Investigating the Effect of Land Subsidence Due to Groundwater Discharges on Well Casing Damage

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 MSc. in Rock Mechanics

2 Assistance Professor, Department of Mining, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman

3 The Late Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman

Abstract

Subsidence is a geologically hazardous phenomenon that can be aggravated by human such activities as long term water, oil, and gas extraction from underground resources or other mining activities. Abstractions from aquifers cause the aquifer-maintaining forces to lose their state of equilibrium whereby land starts to settle and ultimately subsides. One of the consequences of exploiting groundwater is the rising of well casings. Actually, it is not the well casings that rise but the ground around them that subsides. Subsiding forces can damage well casings and this can foist repair costs, or the wells might even need to be replaced by new ones. In this paper ,finite element methods in two and three dimensional modes as well as ABAQUS software were used to investigate the impacts of subsidence from groundwater exploitation and drawdown on well casings. This investigation was based on data obtained from a real basin. The results obtained through geomechanical simulations using ABAQUS software have shown that the mechanism by which subsidence "bowls" are created cause two forms of rupture in the casings. At the edges of the bowl, surface sediments might slide on soft clay toward the center of the well and cause the casings to bend along their way. Around the center of the bowl something different happens. Considerable compaction of soft clay over time causes the distance between the surface and the bottom of the well to decrease, which results in the buckling of the casings and, in some cases, causes the casings to stick out of the ground.

Keywords

References

1- Roscoe Moss Co. (1989). Handbook of groundwater development, 2nd Ed., JohnWiley&Sons,New York.
2- Bruno, M.S. (2001). “Geomechanical analysis and decision for mitigation related casing damage.” SPE 71695.
3- Bell, F.G. (1987). Subsidence, ground engineer's reference book, F.G. Bell, ed., 1st Ed., Butterworths and Co. Publishers.
4- Scott, R.F. (1979). “Subsidence-a review in evaluation and prediction of subsidence.” S.K. Saxema, ed., Proc., Conf. ASCE, Gainsville, 1-25.
5- Lofgren, B.N. (1968 ). “Analysis of stress causing land subsidence.” U.S. Goel. Surv., Proc. Paper 600-B, 219-225.
6- Lofgren, B.E. (1979). “Changes in aquifer-system properties with ground water depletion.” Proc., International Conference on Evaluation and Prediction of Land Subsidence,Pensacola, American Society of Civil Engineers, 26- 46.
7- Belitz, K., and Phillips, S.P. (1995). Alternatives to agricultural drains in California’s San Joaquin Valley: Results of a regional-scale hydrogeologic approach, US Geological Survey Open-File Report 91-535, 71.
8- Rudolph, D.L., and Frind, E.O. (1991). “Hydraulic response of highly compressible aquitards during consolidation.” Water Resources Research, 27 (1), 17–30.
9- Ortega-Guerrero, A., Rudolph, D.L., and Cherry, J.A.(1999). “Analysis of long-term land subsidence near Mexico City: Field investigations and predictive modeling.” Water Resources Research, 35 (11), 3327–3341.
10- Hua, Z., Tiezhu, L., and Xinhong, L.(1993). “Economic benefit risk assessment of land subsidence in Shanhai.” Environmental Geology, 21, 208–211.
11- Holzer, T.L. (1989). “State and local response to damaging land subsidence in United States urban areas.” Engineering Geology, 27, 449– 466.
12- Ireland, R.L., Poland, J.F., and Riley, F.S. (1984). Land subsidence in the San Joaquin Valley, California, as of 1980, US Geological Survey Professional Paper, 437-I, 93.
13- Larson, K.J., Başağaoğlu, H., and Mariño, M.A. (2001). “Prediction of optimal safe groundwater yield and land subsidence in the LosBanos-KettlemanCityarea, California, using a calibrated numerical simulation model.” J. Hydrology, 242, 79–102.
14- Bitelli, G., Bonsignore, F., and Unguendoli, M. (2000). “Leveling and GPS networks to monitor ground subsidence in the Southern Po Valley.” J. Geodynamics, 30 (3), 355-369.
15- Bell, F.G. (1983). Fundamentals of engineering geology, Butterworth & Co. publishers ltd.
16- Carillo, N. (1984). “Influence of artesian wells on the sinking of Mexico City.” Proc., 2nd Int. Conf. Soil Mech. Foundation Engg, Rotterdam, 3, 156-159.
17- Booker, J.R., Small, J.C., and Carter, J.P. (1985). “Prediction of subsidence caused by pumping of groundwater.” Proc., 21st  the IAHR congress,Melbourne,Australia, 130-134.
18- Poland, J. F. (1984). Guidebook to studies of land subsidence due to ground-water withdrawal, International Hydrological Programme Working Group 8.4, UNESCO, Studies and Reports in Hydrology, Νο. 40, Paris, 305.
19- Poland, J.F. (1984). Guide book to study of land subsidence due to groundwater withdrawal, 1st Ed., 175-184.
20- Trinh, M. T., and Fredlund, D. G. (2000). “Modelling subsidence in the HanoiCityarea,Vietnam.” J. Can. Geotech, 37, 621–637.
21-  کریمی نسب، س. (1383). گزارش تحقیقی پروژه بررسی علل گسیختگی لوله جدار چاههای آب شهر مشهد، دانشگاه شهید باهنر کرمان.
22- رحمانیان، د. (1373). نشست زمین بر اثر بهره برداری از آبهای زیرزمینی در کرمان، شرکت مهندسی مشاور مهاب قدس، کرمان.
23- رحمانیان، د. (1365). ”نشست زمین و ایجاد شکاف بر اثر تخلیه آبهای زیرزمینی در کرمان. “، م. آب، کرمان.
24- Ajalloeian, R., and Bahadoran, B. (1998). “Ground subsidence due to percolating and pumping water (case studies in Iran).” Proc., The 19th Asian Conference on Remote Sensing,Manila.
25- Mousavi, S. M., Shamsai, A., EI Naggar, M. H., and Khamehchian, M. (2001). “A GPS-based monitoring program of land subsidence due to groundwater withdrawal in Iran.” Can. J. Civ. Eng., 28(3), 452-464.
26- Addis, M.A., Choi, X., and Gunning, J. (1998). “The influence of the reservoir stress-depletion response on the lifetime considerations of well completion design.” Eurock '98, Vol. 1, Proc., SPE/ISRM, Rock Mechanics in Petroleum Engineering, 441-443.
27- Nagel, N.B. (2001). “Compaction and subsidence issues within the petroleum industry: From Wilmington to Ekofisk and beyond.” Phys. Chem. Earth (A), 26 (1-2), 3-14.
28- Geertsma, J.(1973). “Land subsidence above compacting oil and gas reservoirs.” J. Pet. Technol., 25, 734–744.
29- Chin, L., Boade, R.R., Prevost, J.H., and Landa, G.H. (1993). “Numerical simulation of shear-induced compaction in the Ekofisk reservoir.” Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. Geomech. Abstr., 30) 7(,
1193–1200.
30- Bruno, M.S. (1990). “Subsidence-induced well failure.” Proc., 60th Annu. SPE Calif. Reg. Mtg. (Ventura, Calif., 90.04.04-06), 383-390, (SPE-20058).
31- آل خمیس، ر. (1384). ”بررسی تأثیر نشست حاصل از بهره برداری آبهای زیرزمینی بر لوله جدار چاههای آب. “پایان نامه کارشناسی ارشد، دانشگاه شهید باهنر کرمان.
32- Lambe, T.H., and Withman, R.V.(1969). Soil mechanics, 1st Ed., John Wiley, & Sons,New York.
33- ABAQUS/Standard Version 6.2.5. (2001). © Hibbitt, Karlsson & Sorensen, Inc.,Pawtucket,  RI , , 2001.
34- Poland, J.f., and Working group. (1984). Mechanics of land subsidence due to fluid withdrawal, Guidebook to studies of land subsidence due to ground-water withdrawal, 1st Ed., McGraw-Hill,New York.
35- Bowles, J. (1979). Physical and geothechnical properties of soils, 1st Ed.,McGraw-Hill,New York.
36- نجمایی، م. (1369). هیدرولوژی مهندسی، چاپ اول، انتشارات دانشگاه علم و صنعت ایران، تهران.
37- Terzaghi, K., and Peck, R. B. )1976(. Soil mechanics in engineering practice, 1st Ed., John Wiley & Sons,New York.
Journal of Water and Wastewater; Ab va Fazilab ( in persian )
Volume 17, Issue 4 - Serial Number 4
Serial number:60
January 2007
Pages 77-88

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics