SBIR Phase I: A Tool for In-situ Stress Measurement in Deep Downhole Environments

这项小型企业创新研究（SBIR）项目的更广泛影响和商业潜力是提高地下作业的安全性和经济性，例如钻井、增产、生产和注入，这些作业与地质碳封存、地热和地下岩层化石燃料的生产有关。这些操作会影响人员安全，造成资金损失，对环境造成重大破坏，并增加温室气体的排放。为了优化地下作业，了解岩层的应力状态至关重要。如果不能建立合理准确的压力模型，油气行业每年将损失数十亿美元。然而，地应力的确定是地下工程的主要挑战之一，目前还没有技术可以直接测量深层地层的地应力。该项目提出了一种直接测量这些应力的工具。SBIR一期项目旨在设计和开发一种强大的创新井下工具，用于直接测量任何井眼轨迹下深井中的所有应力分量和应力方向。第一阶段研究的目标包括：1)开发解析和数值解，以精确地从近井应力中获得远场应力。2)设计和绘制工具及其所有部件，适用于井眼尺寸范围为7”至12¼”。3)开展不同井下工况的数值模拟与仿真。设计机械，液压和电气元件，材料和传感器/传感器，并准备原型。该工具具有新颖的模块化设计，适用于直井、斜井和水平井的电缆、钻杆和盘管。这种测量可以根据需要重复，以确定全应力张量。该技术可在地面自动操作。工具的准确位置和方向分别由组件和磁力计确定。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project is to improve safety and economics of subsurface operations, such as drilling, stimulation, production, and injection, associated with geological carbon sequestration and production of geothermal heat and fossil fuels from subsurface rock formations. These operations can affect personnel safety, loss of capital, significant damage to the environment, and increase emission of greenhouse gases. To optimize subsurface operations, knowledge of the state of stress in rock formations is essential. Failure to construct reasonably accurate stress models costs the oil and gas industry several billions of dollars annually. However, determination of in-situ stresses is one of the major challenges in the subsurface engineering and currently no technology directly measures these stressees in deep formations. This project advances a tool to measure these stresses directly. This SBIR Phase I project proposes to design and develop a robust an innovative downhole tool for direct measurement of all stress components and the stress orientation in deep wells with any well trajectories. The objectives of the Phase I research study include: 1) Develop analytical and numerical solutions to accurately obtain far-field stresses from near-wellbore stresses. 2) Design and render the tool and all its components for borehole sizes range 7” to 12 ¼”. 3) Develop numerical modeling and simulation of different downhole conditions. 4) Design the mechanical, hydraulic, and electrical components, materials, and sensors/transducers and preparation for prototyping. The proposed tool has a novel modular design for wireline, drill-pipe and coil tubing applicable to vertical, deviated, and horizontal wells. This measurement can be repeated as needed to determine the full stress tensor. The technology is automatically operated from the surface. The exact position and orientation of the tool is determined by an assembly and magnetometer, respectively.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.