Preface

This set of notes, which sometimes I dare to call a “book”, is targeted to last-year undergraduate students majoring in Petroleum Engineering, Energy Engineering, Geosystems Engineering, Engineering Geology, Civil Engineering, Geophysics, Geology or similar majors that require understanding of geo-mechanics at large depths for energy production, storage, and waste disposal.

My objective is to present a self-contained document that mixes theory and practice for students that might have not taken a class in rock mechanics or geotechnical engineering. This is the case of most undergraduate Petroleum Engineering students in the USA who take Statics and Mechanics of Solids as mechanical background. Chapters 2 to 4 cover mostly introductory concepts and theory. Chapters 5 to 8 cover engineering applications of previous chapters.

These notes are the result of teaching “PGE 334 Reservoir Geomechanics” for seven years at The University of Texas at Austin. I am very thankful to all students that have given me feedback over several years to improve my notes constantly, and served as “guinea pigs” of earlier beta versions. The notes are inspired by research of my own, research in collaboration with colleagues, courses I have taken, material shared by Prof. Jon Olson at UT Austin, and books available in the literature including (alphabetical order): Fjaer, E. et al. (2008), Petroleum related rock mechanics; Jaeger, J.C. et al. (2009), Fundamentals of rock mechanics; and Zoback, M.D. (2010), Reservoir geomechanics.

A video explanation of every chapter and subsection is available in YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLv0npDbE5HXtZbV42aJXzrOsv-V8q_q8_. Additional material is available in Github (https://github.com/dnicolasespinoza/GeomechanicsJupyter) and also in my YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFZu4RgaS8pKsfO75979fvg. Python code support is available in Google Colab: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1rIzjFd5p81JGOSRUkaMiQF018idb1XU3?usp=sharing. Should you have any questions or feedback please post a comment on YouTube or send me an email to espinoza@austin.utexas.edu.