Abstract
Time-dependent hole closure is a major problem for the many cavities present in rock salt. We use analytical and numerical methods to study how cylindrical holes close under pressure loads with time. We treat salt as a viscoelastic fluid and we use an incompressible nonlinear Maxwell constitutive law to model its mechanical behavior. The viscosity is described by either a power law or an Ellis model depending on whether dislocation creep is considered alone or in combination with pressure solution. The instantaneous closure rate of a circular hole in a power law-based viscoelastic salt is fully determined analytically. A proxy for the transient closure velocity at the rim is also proposed based on a modified version of the characteristic relaxation time θ proposed by Wang et al. (Rock Mech Rock Eng 48(6):2369–2382, 2015) and it has less than 3% inaccuracy for times smaller than 3θ, irrespective of the load or salt type. We derive an analytical expression describing the instantaneous closure rate in an Ellis-based viscoelastic salt. A load threshold determines whether steady state is approached initially. The time θ is also a characteristic relaxation time for this constitutive law, and a master curve can be used to describe the evolution of the closure velocity with time. Using these characteristic values in a typical application underlines the importance of considering pressure solution, in addition to dislocation creep, when studying hole closure in rock salt.
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Abbreviations
- A D :
-
Material parameter for dislocation creep
- A PS :
-
Material parameter for pressure solution
- B:
-
Incomplete beta function
- B D :
-
Prefactor for dislocation creep
- B P :
-
Prefactor for pressure solution
- d :
-
Grain size
- D :
-
Total rate of deformation tensor
- D :
-
Radial component of the total rate of deformation tensor
- D el :
-
Elastic rate of deformation tensor
- D vis :
-
Viscous rate of deformation tensor
- D PS :
-
Deviatoric rate of deformation tensor due to pressure solution
- D D :
-
Deviatoric rate of deformation tensor due to dislocation creep
- \(D_{{{\text{II}}}}^{*}\) :
-
Transition deformation rate in the Ellis model
- G :
-
Elastic shear modulus
- H :
-
Heaviside function
- i, j :
-
Tensor indices going from 1 to 3
- iter:
-
Picard iteration number
- k :
-
Time index
- K :
-
Elastic bulk modulus
- n :
-
Stress exponent for dislocation creep
- p :
-
Pressure
- p w :
-
Well pressure
- \(\overline{p}\) :
-
Ambient pressure
- \(\Delta p\) :
-
Pressure difference
- Q D :
-
Apparent activation energy for dislocation creep
- Q P :
-
Apparent activation energy for pressure solution
- r :
-
Radial polar coordinate
- R :
-
Hole radius
- R u :
-
Universal gas constant
- R vis :
-
Size of the viscously dominated zone
- t :
-
Time
- \(\Delta t\) :
-
Time increment
- T :
-
Temperature
- \({T_{\text{M}}}= \mu/G\) :
-
Linear Maxwell relaxation time
- \({T^*}\) :
-
Relaxation time for hole closure in a linear compressible Maxwell material
- u r :
-
Radial displacement
- v r :
-
Radial component of the velocity vector
- v R :
-
Closure velocity at the rim
- \(v_{{\text{R}}}^{{{\text{Ell}}}}\) :
-
Closure velocity at the rim in an Ellis-based Maxwell material
- \(v_{{\text{R}}}^{{{\text{pl}}}}\) :
-
Closure velocity at the rim in a power law-based Maxwell material
- \(v_{{\text{R}}}^{{{\text{Barker}}}}\) :
-
Closure velocity at the rim derived by Barker et al. (1994)
- \(\delta\) :
-
Kronecker delta
- \(\gamma\) :
-
Pseudo-steady-state time
- \(\mu\) :
-
Linear viscosity in a linear Maxwell material
- \({\mu _{{\text{app}}}}\) :
-
Apparent viscosity
- \({\mu ^{\text{D}}}\) :
-
Viscosity due to dislocation creep
- \(\mu _{0}^{{{\text{PS}}}}\) :
-
Linear viscosity due to pressure solution
- \({\boldsymbol{\sigma }}\) :
-
Total stress tensor
- \(\theta\) :
-
Modified characteristic relaxation time
- \(\Theta\) :
-
Original characteristic relaxation time from Wang et al. (2015)
- \({\boldsymbol{\tau }}\) :
-
Deviatoric stress tensor
- \(\tau\) :
-
Radial component of the deviatoric stress tensor
- \({\tau _{{\text{II}}}}\) :
-
Second invariant of the deviatoric stress tensor
- \(\tau _{{{\text{II}}}}^{*}\) :
-
Transition stress in the Ellis model
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the University of Oslo and more precisely the PGP group for their support. This work is part of the Tight Rocks research program funded by Statoil ASA at the University of Oslo.
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Appendix
Appendix
1.1 Steady-State Closure Velocity for an Incompressible Ellis Fluid
From Eq. (15)
Making the change of variable \(D= - {v_R}{R \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {R {{r^2}}}} \right. \kern-0pt} {{r^2}}}\), with
We get
For an Ellis model
So
Making another change of variables leads to:
which can be solved as:
where \({}_{2}{F_1}\) is Gauss’s hypergeometric function. Using Euler’s hypergeometric transformation, and the relationship linking \({}_{2}{F_1}\) with the beta incomplete function B, we get:
which is valid for n > 2. Using the boundary condition at r = R and that \(\tau _{{{\text{II}}}}^{*}={\left( {{{{A_{\text{D}}}} \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {{{A_{\text{D}}}} {{A_{{\text{PS}}}}}}} \right. \kern-0pt} {{A_{{\text{PS}}}}}}} \right)^{{1 \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {1 {n - 1}}} \right. \kern-0pt} {n - 1}}}}\):
1.2 Initial Closure Velocity for an Incompressible Nonlinearly Viscoelastic Material Having a Power Law Viscosity Model
As established in Eq. (26):
For a power law viscosity model this becomes:
In \(t=0+\), the stress is elastic: \(\tau = - \;\Delta p{\left( {\frac{R}{r}} \right)^2},\)
1.3 Initial Closure Acceleration for an Incompressible Nonlinearly Viscoelastic Material Having a Power Law Viscosity Model
Assuming closure is occurring, i.e., \(\Delta p<0\), and deriving Eq. (56) according to time gives
but from the constitutive law we know that:
so
In \(t=0+\), the stress is elastic: \(\tau = - \Delta p{\left( {\frac{R}{r}} \right)^2},\)
Initially, \(\frac{{{v_{\text{R}}}}}{R}= - \frac{1}{{{A_{\text{D}}}}}\frac{{{{\left| {\Delta p} \right|}^n}}}{n}\) so:
1.4 Initial Closure Velocity for an Incompressible Nonlinearly Viscoelastic Material Having an Ellis Viscosity Model
As established in Eq. (26):
so for an Ellis viscosity model we have:
At \(t=0+\), \(\tau = - \Delta p{\left( {\frac{R}{r}} \right)^2},\)
1.5 Initial Closure Acceleration for an Incompressible Nonlinearly Viscoelastic Material Having an Ellis Viscosity Model
Assuming closure is occurring, i.e., \(\Delta p<0\), and deriving Eq. (67) according to time gives
Using that \(D= - \;{v_{\text{R}}}{R \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {R {{r^2}}}} \right. \kern-0pt} {{r^2}}}\) and Eq. (10)
At \(t=0+,\) \(\tau = - \Delta p{\left( {\frac{R}{r}} \right)^2},\)
so, finally