Coupled flow and geomechanical modeling of compacting hydrocarbon reservoirs

Traditional reservoir simulation involves computational modeling of pressure, saturation and temperature variations associated with flow of hydrocarbons in porous media. The geomechanical behavior of the reservoir is often oversimplified through ad-hoc approximations, leading to erroneous predictions of production as well as stress related effects (e.g. deformation, subsidence, casing shear etc.).;I have presented an overview of more rigorous coupled flow and geomechanical simulation for compacting hydrocarbon reservoirs. Several case histories on specific manifestations of depletion induced stress changes in the reservoirs are discussed. These case studies include discussions of workflows and methodologies for quantitative evaluation of compaction (and subsidence) and anisotropic geomechanical response of naturally fractured reservoirs.;A modular approach was adopted for all the coupling studies discussed in the thesis. The architecture of each workflow allows for further linkages with other modeling tools e.g. dynamic fracture growth simulators or synthetic seismic data modeling tools.