STUDY OF VISCOELASTIC LAWS APPLIED TO SALT ROCK MODELS

Resumo

This work proposes a preliminary analysis of discrete mechanical models considering viscoe-
lastic laws as an introduction to the study of salt geomechanics. For the oil industry, the presence of salt

rocks during exploration significantly increases the probability of finding oil due to its sealing capacity.
However, its viscoelastic rheological properties promote a faster closure of the well over time, causing,
e.g., pipe stuck issues during drilling procedure. In this context, a discrete numerical model is used as a
standard numerical framework to the proposed constitutive investigations. A time-dependent approach is
incorporated and a double deformation mechanism is applied to consider the viscous effects on problem.

Based on this methodology, creep tests using applied forces as user-defined time functions are simula-
ted. Finally, in the way to model the wellbore closure problem, a simplified axisymmetric analysis is

proposed. Case studies are presented in order to verify the obtained numerical results.