ARMA Forum
Rheology, Creep and Viscoplasticity: It’s About Time
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ARMA is pleased to sponsor a multidisciplinary forum on rheology, creep and viscoplasticity and their applications.
What is Rock Rheology?
Rheology relates the macroscopic response of a material to the forces that act on it. The rheologic characteristics of a rock, the effective stress field and the appropriate boundary conditions determine deformation. Rheology is central to all aspects of rock mechanics, geomechanics and geoscience.
Forum
While rheologic properties of rock or soil and their engineering implications are common concerns for nearly every geoscientist/engineer, rheology is a topic that receives less coverage than some more glamorous, topical subjects do. Ironically, understanding many of these topical subjects hinges on appreciation of constitutive and rheologic behavior of rock or soil. The purpose of this workshop is to provide updates of recent rheologic developments, to determine relevant research and development domains, to introduce or clarify engineering implications, and to share field and laboratory experience.
In geomechanics and rock mechanics, there is a renewed and growing interest in time-rate dependency of the deformational behavior of geologic materials. The study of instabilities in the earth's crust and near-surface strata, safety in man-made excavations, and in petroleum extraction require understanding of inter-relationships among stress, strain, pore fluids, temperature, and their relative time-rates of change. Earthquake engineering, tectonics, seismic- and micro-seismicity are crosscutting technologies. This forum addresses these aspects of rock rheology from the perspectives of three areas:
- Laboratory and field measurements
- Numerical considerations – from simple to complex rheology
- Field applications and Case Studies
| Where: | University Park Marriott Hotel, Research Park, Salt Lake City |
| When: | Monday and Tuesday March 18-19, 2013, with a welcoming reception on Sunday March 17, 2013. |
| Cost: | $350 for registration and meals. Rooms will be at a conference rate. |
Why Should I Attend?
The forum will encompass rheological considerations in three technical disciplines, each interwoven with geologic and geophysical insight. Consider interacting with colleagues whose specialties are somewhat different but who have insight into rheologic behavior. For example:
Geosciences/Geomechanics: Recent advances in viscoplasticity are focused on nano- and micro-strains, and their effects on the microstructural fabric of rocks. How do we scale up, from local grain- and pore-level strains to macro- and meso-scales of mineral/rock assemblages? How and when do subseismic microstrains propagate into detectible, locatable, dynamic micro- and macroseismic events? How do we populate the properties of large-scale geocellular models with relevant petrophysical and viscoplastic properties? How do we link multifaceted components towards a practical common-earth model?
Civil: Has consolidation theory advanced substantially? How do we view rheology and effective stress concepts – or do we? How do these improve the reliability of calculated factors of safety in various geotechnical structures? How can we improve static and dynamic structural models towards realistic, proactive risk assessment tools?
Mining: How can structural geology and rheological insight help? How do we extend ground-reaction concepts to improve predictive models of mine openings, mine-bumps, cavings, stability of pit-slopes and tailings ponds?
Petroleum: How can fracture mechanics, structural geology and rheology be better enfranchised into well construction, production and reservoir management? How do we include flow-coupling mechanisms in "shale reservoirs" during brittle-ductile transition, creep of hydraulic fractures, and in containment prediction. Subsidence prediction, subsalt drilling, and deepwater reservoirs also require viscoplasticity in their geomechanical models. Earthquake engineering and microseismicity are crosscutting technologies that require rheologic characterization. Don’t forget the rheologic behavior of oil sands subjected to steam flooding (e.g. SAGD).
Students, professionals, speakers and facilitators are encouraged to participate.
For More Information Contact:
Peter Smeallie (ARMA) smeallie@armarocks.org or 1-703-683-1808
John McLennan (University of Utah) jmclennan@egi.utah.edu or 1-801-587-7925
Professional Development credit hours will be available.