Dynel is an innovative 3D geomechanical computer program based on the Finite Element Method (FEM), which has been developed by Frantz Maerten and Laurent Maerten to model complex geological structures with realistic boundary conditions and structural heterogeneities. The program simulates the behavior of geological structures such as fractured and faulted rock using a model that undergoes infinitesimal or finite linear elastic deformation in a heterogeneous, anisotropic and discontinuous medium. Inelastic deformation is accommodated by discontinuities such as faults and fractures.
Dynel offers a complete and robust set of tools for mechanically based 3D structural restoration and for checking the consistency of geological interpretations of geological and geophysical data. Unlike tools that are currently available, and are based on kinematic or geometric rules for deformation, Dynel honors the full complement of physical laws that govern deformation, including conservation of mass and momentum, enabling the user to test geological and structural interpretations from seismic data using a physically based restoration procedure. Dynel provides a tool to compute retro-deformation between the restored and the deformed states. These measures of deformation can be used effectively in the oil industry, to predict areas that have undergone large strains at sub-seismic reservoir scales. These predictions may serve to locate and exploit fractured and faulted regions of reservoirs. These tasks are integral to understanding, and being predictive about, structurally complex reservoirs.
Dynel also provides a tool for the 3D forward modeling of sedimentary basins that is more soundly based on the necessary physical laws and geological relationships.
Copyright © The Stanford Rock Fracture Project 2002