Numerical modeling of damage zones in rocks at reservoir scale using FEM

Resumo

Damage zones are structural domains present in most geological faults that can act either as a
preferential flow path due to fracture sets or as a barrier due to compaction bands. Therefore, the characterization
of damage zones can be essential for adopting adequate production strategies in oil fields. Unfortunately, the
geophysical methods used to characterize damage zones in geological faults hardly allow their identification due
to low seismic resolution. Alternatively, the characterization of the damage zones can be done through superficial
outcrops. However, there is a wide dispersion of data in this type of study. In this paper, we present a numerical
model based on the finite element method (FEM) to analyze the structural evolution of damage zones at the
reservoir scale. In the proposed model, the fault plane is included through two contact lines within a host rock that
presents elastoplastic behavior. The obtained results allow the identification of different deformation mechanisms
along the damage zone and confirm the capabilities of the proposed model to assess the damage zone width.