Conocophillips Company

Conoco Inc.

Norske Conocophillips A/s

Humphrey H Hardy

Anders Malthe-Sorenssen

Jens Feder

Thomas Walmann

Torstein Jossang

Geri Wagner

Mamdouh M Salama

A dynamic range relaxation algorithm is applied to simulate borehole failure under a variety of stress conditions. The borehole and its neighborhood are modeled by a number of regions by a plurality of interconnected nodes. The bonds between the nodes may be modeled as springs, rods, or beams. The strength of the bonds has a statistical variation to accurately simulate real world situations. The model may include, in addition to the borehole and the far earth formations, a liner, a casing, and/or a gravel pack. Simulation is carried out for different strength of the bonds.

Method of load and failure prediction of downhole liners and wellbores

A computer implemented method for modeling of faulting and fracturing uses 'small scale rules' to produce large-scale results. One part of the method is a user interface for inputting deformations, preexisting faults and fractures, and material rock properties. The second part of the software is the code that solves the motion of each point or node in the subsurface volume defined by the user interface. The model may be defined in one of three modes: an aerial mode, in which the model is 2-dimensional with the material and a substrate on a horizontal plane; a cross-sectional mode similar to the aerial mode except that the nodes are in a vertical cross section and gravity is included in the model; and a 3-D model that is an extension into a third dimension of the 2-D model and deformation may be applied to the bottom and four sides of the material region. A modified over-relaxation approach, wherein the over-relaxation is concentrated in those nodes where the greatest movement occurs, is used to solve for the deformation. This significantly speeds up the computation time. The model is 'conditioned' to increase the likelihood that the deformation pattern resulting from the simulation of the deformation will at least duplicate an observed large-scale deformation. As an aid to the simulation, an &#x201c;anticipate&#x201d; step provides a quick solution to the deformation without including the effects of faulting.

Method of modeling of faulting and fracturing in the earth

A Graphical User Interface for displaying and manipulating a model of interconnected nodes that simulates fracturing and faulting in a subsurface volume of the earth. The model incorporates a dynamic range relaxation algorithm.

Three substantially parallel surfaces are selected in a 3-D data volume and values of a seismic attribute on each of the three surfaces are encoded onto a Red-Green-Blue (RGB) color scale. A single display of this encoded data makes it possible to get a visualization of and interpret subtle structural and stratigraphic features of the 3-D data volume. The displayed seismic attribute may be the amplitude or one of many commonly used attributes. The 3-D data volume may be defined in terms of seismic times or in terms of seismic depths.

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Ponca City, OK, United States of America

Humphrey H Hardy