Rock Physics of Borehole Breakouts. Topical Report, July 1989

摘要

Borehole breakouts can impede drilling, logging and completion, particularly in deep or deviated boreholes. A review determined that laboratory and field studies have well defined the characteristics of borehole breakouts. Theoretical analyses of borehole breakouts, based on idealized constitutive equations for the rock, account with varying degrees of accuracy and generality for the initiation of borehole breakouts but fail to describe the evolution of the elongated cross-section of a borehole breakout or the ultimate stability of that shape. Recommendations for future work are included.