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Geomechanics (from the Greek γεός, i.e. prefix geo- meaning "earth"; and "mechanics") is the study of the mechanical state of the Earth's crust and the processes occurring in it under the influence of natural physical factors. It involves the study of the mechanics of soil and rock.

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Background

The two main disciplines of geomechanics are soil mechanics and rock mechanics. Former deals with the soil behaviour from a small scale to a landslide scale. The latter deals with issues in geosciences related to rock mass characterization and rock mass mechanics, such as applied to petroleum, mining and civil engineering problems, such as borehole stability, tunnel design, rock breakage, slope stability, foundations, and rock drilling.^[1]

Many aspects of geomechanics overlap with parts of geotechnical engineering, engineering geology, and geological engineering. Modern developments relate to seismology, continuum mechanics, discontinuum mechanics, transport phenomena, numerical methods etc.^[2]

Reservoir Geomechanics

In the petroleum industry geomechanics is used to:

predict pore pressure
establish the integrity of the cap rock
evaluate reservoir properties
determine in-situ rock stress
evaluate the wellbore stability
calculate the optimal trajectory of the borehole
predict and control sand occurrence in the well
analyze the validity of drilling on depression
characterize fractured reservoirs
increase the efficiency of the development of fractured reservoirs
evaluate hydraulic fractures stability
evaluate the effect of liquid and steam injection into the reservoir
analyze surface subsidence
evaluate shear deformation and casing collapse

To put into practice the geomechanics capabilities mentioned above, it is necessary to create a Geomechanical Model of the Earth (GEM) which consists of six key components that can be both calculated and estimated using field data:

Vertical stress, δv (often called geostatic pressure or overburden stress)
Maximum horizontal stress, δHmax
Minimum horizontal stress, δHmin
Stress orientation
Pore pressure, Pp
Elastic properties and rock strength: Young's modulus, Poisson's ratio, friction angle, UCS (unconfined compressive strength) and TSTR (tensile strength)

Geotechnical engineers rely on various techniques to obtain reliable data for geomechanical models. These techniques include coring and core testing, seismic data and log analysis, well testing methods such as transient pressure analysis and hydraulic fracturing stress testing, and geophysical methods such as acoustic emission.

References

^ "Defining Geomechanics".
^ Wandrol, Ivo; Frydrýšek, Karel; Čepica, Daniel (January 2023). "Analysis of the Influence of Thermal Loading on the Behaviour of the Earth's Crust". Applied Sciences. 13 (7): 4367. doi:10.3390/app13074367. hdl:10084/151905. ISSN 2076-3417.

Additional sources

Jaeger, Cook, and Zimmerman (2008). Fundamentals of Rock Mechanics. Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 9780632057597.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

Chandramouli, P.N. (2014). Continuum Mechanics. Yes Dee Publishing Pvt Ltd. ISBN 9789380381398. Archived from the original on 2018-08-04. Retrieved 2014-04-03.