Failure of a Multilateral Well
Application ID: 666
Multilateral wells—those with multiple legs that branch off from a single well—can produce oil efficiently because the legs can tap multiple productive zones and navigate around impermeable ones. Unfortunately, drilling engineers must often mechanically stabilize multilateral wells with a liner or casing, which can cost millions of dollars. Leaving the wellbore uncased reduces construction costs, but it runs a relatively high risk of catastrophic failure both during installation and after pumping begins.
The poroelastic simulations estimate 3D compaction related to pumping by taking subsurface fluid flow with Darcy’s law and coupling it to structural displacements with a stress-strain analysis. This model focuses on elastic displacements brought on by changing fluid pressures when pumping begins.
This model example illustrates applications of this type that would nominally be built using the following products:
however, additional products may be required to completely define and model it. Furthermore, this example may also be defined and modeled using components from the following product combinations:
- COMSOL Multiphysics® et
- soit le Module Porous Media Flow, Module Structural Mechanics, ou Module Subsurface Flow et
- soit le Module Battery Design, Module CFD, Module Chemical Reaction Engineering, Module Corrosion, Module Electrochemistry, Module Electrodeposition, Module Fuel Cell & Electrolyzer, Module Microfluidics, Module Polymer Flow, Module Porous Media Flow, ou Module Subsurface Flow
The combination of COMSOL® products required to model your application depends on several factors and may include boundary conditions, material properties, physics interfaces, and part libraries. Particular functionality may be common to several products. To determine the right combination of products for your modeling needs, review the Grille des Spécifications and make use of a free evaluation license. The COMSOL Sales and Support teams are available for answering any questions you may have regarding this.