... apertures, extent of mud infiltration, fracture strength reduction in the infiltrated region, and subsequent wellbore instability in coupled mechanical-fluid simulations of densely fractured rock mass. The influence of several key factors governing the extent of mud infiltration in the rock mass, including...

..., such as bedding planes and fractures, in rock masses. Furthermore, mud infiltration into the fractures can lead to a reduction in the fracture friction angle. As a result, the rock masses are more prone to wellbore instability along the fractures. In this paper, coupled numerical analyses are presented...