Fei Liu, Ze Li, Jian Min, Yang Peng, Huan Peng, Songhai Qin, Yuntao Liu, Jian Xiong, Ruowen Yu
Conventional geostress evaluation methods often assume static rock properties and neglect the dynamic degradation of mechanical parameters caused by damage evolution during drilling and fracturing processes, which significantly limits prediction accuracy. To address this gap, this study develops a multiphysics-coupled numerical framework integrating COMSOL Multiphysics and MATLAB, grounded in damage mechanics theory, to quantitatively investigate the control mechanism of progressive rock damage on geostress redistribution. By establishing a damage constitutive model coupled with thermo-hydro-mechanical interactions, we simulate the dynamic evolution of rock damage and its impact on stress field reorganization during wellbore operations. Key results demonstrate that (1) incorporating damage evolution leads to substantial deviations in both the magnitude and spatial distribution of geostress, with stress perturbations highly localized within damage zones; (2) changes in mechanical parameters—particularly elastic modulus and permeability—dominate stress adjustments, with heightened sensitivity in formations with low elastic moduli and high permeability; and (3) Poisson's ratio has a negligible influence, whereas permeability variation becomes critically important in low-stiffness formations. Field validation via leakage case analyses in the Wujiaping Formation confirms that the proposed method significantly enhances prediction accuracy compared with conventional approaches. This work elucidates the multiscale interdependency between damage and stress evolution by offering a physics-based framework to optimize drilling and stimulation design in heterogeneous reservoirs.