Towards monitoring the englacial fracture state using virtual-reflector seismology

In seismology, coda wave interferometry (CWI) is an effective tool to monitor time-lapse changes using later arriving, multiply scattered coda waves. Typically, CWI relies on an estimate of the medium's impulse response. The latter is retrieved through simple time-averaging of receiver-receiver cross-correlations of the ambient field, that is...

AVO inversion for a non-welded interface: Estimating compliances of a fluid-filled fracture

Though well known for layer boundaries, the use of amplitude-versus-offset (AVO) variations for non-welded boundaries like fractures is not yet investigated. Depending on the seismic wavelength used, fractures can be regarded as thin, compliant zones in rocks, in different scales. We explore the potential of multiangle AVO inversion of P-P and P...

Inverse scattering solution for the spatially heterogeneous compliance of a single fracture

Characterizing the spatially heterogeneous fracture compliance through use of elastic waves has the potential to illuminate the hydraulic and mechanical properties along a fracture. We formulate the inverse scattering problem to estimate the heterogeneous compliance distribution along a single fracture embedded in a homogeneous background. For...

Closure of open wellbores in creeping salt sheets

Safe exploration and production of pre-salt (or subsalt) hydrocarbons require that drilling operations be optimized. We introduce analytical models of wellbore closure, accounting for variations in both the wellbore net pressure and far-field flow rate of an autochthonous or allochthonous salt sheet penetrated by the wellbore. We demonstrate how...

Geomechanics of fracture caging in wellbores

This study highlights the occurrence of so-called ‘fracture cages’ around underbalanced wellbores, where fractures cannot propagate outwards due to unfavourable principal stress orientations. The existence of such cages is demonstrated here by independent analytical and numerical methods. We explain the fracture caging mechanism and pinpoint the...