. For this reason, in both field experiments (bioventing and steam injection), the soil was stimulated by opening hydraulic fractures which acted as horizontal wells of fluid injection/extraction, and enhanced the influence radius of remediation. The main goal of the work is to evaluate, under field conditions, steam injection and bioventing as sustainable and efficient technologies for the removal of petroleum hydrocarbons from highly heterogeneous soils. In order to determine the efficiency of each remediation method, soil samples were collected from twelve wells and seven depths, and placed inside specific flasks pre-filled with dichloromethane (DCM). After the accelerated extraction of non-aqueous phase liquid (NAPL) from the soil and its dissolution in DCM, the composition and concentration of hydrocarbons (NAPL) was performed by using GC-MS and GC-FID. In order to clarify the main NAPL removal mechanisms and evaluate the effectiveness of steam injection and bioventing, lab-scale experiments were also conducted in soil tanks by using synthetic NAPL (PMMA cell with 55 cm x 50 cm x 12 cm dimensions) and keep the conditions comparable to the field ones. Due to pore structure heterogeneities, the main NAPL removal mechanism in bioventing was the volatilization of hydrocarbons and the fast vapour transfer through diffusion (due to the high concentration gradient) from the porous matrix to the high hydraulic conductivity preferential flow paths of injected air (ventilation). Respectively, due to the low soil permeability, in steam injection the main removal mechanism of semi- and non-volatile substances was steam distillation (namely the reduction of NAPL compounds bubble point because of the coexistence of immiscible water). The comparison of the two remediation technologies, steam injection and bioventing, indicate that both methods are efficient with respect to the reduction of the pollutant mass (~72%) in highly heterogeneous and fractured soils. With respect to cost issues, steam injection albeit faster, is 14-25% more expensive than bioventing. Finally, concerning the risks associated with the reduction of residual NAPL in groundwater, bioventing was more effective (~93%) than steam injection (8-68%).

[pt] O desenvolvimento e exploração das formações shale gas a nível mundial é relativamente recente, tendo seu início nos Estados Unidos no final da década 1990. A partir dos resultados obtidos com a aplicação do procedimento de fraturamento hidráulico, como método de estimulação, o estudo e avaliação de outros prospectos shale gas em outras regiões do mundo foi estimulado. No entanto, a análise, estudo e caracterização deste tipo de reservatórios são dificultados uma vez que devem ser levados em conta múltiplos fatores relacionados a geologia, mineralogia, petrofísica, geoquímica, entre outros. O fraturamento hidráulico é um processo hidromecânico acoplado com alto grau de dificuldade especialmente em reservatórios shale gas, onde existe a presença de fraturas. Um estudo numérico é conduzido neste trabalho com o objetivo de investigar o comportamento hidromecânico de uma fratura natural durante a injeção de fluido. O software UDEC (Universal Distinct Element Code) baseado no método dos elementos discretos foi empregado no desenvolvimento da modelagem numérica. O UDEC tem a capacidade de modelar o comportamento hidromecânico de uma fratura incluindo os fenômenos de abertura/fechamento das fraturas, cisalhamento e dilatação sob condições de contato ou separação. Nesta investigação numérica foram criados modelos de reservatório com fraturas naturais aleatórias por meio de uma distribuição voronoi visando representar a complexidade da rede de fraturas naturais presentes nas formações shale gas. Os resultados do estudo numérico mostram que o comportamento hidromecânico do sistema é fortemente dependente da variação de parâmetros como tensões in situ, viscosidade do fluido de fraturamento e taxa de injeção de fluido. Portanto, estes resultados proporcionam um melhor entendimento dos mecanismos de fraturamento e resposta da pressão de um tratamento de fraturamento hidráulico em um reservatório de gás não-convencional naturalmente fraturado. / [en] The development and deployment of shale gas formations around the world are relatively recent, starting in the United Stated in the late 1990. From the results obtained with the application of hydraulic fracturing as a method of stimulation, the study and evaluation of other prospects of shale gas in others places in the world was encouraged. However, the analysis, study and characterization of this type of reservoirs are difficult, because it must be taken into account several factors such as geology, mineralogy, petrophysics, geochemistry among others. Hydraulic fracturing is a complicated hydro-mechanical coupled process, with high difficulty degree especially in shale gas reservoir, where natural fractures exist. A numerical study is conducted to investigate the hydromechanical behavior of a natural fracture during fluid injection. UDEC (Universal Distinct Element Code) software based on discrete elements method was employed to numerical modeling development. UDEC has the ability to model the hydro-mechanical behavior of a fracture including phenomena like fracture enlargement, closure, slippage, and dilation under contact or separation condition. In this numerical investigation, numerical reservoir models, with random natural fractures through a distribution voronoi were created aiming to represent the network complexity of natural fractures present in shale gas formations. The numerical study results show that the hydromechanical system behavior is strongly dependent on the parameters variation such as in situ stress, fluid fracturing viscosity and fluid injection rate. Therefore, these results provide a better understanding of fracturing mechanisms and pressure response of a hydraulic fracturing treatment in a non- conventional naturally fractured reservoir.

La fracturation hydraulique est au cœur d'un certain nombre de phénomènes naturels et induits et est cruciale pour un développement durable de la production de ressources énergétiques. Compte tenu de son rôle crucial, ce phénomène a été pris en compte au cours des trois dernières décennies par le monde académique. Néanmoins, un certain nombre d'aspects très importants de ce processus ont été systématiquement négligés par la communauté. Deux des plus remarquables sont l'incapacité de la grande majorité des modèles existants à aborder la propagation des fractures hydrauliques dans les massifs rocheux fracturés où l'injection de fluide peut à la fois conduire à la fracturation de la roche intacte et à la réactivation de fractures préexistantes. Un autre aspect essentiel de ce processus est qu'il est intrinsèquement tridimensionnel, ce qui est souvent négligé par les modèles actuellement disponibles. Pour aborder ce problème essentiel, un modèle hydro-mécanique couplé basé sur la méthode des éléments discrets a été développé. La masse rocheuse est ici représentée par un ensemble d'éléments discrets interagissant à travers des lois de contact cohésifs qui peuvent se casser pour former des fissures à l'intérieur du milieu simulé. Ces fissures peuvent se coalescer pour former des fractures. Une méthode de volume fini est utilisée pour simuler l'écoulement de fluide entre les éléments discrets. L'écoulement est calculé en fonction de la déformation de l'espace poreux dans le milieu intact et de l'ouverture des fissures dans les fractures. De plus, les fractures naturelles sont modélisées explicitement de sorte qu'elles peuvent présentées des comportements mécanique et hydraulique différents de ceux de la matrice rocheuse intacte. La simulation des processus de fracturation hydraulique dans un milieu initialement intact en considérant plusieurs points d'injection plus ou moins espacés a permis de mettre en évidence l'évolution spatio-temporelle des fractures hydrauliques et de quantifier l'impact des différentes stratégies d'injection sur des indices représentatifs du volume fracturé, de l'intensité et de la densité des fractures ou encore sur la pression de fluide au niveau du puits. De plus, l'injection dans une fente de perforation non alignée sur le plan de contrainte minimum a génère des fractures hydrauliques non planaires percolantes si la connectivité est faible, ce qui peut être gênant pour la mise en place du proppant. En outre, des interactions fortes prennent place entre des fractures hydrauliques étroitement espacées ont été mises en évidence grâce au le suivi de la orientation de contrainte principale locale et ont révélé l'importance des effets d'ombre de contrainte. Des solutions sont proposées pour optimiser les traitements multiples à partir d'un puits de forage non parfaitement aligné. Enfin, l'interaction entre une seule fracture hydraulique et une seule fracture naturelle de propriétés et d'orientations variables a été étudiée à l'aide du modèle proposé. L'évolution de la fracture hydraulique et la réponse globale de l'échantillon ont été enregistrées d'une manière comparable aux données expérimentales existantes pour établir un pont entre les résultats expérimentaux et numériques. Les fractures naturelles persistantes semblent être des barrières pour la fracture hydraulique si leur conductance est élevée par apport a celle de la matrice ou si leur raideur est faible par rapport a la rigidité du milieu environnant. D'autre part, une faible rigidité dans les discontinuités non persistantes pourrait provoquer une bifurcation de la fracture hydraulique principale. De plus, des angles d'approche élevés et des contraintes différentielles fortes semblent favoriser le croisement de la fracture naturelle alors que des angles faibles engendrent plutôt un glissement ou une dilatation par cisaillement de la partie du plan qui n'est pas affectée par la perturbation de la contrainte. / Hydraulic fracturing is at the core of a number of naturally occurring and induced phenomena and crucial for a sustainable development of energy resource production. Given its crucial role this process has been given increasing attention in the last three decades from the academic world. Nonetheless a number of very significant aspects of this process have been systematically overlooked by the community. Two of the most notable ones are the inability of the vast majority of existing models to tackle at once the propagation of hydraulic fractures in realistic, fractured rocks-masses where hydraulic fracturing is a competing dipole mechanism between fracturing of the intact rock and re-activation of exiting fracture networks. Another essential aspect of this process is that it is intrinsically three-dimensional which is neglected by most models. To tackle this vital problem taking into account these pivotal aspects, a fully coupled hydro-mechanical model based on the discrete element method has been developed. The rock mass is here represented by a set of discrete elements interacting through elastic-brittle bonds that can break to form cracks inside the simulated medium. Theses cracks can coalesce to form fractures. A finite volume scheme is used to simulate the fluid flow in between these discrete elements. The flow is computed as a function of the pore space deformation in the intact medium and of the cracks' aperture in the fractures. Furthermore, the natural fractures are modelled explicitly and present mechanical and hydraulic properties different from the rock matrix. Employing this model in an intact numerical specimen, single fluid injection and multiple closely spaced sequential injections, enabled the description the full spatio-temporal evolution of HF propagation and its impact on quantitative indexes used in description of hydraulic fracturing treatments, such as fractured volume, fracture intensity and down-the-hole pressure for different control parameters and in-situ stress-fields. Moreover, injections from perforation slots which are not well aligned to the minimum stress plane showed possible creation of percolating non-planar hydraulic fractures of low connectivity, which can be troublesome for proppant placement. Also, strong interactions between closely spaced HF were highlighted by tracking the local principal stress rotation around the injection zones, emphasizing the importance of stress shadow effects. Optimization solutions are proposed for multiple treatments from a non-perfectly aligned wellbore. Finally, interaction between a single hydraulic fracture and a single natural fracture of varying properties and orientations was studied using the proposed model. The evolution of the hydraulic fracture and the global response of the specimen were recorded in a way comparable to existing experimental data to bridge the experimental and numerical findings. Persistent natural fractures appeared to be barriers for the hydraulic fracture if their conductance is high compared to the matrix conductivity or if their stiffness is significantly low compared to the rock matrix rigidity. Low stiffness in non-persistent defects might also cause a bifurcation of the main hydraulic fracture due to the local stress field perturbation around the defect and ahead of the hydraulic fracture tip. Furthermore, high approach angles and differential stresses seemed to favour crossing of the natural fracture while low angles enable shear slippage or dilation on the part of the plane which is not affected by the local stress perturbation.

Hydraulic fracturing is a multi-physics multi-scale problem related to natural processes such as the formation of dikes. It also has wide engineering applications such as extraction of unconventional resources, enhanced geothermal energy and carbon capture and storage. Current simulators are highly simplified because of the assumption of homogeneous reservoir. Unconventional reservoirs are heterogeneous owing to the presence of natural fracture network. Because of high computational effort, three-dimensional multi-scale simulations are uncommon, in particular, modelling material as a heterogeneous medium. Lattice Element Method (LEM) is therefore proposed for multi-scale simulation of heterogeneous material. In LEM, material is discretised into cells and their interactions are modelled by lattices, hence a three-dimensional model is simplified to a network of one-dimensional lattice. Normal, shear and rotational springs are used to define the constitutive laws of a lattice. LEM enables desktop computers for simulation of a lattice model that consists of millions of lattices. From simulations, normal springs govern the macroscopic bulk deformation while shear springs govern the macroscopic distortion. There is fluctuation of stresses even under uniform loading which is one of the characteristics of a lattice model. The magnitude increases with the stiffness ratio of shear spring to normal spring. Fracturing process can be modelled by LEM by introducing a microscopic tensile strength and a microscopic shear strength to the lattice properties. The strength parameters can be related to fracture toughness with the length scales of cells. From simulations, the relationships between model parameters and macroscopic parameters that are measurable in experiments are identified. From the simulations of uni-axial tension tests, both the spring stiffness ratio and the applied heterogeneity govern the fracturing process. The heterogeneity increases the ductility at the expense of the reduction on the macroscopic strengths. Different stages of fracturing are identified which are characterised by the model heterogeneity. Heterogeneous models go through the stages of the spatially distributed microscrack formation, the growth of multiple fracture clusters to the dominant fracture propagation. For homogeneous models, one of the microcracks rapidly propagates and becomes a dominant fracture with the absence of intermediate stages. From the uni-axial compression test simulations, the peak compressive stress is reached at the onset of the microscopic shear crack formation. Ductility is governed by the stiffness reduction ratio of a lattice in closed fractured stage to its unfractured stage. A novel Dual Lattice Model (DLM) is proposed for hydraulic fracture simulation by coupling a solid lattice model with a fluid lattice model. From DLM simulations of hydraulic fracturing of the classical penny shape crack problem under hydrostatic condition, the heterogeneities from both the fracture asperity and the applied heterogeneity increase the apparent fracture toughness. A semi-analytical solution is derived to consider the effect of fluid viscosity in the elastic deformation regime. Two asymptotes are identified that gives steep pressure gradients near the injection point and near the fracture tip which are also identified in the DLM simulations. Simulations also show three evolving regimes on energy dissipation/transfer mechanisms: the viscosity dominant, the elastic deformation dominant and the mixture of elastic deformation and toughness.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T14:08:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 FranciscoPBJ_DISSERT.pdf: 5706323 bytes, checksum: 7e213d2df30615621d9d118318bdfa95 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-02-28 / Petr?leo Brasileiro SA - PETROBRAS / With the increasing of energetic consumption in the worldwile, conventional reservoirs, known by their easy exploration and exploitation, are not being enough to satisfy this demand, what has made necessary exploring unconventional reservoirs. This kind of exploration demands developing more advanced technologies to make possible to exploit those hydrocarbons. Tight gas is an example of this kind of unconventional reservoir. It refers to sandstone fields with low porosity, around 8%, and permeabilities between 0.1 and 0.0001 mD, which accumulates considerable amounts of natural gas. That natural gas can only be extracted by applying hydraulic fracturing, aiming at stimulating the reservoir, by creating a preferential way through the reservoir to the well, changing and making easier the flow of fluids, thus increasing the productivity of those reservoirs. Therefore, the objective of this thesis is analyzing the recovery factor of a reservoir by applying hydraulic fracturing. All the studies were performed through simulations using the IMEX software, by CMG (Computer Modelling Group), in it 2012.10 version / Com o crescimento do consumo energ?tico em todo o mundo, os reservat?rios convencionais, chamados de reservat?rios de f?cil explora??o e produ??o n?o est?o atendendo ? demanda energ?tica mundial, fazendo-se necess?rio a explora??o de reservas n?o convencionais. Esse tipo de explora??o exige o desenvolvimento de tecnologias mais avan?adas para a sua explota??o. Como exemplo dessas reservas, temos os reservat?rios do tipo Tight Gas, onde referem-se aos campos de arenito com baixa porosidade, na faixa de 8%, e permeabilidade na faixa entre 0,1 mD e 0,0001 mD, que acumulam consider?veis reservas de g?s natural, podendo apresentar viabilidade econ?mica para explota??o. O g?s natural nesse tipo de reservat?rio s? pode ser extra?do a partir da aplica??o da t?cnica de faturamento hidr?ulico, que tem por finalidade estimular o po?o, criando um canal de alta condutividade entre o po?o e o reservat?rio alterando e facilitando o fluxo de fluidos, aumentando assim a produtividade do reservat?rio. Assim, o objetivo desse trabalho ? analisar o fator de recupera??o do reservat?rio com a aplica??o do fraturamento hidr?ulico. Os estudos foram realizados atrav?s de simula??es concretizadas no m?dulo IMEX do programa da CMG (Computer Modelling Group), vers?o 2012.10

Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-13T17:08:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 AlineGS_DISSERT.pdf: 3853241 bytes, checksum: 58a2024c558cc1fe962ac52b1b91989a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-04-05 / Hydraulic fracturing is an operation in which pressurised fluid is injected in the geological formation surrounding the producing well to create new permeable paths for hydrocarbons. The injection of such fluids in the reservoir induces seismic events. The measurement of this reservoir stimulation can be made by location these induced microseismic events. However, microseismic monitoring is an expensive operation because the acquisition and data interpretation system using in this monitoring rely on high signal-to-noise ratios (SNR). In general, the sensors are deployed in a monitoring well near the treated well and can make a microseismic monitoring quite an expensive operation. In this dissertation we propose the application of a new method for recording and location of microseismic events called nanoseismic monitoring (Joswig, 2006). In this new method, a continuous recording is performed and the interpreter can separate events from noise using sonograms. This new method also allows the location of seismic sources even when P and S phases onsets are not clear like in situations of 0 dB SNR. The clear technical advantage of this new method is also economically advantageous since the sensors can potentially be installed on the surface rather than in observation well. In this dissertation field tests with controlled sources were made. In the first test small explosives using fire works at 28 m (slant distances) were detected yealding magnitudes between -2.4 ≤ ML ≤ -1.6.. In a second test, we monitored perforation shots in a producing oil field. In this second test, one perforation shot was located with slant distances of 861 m and magnitude 2.4 ML. Data from the tests allow us to say that the method has potential to be used in the oil industry to monitor hydrofracture / O fraturamento hidr?ulico consiste em injetar um fluido pressurizado na forma??o em volta do po?o produtor a fim de criar novos caminhos para o hidrocarboneto fluir. A inje??o de fluido em reservat?rio de hidrocarboneto durante o processo de fraturamento hidr?ulico induz eventos micross?smicos. Medir a efici?ncia dessa estimula??o do reservat?rio pode ser feita, de forma indireta, identificando os locais afetados atrav?s da localiza??o dos microssismos induzidos. Mas hoje, isso tem um custo elevado por que o sistema de aquisi??o e interpreta??o de dados no monitoramento s?smico s? funciona bem em ambientes onde a raz?o sinal-ru?do ? consideravelmente alta, implicando na necessidade de acoplar sensores em po?os de observa??o a uma mesma profundidade do fraturamento. Nesse trabalho, propomos a aplica??o de um novo m?todo de registro e localiza??o de microssismos, o m?todo nanoss?smico (Joswig, 2006). O m?todo consiste em um monitoramento cont?nuo no tempo, deixando o usu?rio distinguir ru?dos e eventos s?smicos atrav?s da an?lise do conte?do espectral do sinal. O programa de an?lise do m?todo, HypoLine, permite a localiza??o de eventos sem fases clara de onda P e S. Dessa forma, pode-se identificar e localizar eventos de raz?o sinal - ru?do de at? 0 dB. Essa ? a principal vantagem do m?todo. Sua aplica??o para detectar microssismos induzidos por inje??o de fluido pode trazer grande retorno financeiro, caso n?o se tenha mais a necessidade de acoplar sensores a uma mesma profundidade do fraturamento hidr?ulico. Neste trabalho, testes foram realizados, onde o tempo de origem do sinal e a localiza??o da fonte eram conhecidos, a fim de conhecer a potencialidade do m?todo para aplica??o futura em monitoramento de fraturamentos hidr?ulico. Em um primeiro teste, fontes s?smicas (simuladas com fogos de artif?cios) foram localizadas a 28 m do sensor e magnitude -2.4 ≤ ML ≤ -1.6. Em um segundo teste, um monitoramento de canhoneios em um po?o de petr?leo, fonte foi detectada e localizada a uma dist?ncia do sensor de 861m com magnitude de 2.4 ML. Dados obtidos nestes testes permite dizer que o m?todo tem potencial para ser usado em monitoramento de hidrofraturas pela ind?stria do petr?leo

Submitted by Fabio Sobreira Campos da Costa (fabio.sobreira@ufpe.br) on 2017-02-13T15:43:41Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) BeserraLeilaPHD.pdf: 10346236 bytes, checksum: 81c86186782c90c4de4db587d6f7d5a9 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-02-13T15:43:41Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) BeserraLeilaPHD.pdf: 10346236 bytes, checksum: 81c86186782c90c4de4db587d6f7d5a9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-08-31 / CNPq / O fraturamento hidráulico é uma técnica amplamente utilizada pela engenharia de petróleo principalmente para aumentar o índice de produtividade ou injetividade dos poços. Essa técnica consiste na injeção de um fluido penetrante na formação, sob uma pressão suficientemente alta para causar a ruptura da rocha, iniciando assim uma fratura que se converte em um canal de alta permeabilidade e facilita o escoamento de hidrocarbonetos. A técnica de fraturamento hidráulico tem sido responsável pela viabilização econômica de muitos campos petrolíferos em todo o mundo e a compreensão dos mecanismos que determinam o fraturamento, bem como a busca de métodos que permitam prever a geometria da fratura induzida e também determinar a pressão de injeção de fluidos necessária para que o fraturamento ocorra, são de fundamental importância para estabelecer um melhor projeto de explotação desses campos. O objetivo principal deste trabalho é desenvolver uma nova metodologia para simular numericamente, de maneira robusta, estável e eficiente, o problema de fraturamento hidráulico em formações rochosas de baixa permeabilidade pelo método dos elementos finitos, usando a aproximação contínua de descontinuidades fortes. Além de propor uma formulação que incorpora o efeito de descontinuidades permeáveis ou impermeáveis no problema de fluxo em meios porosos. A técnica de descontinuidades fortes incorporadas se mostrou eficiente, em relação ao custo computacional, para simular o fraturamento, uma vez que permite discretizar o domínio do problema com malhas relativamente grosseiras e, ainda assim, capturar, adequadamente, o efeito de uma descontinuidade de espessura muito menor do que o tamanho dos elementos da malha. A metodologia desenvolvida neste trabalho foi capaz de simular adequadamente o problema de fraturamento hidráulico em meios contínuos ou em formações rochosas com fraturas naturais preexistentes. E os resultados obtidos contribuem para o melhor entendimento do mecanismo de fraturamento em formações rochosas e a influência dos vários fatores envolvidos no processo. / Hydraulic fracturing is a widely used technique in the petroleum engineering for the generation of a high conductivity channel in the rock formation, increasing the productivity or injectivity index of wells. This technique consists of injecting a fracturing fluid in the rock formation, under a high enough pressure to induce the rock failure. Once started, the fracture is converted into a high permeability channel for the flow of hydrocarbons. The hydraulic fracturing has been in charge of the economic feasibility of many oil fields around the world and understanding the mechanism that determine the fracturing as well as the search for methods to predict the geometry of the induced fracture and also determine the fluid pressure required for the fracturing to occur, are crucial to establish a better exploitation design for these oil fields. The main purpose of this work is to develop a new methodology to numerically simulate, in a robust, stable and efficient way, the hydraulic fracturing problem in low permeability rock formations using the strong discontinuity approach. In addition, it also proposes a formulation that embeds the effect of a permeable or impermeable discontinuity for the fluid flow into the finite element. The technique of embedded strong discontinuities has been proved to be an efficient manner to simulate the fracturing problem, since it allows to discretize the problem domain with relatively coarse meshes and capture, properly, the effect of a discontinuity much thinner than the size of the element. The methodology developed in this work was able to properly simulate the hydraulic fracturing problem in a continuous media or in reservoirs crossed by natural fractures. The results obtained have contributed to a better understanding of the fracturing mechanism in rocks and the influence of the numerous involver factors.

L'étude des surpressions de fluide et de fracturation hydraulique des roches mères peut nous renseigner sur les mécanismes de génération qui en sont à l'origine. Ces dernières années, l'intérêt pour ces phénomènes s'est largement accru, notamment sous l'influence des sociétés pétrolières qui exploitent les ressources non-conventionnelles au cœur des problèmes énergétiques actuels. Dans ce travail de thèse, nous avons choisi deux approches différentes pour l'étude de ces mécanismes : (1) des exemples de cas géologiques naturels, et (2) le développement de la modélisation analogique. Ainsi, nous montrons que ces phénomènes sont très répandus au sein des bassins sédimentaires et que leurs manifestations s'expriment notamment par la génération de veines fibreuses parallèles à la stratification de la roche (beef), mais également par la formation de veines d'hydrocarbures solides (bitume). Nous démontrons également que les surpressions de fluides peuvent profondément changer le style de déformation d'un bassin sédimentaire par la génération de niveaux de décollement localisés au sein même des roches mères. Enfin, à l'aide de la modélisation analogique, nous avons pu identifier les mécanismes à l'origine des surpressions de fluide et de la fracturation hydraulique. En effet, lors de la génération d'hydrocarbures la transformation de solide à liquide de la matière organique conduit à la compaction chimique des sédiments. Par un mécanisme de transfert de charge lors de ce processus, ainsi que par l'accroissement de volume associé, des surpressions de fluides se développent et atteignent des pressions lithostatiques, capables de fracturer hydrauliquement les roches. / The study of fluid overpressures and hydraulic fracturing in source rocks can help us to understand the mechanisms, which are responsable for these phenomena. During the last few years, the interest in such processes has highly grown, especially through the influence of petroleum companies, which extract hydrocarbons from unconventional reservoirs. In this work, we have chosen to develop two different approaches for the study of these mechanisms: (1) field studies and (2) physical modelling. Thereby, we show that fluid overpressures and hydraulic fracturing are common in sedimentary basins worldwide. Bedding-parallel fibrous veins (beef) and solid hydrocarbon veins (bitumen) are the resulting structures. We also show that fluid overpressures can highly affect the deformation style in sedimentary basins, especially by causing thrust-detachments within source rocks. By the using of a new physcial modelling technique, we have identified the mechanisms, which are responsible for fluid overpressures and hydraulic fracturing. Indeed, during hydrocarbon generation, the solid organic matter becomes liquid, which leads to chemical compaction of the sediment. By a mechanism of load transfer, fluid overpressures rise to lithostatic values. However, volume changes also contribute, and are able to induce hydraulic fractures in the rocks.