Petroleum Geoscience | 2019
Mechanics of salt systems: state of the field in numerical methods
Abstract
This special, two-part, thematic presents studies that employ numerical methods to understand the mechanics associated with salt systems. The thematic captures some of the latest developments in modelling micro- and macro-structural salt behaviour, as well as the interaction between salt and basin sediments. The presented studies provide insights into halokinesis, deformation, pore pressure, and stress in wall rocks, and their implications for trap integrity and the viability of underground storage systems.\n\nOver the past few decades a key component of understanding the evolution of salt structures was achieved through physical experiments (Vendeville & Jackson 1992; Letouzey et al. 1995; Ge et al. 1997; Dooley et al. 2015). Kinematic restoration has also been a fundamental tool to study the evolution of salt geological systems (e.g. Rowan & Kligfield 1989; Rowan & Ratliff 2012; Lopez-Mir …