Fracture Permeability Alteration due to Chemical and Mechanical Processes: A Coupled High-Resolution Model

Reactive fluid-flow experiments in fractures subjected to normal stress suggest the potential for either increased or decreased permeability resulting from fracture-surface dissolution. We present a computational model that couples mechanical deformation and chemical alteration of fractures subjected to constant normal stress and reactive fluid flow. The model explicitly represents micro-scale roughness of the fracture surfaces and calculates elastic deformation of the rough surfaces using a semi-analytical approach that ensures the surfaces remain in static equilibrium. A depth-averaged reactive transport model calculates chemical alteration of the surfaces, which leads to alteration of the contacting fracture surfaces. The mechanical deformation and chemical alteration calculations are explicitly coupled, which is justified by the disparate timescales required for equilibration of mechanical stresses and reactive transport processes. An idealized analytical representation of dissolution from a single contacting asperity shows that under reaction-limited conditions, contacting asperities can dissolve faster than the open regions of the fracture. Computational simulations in fractures with hundreds of contacting asperities show that the transition from transport-limited conditions (low flow rates) to reaction-rate-limited conditions (high flow rates) causes a shift from monotonically increasing permeability to a more complicated process in which permeability initially decreases and then increases as contacting asperities begin to dissolve. These results are qualitatively consistent with a number of experimental observations reported in the literature and suggest the potential importance of the relative magnitude of mass transport and reaction kinetics on the evolution of fracture permeability in fractures subjected to combined normal stress and reactive fluid flow.     

A numerical model simulating reactive transport and evolution of fracture permeability

A numerical model is presented to describe the evolution of fracture aperture (and related permeability) mediated by the competing chemical processes of pressure solution and free‐face dissolution/precipitation; pressure (dis)solution and precipitation effect net‐reduction in aperture and free‐face dissolution effects net‐increase. These processes are incorporated to examine coupled thermo‐hydro‐mechano‐chemo responses during a flow‐through experiment, and applied to reckon the effect of forced fluid injection within rock fractures at geothermal and petroleum sites. The model accommodates advection‐dominant transport systems by employing the Lagrangian–Eulerian method. This enables changes in aperture and solute concentration within a fracture to be followed with time for arbitrary driving effective stresses, fluid and rock temperatures, and fluid flow rates. This allows a systematic evaluation of evolving linked mechanical and chemical processes. Changes in fracture aperture and solute concentration tracked within a well‐constrained flow‐through test completed on a natural fracture in novaculite (Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 2006, in press) are compared with the distributed parameter model. These results show relatively good agreement, excepting an enigmatic abrupt reduction in fracture aperture in the early experimental period, suggesting that other mechanisms such as mechanical creep and clogging induced by unanticipated local precipitation need to be quantified and incorporated. The model is applied to examine the evolution in fracture permeability for different inlet conditions, including localized (rather than distributed) injection. Predictions show the evolution of preferential flow paths driven by dissolution, and also define the sense of permeability evolution at field scale. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987111001277

A numerical model is developed for investigating the evolution of fracture permeability in a coupled fracture-matrix system in the presence of fracture-skin with simultaneous colloidal and bacterial tr...     

碳酸盐岩单裂隙渗流-溶蚀耦合模型及其参数敏感性分析

岩溶地下水系统是由碳酸盐岩裂隙含水介质演化形成的,系统初始的裂隙网络介质特征及边界条件决定了其演化过程。为揭示岩溶系统演化过程中裂隙介质特征和边界条件的影响程度,建立了裂隙溶蚀扩展的渗流-溶蚀耦合模型,并对不同边界条件下不同隙宽的单裂隙溶蚀扩展特征进行了模拟分析。结果表明:裂隙溶蚀扩展受水的侵蚀性(CO2分压)、水动力条件(水力梯度)、裂隙介质特征(裂隙初始隙宽)等综合作用影响,Ca2+的平衡浓度、水力梯度以及裂隙初始隙宽等参数的增加均能促进裂隙的快速扩展。在这些参数中,初始隙宽B0对岩溶发育的影响最为敏感,水力梯度J和Ca2+平衡浓度Ceq对岩溶发育具有相同的敏感性;此外,随着各参数值的不断增大,参数变化对岩溶发育的敏感程度越来越低。     

构造成矿非线性动力学:1.递增应力流变学模型

本文提出了构造成矿作用动力学研究的递增应力流变学方法。利用该方法将构造变形、应力、流体流动、地球化学反应及成岩成矿作用等多过程耦合起来，可以从多种地质过程的耦合与反馈作用对构造成矿的动力学演化过程进行１～３维数值模拟。模拟的主要内容是在各种过程耦合作用下，以下描述构造成矿体系的主要变量的时空演化：（１）与成矿流体的形成和性质有关的变量，如地层中矿物（包括成矿物质）的溶解速率、流体中各组分的浓度与饱和度、流体温度、压力、离子强度等；（２）与构造变形和流体运移有关的各变量，如应力与变形速率、岩石孔隙度、构造（断裂）渗透率等；（３）与沉淀成矿有关的变量，如矿物（金瞩矿物和脉石矿物）的成核速率、各矿物的沉淀量等；（４）上述各有关变量间的时空耦合关系，如断裂渗透率时空演化与流体流动、汇聚和成矿的耦合关系等。     

Contact mechanism of a rock fracture subjected to normal loading and its impact on fast closure behavior during initial stage of fluid flow experiment

Fast closure of rock fractures has been commonly observed in the initial stage of fluid flow experiments at environmental temperatures under low or moderate normal stresses. To fully understand the mechanisms that drive this fast closure, the evolution of local stresses acting on contacting asperities on the fracture surfaces prior to fluid flow tests needs to be evaluated. In this study, we modeled numerically the asperity deformation and failure processes during initial normal loading, by adopting both elastic and elastic–plastic deformation models for the asperities on a real rock fracture with measured surface topography data, and estimated their impact on initial conditions for fluid flow test performed under laboratory conditions. Compared with the previous models that simulate the normal contact of a fracture as the approach of two rigid surfaces without deformations, our models of deformable asperities yielded smaller contact areas and higher stresses on contacting asperities at a given normal stress or normal displacement. The results show that the calculated local stresses were concentrated on the contacts of a few major asperities, resulting in crushing of asperity tips. With these higher contact stresses, however, the predicted closure rates by pressure solution are still several orders of magnitude lower than that of the experimental measurements at the initial stage of fluid flow test. This indicates that single pressure solution may not likely to be the principal compaction mechanism for this fast closure, and that the damages on contacting asperities that occur during the initial normal loading stage may play an important role. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

构造-流体-成矿体系的反应-输运-力学耦合模型和动力学模拟

建立了一个综合的构造流体成矿体系的反应输运力学耦合动力学模型。利用有限元方法求解岩石变形、断裂作用和断裂网络统计动力学、流体流动、有机和无机地球化学反应及成岩成矿作用、压力溶液和其它压实力学、热迁移的方程组 ,可以对构造流体成矿体系的动力学演化过程进行 1～ 3维数值模拟。模拟的主要内容是在各种过程耦合作用下描述构造流体成矿体系的主要变量的时空演化 :( 1)与成矿流体的形成和性质有关的变量 ,如地层中矿物 (包括成矿物质 )的溶解速率、流体中各组分的浓度与饱和度、流体温度、压力、离子强度等 ;( 2 )与构造变形和流体运移有关的各变量 ,如应力与变形速率、岩石孔隙度、构造 (断裂 )渗透率等 ;( 3 )与沉淀成矿有关的变量 ,如矿物 (金属矿物和脉石矿物 )的成核速率、各矿物的沉淀量等 ;( 4 )上述各有关变量间的时空耦合关系 ,如断裂渗透率时空演化与流体流动、汇聚和成矿的耦合关系等。以湖南沃溪金锑钨矿床为例 ,应用该模型和方法对成矿动力学过程和动力学机制进行了初步的模拟与分析。     

页岩储层裂隙渗透率模型和试验研究

页岩储层的裂隙渗透率是评价页岩气开采的重要参数,基于裂隙法向刚度的概念,考虑页岩储层变形过程中裂隙系统和基质系统之间的相互作用以及页岩气解吸引起的体应变,提出了与有效应力相关的页岩储层的渗透率模型。然后分别分析了页岩气藏在单轴应变和常体积条件下的渗透率模型,分析表明,单轴应变和常体积条件下（3个方向的总应变都为0）的裂隙渗透率模型完全一致。采用脉冲衰减渗透率仪测试了煤系页岩的裂隙渗透率,当有效应力从0.7 MPa增加到14.5 MPa时,渗透率从41.81×10-17 m2降到5.43×10-17 m2。为了阐述渗透率模型的有效性,利用煤系页岩的渗透率数据对有效应力-渗透率模型进行拟合。结果表明,当裂隙的法向刚度、张开度和煤系页岩的初始渗透率分别为57 922.5 MPa/m、0.000 17 m和50.15×10-17 m2时,有效应力-渗透率模型和煤系页岩的渗透率拟合程度较好。然后利用现场渗透率数据对该模型进行拟合,结果表明,当裂隙的法向刚度和张开度的关系符合反比例函数时,拟合程度非常好。该渗透率模型适合于单轴应变、常体积和常围压条件,可用于描述页岩气开采过程中页岩储层裂隙渗透率随孔隙压力的变化规律。同时,该渗透率模型和P&M模型以及S&D模型进行了比较,结果表明,该渗透率模型的拟合结果与S&D模型基本一致,但与P&M模型存在一定的差别。     

A coupled compressible flow and geomechanics model for dynamic fracture aperture during carbon sequestration in coal

This paper presents the development of a discrete fracture model of fully coupled compressible fluid flow, adsorption and geomechanics to investigate the dynamic behaviour of fractures in coal. The model is applied in the study of geological carbon dioxide sequestration and differs from the dual porosity model developed in our previous work, with fractures now represented explicitly using lower-dimensional interface elements. The model consists of the fracture-matrix fluid transport model, the matrix deformation model and the stress-strain model for fracture deformation. A sequential implicit numerical method based on Galerkin finite element is employed to numerically solve the coupled governing equations, and verification is completed using published solutions as benchmarks. To explore the dynamic behaviour of fractures for understanding the process of carbon sequestration in coal, the model is used to investigate the effects of gas injection pressure and composition, adsorption and matrix permeability on the dynamic behaviour of fractures. The numerical results indicate that injecting nonadsorbing gas causes a monotonic increase in fracture aperture; however, the evolution of fracture aperture due to gas adsorption is complex due to the swelling-induced transition from local swelling to macro swelling. The change of fracture aperture is mainly controlled by the normal stress acting on the fracture surface. The fracture aperture initially increases for smaller matrix permeability and then declines after reaching a maximum value. When the local swelling becomes global, fracture aperture starts to rebound. However, when the matrix permeability is larger, the fracture aperture decreases before recovering to a higher value and remaining constant. Gas mixtures containing more carbon dioxide lead to larger closure of fracture aperture compared with those containing more nitrogen.     

Dissolution–precipitation reactions in hydrothermal experiments with quartz–feldspar aggregates

Batch and flow-through experiments were performed on quartz–feldspar granular aggregates at hydrothermal conditions (up to ≈150 °C, up to 5 MPa effective pressure, and near-neutral pH) for up to 141 days. The effect of dissolution–precipitation reactions on the surface morphology of the mineral grains was investigated. The starting materials as well as the solids and fluids resulting from the experiments were characterized using BET, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, electron microprobe analysis, inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, and X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy. The electrical conductivity of fluid samples was used as a proxy for the evolution of the fluid composition in the experiments. The chemical analyses of the fluids in combination with hydrogeochemical simulations with PHREEQC suggested the precipitation of Al–Si-bearing solid phases. Electron microscopy confirmed the formation of secondary amorphous Al–Si-bearing solid phases. The microscopic observations are consistent with a process of stoichiometric dissolution of the mineral grains, transport of dissolved ions in the fluid phase, and spatially coupled precipitation of sub-μm sized amorphous particles on mineral surfaces. These findings shed light onto early stages of diagenesis of quartz–feldspar sands and indicate that amorphous phases may be precursors for the formation of crystalline phases, for example, clay minerals.     

Do clay mineral dissolution rates reach steady state?

The temporal evolution of natural illite du Puy dissolution rates was measured from Si release rates in single-pass flow-through experiments lasting at least 100 days at 25°C and pH ranging from 2 to 12. Si release rates decreased by a factor of five and three at pH 12 and 2, respectively, during the experiments. These observations are interpreted to stem from changes in illite du Puy reactive surface area during these experiments. As the edges of clay minerals dissolve faster than the basal planes, dissolution tends to change clay mineral morphology decreasing the percentage of reactive edge sites. This continuously changing morphology prevents illite dissolution rates from attaining steady state during laboratory experiments lasting 100 to 200 days. A similar temporal decrease in dissolution rates is evident for many different sets of clay mineral dissolution rate data available in the literature. It seems reasonable, therefore, to expect that clay mineral dissolution does not attain steady state in nature, but rather their dissolution rates decrease continuously during their dissolution.     

Grain boundaries as microreactors during reactive fluid flow: experimental dolomitization of a calcite marble

Limestone dolomitization is an example of a fluid-induced mineralogical transformation that commonly affects extensive rock volumes. To understand the mechanisms enabling these efficient replacement reactions, we investigated experimentally the dolomitization of a fractured calcite marble under flow-through conditions at mild hydrothermal conditions. Contrary to most earlier studies of coupled dissolution reprecipitation reactions that were conducted using small, individual grains, in this study, the integrity of the rock was preserved, so that the experiment explored the links between flow in a fracture and fluid–rock interaction. In these experiments, grain boundaries acted as microreactors, in which a Mg-poor ‘protodolomite’ formed initially, and then transformed into dolomite. The difficulty in nucleating dolomite played a key role in controlling the evolution of the porosity, by allowing for (1) initial dissolution along grain boundaries, and (2) formation of coarse porosity at the reaction interface. This porosity evolution not only enabled the reaction to progress efficiently, but also controlled the mineralogy of the system, as shown by brucite replacing calcite near the fracture once the fluid along calcite grain boundaries became sufficiently connected to the fluid flowing through the fracture. This study illustrates the role of grain boundaries, porosity evolution and nucleation in controlling reaction progress as well as the nature and textures of the products in pervasive mineralogical transformations.     

渗流-化学溶解耦合作用下岩石单裂隙渗透特性研究

为揭示在渗流-化学溶解耦合作用下单裂隙渗透特性的变化规律,建立了描述二维渗流-化学溶解耦合作用的偏微分方程组,并利用COMSOL Multiphysics软件成功地求解该方程组。首先,模拟了文献[1]中的盐岩渗流-溶解耦合渗流试验结果,数值模拟结果与试验结果较为吻合,验证了数学模型的正确性和有效性。然后,利用分形理论生成了一个粗糙的裂隙面数字模型,着重分析了二维石灰岩粗糙裂隙面在水流、矿物溶解和输运过程中其渗透特性的变化规律。数值分析显示,（1）溶质浓度对裂隙面的溶解具有非常重要的作用,从而水流进口端的溶解厚度比出口端大得多。（2）裂隙的整体渗透性在初始时刻增加较慢,随着裂隙开度的增大和贯通,溶解速度会逐渐增大,是一个加速的过程。     

煤基CO2地质封存对顶板裂缝导流能力影响实验研究

煤基CO₂地质封存是温室气体减排的重要方式,但也存在地下CO₂泄露的安全风险。为了评估煤基CO₂地质封存的安全性,采集沁水盆地南部胡底矿3号煤顶板泥质粉砂岩样品,模拟实验研究“CO₂-H₂O-岩”反应中柱状试样人工裂缝形貌、全岩矿物组成与CO₂导流能力变化。结果表明:方解石脉溶蚀、次生矿物充填与外部有效应力共同影响试样裂缝导流能力。原始渗透率为0.016×10–3μm2的低渗试样,方解石脉溶蚀导致实验前期渗透率升高;随着反应进行,有效应力主导下裂缝闭合,渗透率呈“先升后降”变化趋势;原始渗透率为3.785×10–3μm2的高渗试样,H₂CO₃不断溶蚀裂缝壁面长石等矿物,并产生高岭石等次生矿物混合充填于裂缝中,使渗透率持续降低。煤基CO₂地质封存过程中,较高的注入压力导致顶板产生人工裂缝;CO₂注入施工结束后,次生矿物充填及有效应力增大使裂缝导流能力快速下降,因此,煤中封存CO₂沿顶板裂缝长期泄露的风险较低。      

Impact of Gas Adsorption Induced Coal Matrix Damage on the Evolution of Coal Permeability

It has been widely reported that coal permeability can change from reduction to enhancement due to gas adsorption even under the constant effective stress condition, which is apparently inconsistent with the classic theoretical solutions. This study addresses this inconsistency through explicit simulations of the dynamic interactions between coal matrix swelling/shrinking induced damage and fracture aperture alteration, and translations of these interactions to permeability evolution under the constant effective stress condition. We develop a coupled coal–gas interaction model that incorporates the material heterogeneity and damage evolution of coal, which allows us to couple the progressive development of damage zone with gas adsorption processes within the coal matrix. For the case of constant effective stress, coal permeability changes from reduction to enhancement while the damage zone within the coal matrix develops from the fracture wall to further inside the matrix. As the peak Langmuir strain is approached, the decrease of permeability halts and permeability increases with pressure. The transition of permeability reduction to permeability enhancement during gas adsorption, which may be closely related to the damage zone development in coal matrix, is controlled by coal heterogeneity, external boundary condition, and adsorption-induced swelling.     

裂隙岩体介质THM耦合问题中的渗透特性研究

在前人就热、液、力三因素各自影响裂隙岩体渗透特性的研究和本文所进行的温度及附加应力作用下单裂隙岩样实验的基础上．综合分析了裂隙岩体THM耦合过程,以裂隙结构面的开度、岩体裂隙数(包括受温度影响开通裂隙数)、裂隙连通率、附加应力、剪切膨胀为研究对象．建立具有THM耦合特性的裂隙岩体渗流系数张量。     

Stress-Dependent Fluid Flow and Permeability in Fractured Media: from Lab Experiments to Engineering Applications

Summary. Permeability is a physical property in rocks of extreme importance in energy engineering, civil and environmental engineering, and various areas of geology. Early on, fractures in fluid flow models were assumed to be rigid. However, experimental research and field data confirmed that stress-deformation behavior in fractures is a key factor governing their permeability tensor. Although extensive research was conducted in the past, the three-dimensional stress-permeability relationships, particularly in the inelastic deformation stage, still remain unclear. In this paper, laboratory experiments conducted on large concrete blocks with randomly distributed fractures and rock core samples are reported to investigate fluid flow and permeability variations under uniaxial, biaxial and triaxial complete stress-strain process. Experimental relationships among flowrate, permeability and fracture aperture in the fractured media are investigated. Results show that the flowrate and stress/aperture exhibit “cubic law” relationship for the randomly distributed fractures. A permeability-aperture relationship is proposed according to the experimental results. Based on this relationship, stress-dependent permeability in a set of fractures is derived in a three-dimensional domain by using a coupled stress and matrix-fracture interactive model. A double porosity finite element model is extended by incorporating such stress-dependent permeability effects. The proposed model is applied to examine permeability variations induced by stress redistributions for an inclined borehole excavated in a naturally fractured formation. The results indicate that permeability around underground openings depends strongly on stress changes and orientations of the natural fractures.     

Physical Modelling of Stress-dependent Permeability in Fractured Rocks

This paper presents the results of laboratory experiments conducted to study the impact of stress on fracture deformation and permeability of fractured rocks. The physical models (laboratory specimens) consisted of steel cubes simulating a rock mass containing three sets of orthogonal fractures. The laboratory specimens were subjected to two or three cycles of hydrostatic loading/unloading followed by the measurement of displacement and permeability. The results show a considerable difference in both deformation and permeability trends between the first loading and the subsequent loading/unloading cycles. However, the micrographs of the contact surfaces taken before and after the tests show that the standard deviation of asperity heights of measured surfaces are affected very little by the loadings. This implies that both deformation and permeability are rather controlled by the highest surface asperities which cannot be picked up by the conventional roughness characterization technique. We found that the dependence of flow rate on mechanical aperture follows a power law with the exponent n smaller or larger than three depending upon the loading stage. Initially, when the maximum height of the asperities is high, the exponent is slightly smaller than 3. The first loading, however, flattens these asperities. After that, the third loading and unloading yielded the exponent of around 4. Due to the roughness of contact surfaces, the flow route is no longer straight but tortuous resulting in flow length increase.     

Mechanical and transport constitutive models for fractures subject to dissolution and precipitation

Transient changes in the permeability of fractures in systems driven far‐from‐equilibrium are described in terms of proxy roles of stress, temperature and chemistry. The combined effects of stress and temperature are accommodated in the response of asperity bridges where mineral mass is mobilized from the bridge to the surrounding fluid. Mass balance within the fluid accommodates mineral mass either removed from the flow system by precipitation or advection, or augmented by either dissolution or advection. Where the system is hydraulically closed and initially at equilibrium, reduction in aperture driven by the effects of applied stresses and temperatures will be augmented by precipitation on the fracture walls. Where the system is open, the initial drop in aperture may continue, and accelerate, where the influent fluid is oversaturated with respect to the equilibrium mineral concentration within the fluid, or may reverse, if undersaturated. This simple zero‐dimensional model is capable of representing the intricate behavior observed in experiments where the feasibility of fracture sealing concurrent with net dissolution is observed. This zero‐order model is developed as a constitutive model capable of representing key aspects of changes in the transport parameters of the continuum response of fractured media to changes in stress, temperature and chemistry. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Dissolution of sandstone powders in deionised water over the range 50–350 °C

Sandstone dissolution is a common water–rock reaction in the Earth’s crust, but a thorough understanding of this phenomenon is constrained by poorly determined kinetic data. To this end, kinetic data were determined for the dissolution of arkosic sandstone powders in deionised water (pH was about 7.0–7.3 and electrical conductivity was between 0.95 and 1.00 μS/cm). Release rates of dissolved elements were determined over the range 50–350 °C at 20, 15, and 10 MPa using a column flow-through pressure vessel reactor. The conductivity of the outlet solution, measured at room temperature, is dependent on the charge of major cations such as Na⁺, K⁺, Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺ at these conditions. The conductivity of the outlet solution was used to determine the steady state of the dissolution of sandstone powders. The pH values of the outlet solutions at the steady state, measured ex situ at room temperature, were about 7.7, 8.3, 8.4, 8.4 and 7.6 at 75, 100, 150, 200 and 250 °C, respectively, at 10 MPa. Silicon, Na, K, Ca, Al and Mg are the major ions found in the solution at low temperatures, but Si is the only major ion retained at higher temperatures (>150 °C). Compared with static experiments, the flowing dissolution experiments occurred at conditions far from equilibrium. The relationship between temperature and dissolution rates of arkosic sandstone powders was described as log R = 0.005469t − 10.50 where R is the dissolution rates of sandstone powders in kg/(m² s), t is temperature in °C which ranged from 100 to 350 °C at 20 and 15 MPa, and the dissolution rates of sandstone powders were measured only for the major dissolved elements without oxygen in the outlet solutions.