Natural hydraulic cracking: numerical model and sensitivity study

Natural hydrofracturing caused by overpressure plays an important role in geopressure evolution and hydrocarbon migration in petroliferous basins. Its mechanism is quite well understood in the case of artificial hydraulic fracturing triggered by high-pressure fluid injection in a well. This is not so for natural hydraulic fracturing which is assumed to initiate as micro-cracks with large influence on the permeability of the medium. The mechanism of natural hydraulic cracking, triggered by increasing pore pressure during geological periods, is studied using a fracturing model coupled to the physical processes occurring during basin evolution. In this model, the hydraulic cracking threshold is assumed to lie between the classical failure limit and the beginning of dilatancy. Fluid pressure evolution is calculated iteratively in order to allow dynamic adjustment of permeability so that the fracturing limit is always preserved. The increase of permeability is interpreted on the basis of equivalent fractures. It is found that fracturing is very efficient to keep a stress level at the rock’s hydraulic cracking limit: a fracture permeability one order of magnitude larger than the intrinsic permeability of the rock would be enough. Observations reported from actual basins and model results strongly suggest that natural hydraulic cracking occurs continuously to keep the pressure at the fracturing limit under relaxed stress conditions.     

震后地下岩层分形渗透率的时间演化规律研究

天然地震发生后,地震波及区域内的地下岩层渗透率常常会发生显著改变,其变化曲线显示出独有的特征,造成这一现象的机理较为复杂,传统渗流理论尚不能给出合理解释.针对这一问题,从震后渗透率变化规律入手,深入分析了地下岩层裂缝体系对渗透率的影响,给出了裂缝结构参数与渗透率之间的定量关系.结合岩层黏弹特性以及天然地震所产生的地下岩层体应变特征,基于裂缝体系分维度正比于外部应力的实验事实,将黏弹体应力松弛机制引入该体系,对裂缝分形渗透率模型进行了含时推广,建立起震后地下岩层渗透率的时间演化模型,理论预测曲线与实验曲线吻合较好.在此基础上提出‘分形裂缝渗透率松弛效应’这一全新概念.本研究为震控流体运移研究提供了新思路,对于揭示震后断层恢复机制,探讨断层活动与孕震的关联有一定的理论价值和现实意义.     

Common Evolution of Mechanical and Transport Properties in Thermally Cracked Westerly Granite at Elevated Hydrostatic Pressure

Increasing the damage and crack porosity in crustal rocks can result in significant changes to various key physical properties, including mechanical strength, elastic and mechanical anisotropy, and the enhancement of transport properties. Using a Non-Interactive Crack Effective Medium (NIC) theory as a fundamental tool, we show that elastic wave dispersion can be inverted to evaluate crack density as a function of temperature and is compared with optically determined crack density. Further, we show how the existence of embedded microcrack fabrics in rocks also significantly influences the fracture toughness (K_IC) of rocks as measured via a suite of tensile failure experiments (chevron cracked notch Brazilian disk). Finally, we include fluid flow in our analysis via the Guéguen and Dienes crack porosity-permeability model. Using the crack density and aspect ratio recovered from the elastic-wave velocity inversion, we successfully compare permeability evolution with pressure with the laboratory measurements of permeability.     

The evolution of the stress state in Southern California based on the geomechanical model and current seismicity

A three-dimensional geomechanical model of Southern California, which includes the mountain topography, fault tectonics, and main structural boundaries (the top of the lower crust and the Moho), is developed. The main stress state of the model is determined by the own weight of the rocks and by the horizontal tectonic motions identified from the GPS observations. The model enables tracking the changes which occur in the stress-strain state of the crust due to the evolution of the seismic process. As the input data, the model uses the current seismicity and treats each earthquake as a new defect in the Earth’s crust which brings about the redistribution of strains, elastic energy density, and yield stress of the crust. Monitoring the variations in the stress state of the crust and lithosphere arising in response to the seismic process shows that the model is suitable for forecasting the enhancement in seismic activity of the region and delineating the earthquake-prone areas with a reasonable probability on a given time interval.     

A Study of Permeability Changes Due to Cold Fluid Circulation in Fractured Geothermal Reservoirs

Reservoir behavior due to injection and circulation of cold fluid is studied with a shear displacement model based on the distributed dislocation technique, in a poro‐thermoelastic environment. The approach is applied to a selected volume of Soultz geothermal reservoir at a depth range of 3600 to 3700 m. Permeability enhancement and geothermal potential of Soultz geothermal reservoir are assessed over a stimulation period of 3 months and a fluid circulation period of 14 years. This study—by shedding light onto another source of uncertainty—points toward a special role for the fracture surface asperities in predicting the shear dilation of fractures. It was also observed that thermal stress has a significant impact on changing the reservoir stress field. The effect of thermal stresses on reservoir behavior is more evident over longer circulation term as the rock matrix temperature is significantly lowered. Change in the fracture permeability due to the thermal stresses can also lead to the short circuiting between the injection and production wells which in turn decreases the produced fluid temperature significantly. The effect of thermal stress persists during the whole circulation period as it has significant impact on the continuous increase in the flow rate due to improved permeability over the circulation period. In the current study, taking into account the thermal stress resulted in a decrease of about 7 °C in predicted produced fluid temperature after 14 years of cold fluid circulation; a difference which notably influences the potential prediction of an enhanced geothermal system.     

A Poroelastic Description of Permeability Evolution

Pore pressure changes in a geothermal reservoir, as a result of injection and/or production of water, result in changes of stress acting on the reservoir rock and, consequently, changes in the mechanical and transport properties of the rock. Bulk modulus and permeability were measured at different pressures and temperatures. An outcropping equivalent of Rotliegend reservoir rock in the North German Basin (Flechtinger sandstone) was used to perform hydrostatic tests and steady state fluid flow tests. Permeability measurements were conducted while cycling confining pressure; the dependence of permeability on stress was determined at a constant downstream pressure of 1 MPa. Also, temperature was increased stepwise from 30 to 140 °C and crack porosity was calculated at different temperatures. Although changes in the volumes of cracks are not significant, the cracks control fluid flow pathways and, consequently, the permeability of the rock. A new model was derived which relates microstructure of porosity, the stress–strain curve, and permeability. Porosity change was described by the first derivative of the stress–strain curve. Permeability evolution was ascribed to crack closure and was related to the second derivative of the stress–strain curve. The porosity and permeability of Flechtinger sandstone were reduced by increasing the effective pressure and decreased after each pressure cycle.     

Damage evolution and fluid flow in poroelastic rock

We present a formulation for mechanical modeling of the interaction between fracture and fluid flow. Our model combines the classic Biot poroelastic theory and a damage rheology model. The model provides an internally consistent framework for simulating coupled evolution of fractures and fluid flow together with gradual transition from brittle fracture to cataclastic flow in high-porosity rocks. The theoretical analysis, based on thermodynamic principles, leads to a system of coupled kinetic equations for the evolution of damage and porosity. A significant advantage of the model is the ability to reproduce the entire yield curve, including positive and negative slopes, in high-porosity rocks by a unified formulation. A transition from positive to negative values in the yield curve, referred to as a yield cap, is determined by the competition between the two thermodynamic forces associated with damage and porosity evolution. Numerical simulations of triaxial compression tests reproduce the gradual transition from localized brittle failure to distributed cataclastic flow with increasing pressure in high-porosity rocks and fit well experimentally measured yield stress for Berea sandstone samples. We modified a widely used permeability porosity relation by accounting for the effect of damage intensity on the connectivity. The new damage-permeability relation, together with the coupled kinetics of damage and porosity evolution, reproduces a wide range of realistic features of rock behavior. We constrain the model variables by comparisons of the theoretical predictions with laboratory results reporting porosity and permeability variation in rock samples during isotropic and anisotropic loading. The new damage-porosity-permeability relation enables simulation of coupled evolution of fractures and fluid flow and provides a possible explanation for permeability measurements in high-porosity rocks, referred to as the “apparent permeability paradox.” The text was submitted by the authors in English.     

Apparent permeability variation of underground water aquifer induced by an earthquake: A case of the Zhouzhi well and the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake

Taking the M₂ wave as calibration signals, we extract the phase shifts of the water level relative to the Earth tide in the Zhouzhi well by utilizing the cross-correlation function. And we further obtain the apparent permeability variation in the aquifer of the Zhouzhi well in 2008. Comparison with the commonly used tidal analysis software Baytap-G shows that phase shifts obtained by cross-correlation function are more stable. The resulting apparent permeability of the Zhouzhi well aquifer fluctuates with time, indicating it is a dynamically controlled parameter. The 2008 Wenchuan earthquake caused the apparent permeability increasing drastically, which is interpreted as the combination effects of effective stress changes and the barriers removing in the flow channel due to seismic wave pressure pulse. After the Wenchuan earthquake, the effective stress began to recover and the impurities deposited gradually, causing the apparent permeability to decrease a month later and almost recover to the pre-earthquake level in six months.     

Permeability of Triaxially Compressed Sandstone: Influence of Deformation and Strain-rate on Permeability

— The influence of differential stress on the permeability of a Lower Permian sandstone was investigated. Rock cylinders of 50 mm in diameter and 100 mm length of a fine-grained (mean grain size 0.2 mm), low-porosity (6–9%) sandstone were used to study the relation between differential stress, rock deformation, rock failure and hydraulic properties, with a focus on the changes of hydraulic properties in the pre-failure and failure region of triaxial rock deformation. The experiments were conducted at confining pressures up to 20 MPa, and axial force was controlled by lateral strain with a rate ranging from 10^?6 to 10^?7 sec^?1. While deforming the samples, permeability was determined by steady-state technique with a pressure gradient of 1 MPa over the specimen length and a fluid pressure level between 40 and 90% of the confining pressure. The results show that permeability of low-porosity sandstones under increasing triaxial stress firstly decreases due to compaction and starts to increase after the onset of dilatancy. This kind of permeability evolution is similar to that of crystalline rocks. A significant dependence of permeability evolution on strain rate was found. Comparison of permeability to volumetric strain demonstrates that the permeability increase after the onset of dilatancy is not sufficient to regain the initial permeability up to failure of the specimen. The initial permeability, which was determined in advance of the experiments, usually was regained in the post-failure region. After the onset of dilatancy, the permeability increase displays a linear dependence on volumetric strain.     

Permeability Evolution and Rock Brittle Failure

This paper reports an experimental study of the evolution of permeability during rock brittle failure and a theoretical analysis of rock critical stress level. It is assumed that the rock is a strain-softening medium whose strength can be described by Weibull’s distribution. Based on the two-dimensional renormalization group theory, it is found that the stress level λ_c (the ratio of the stress at the critical point to the peak stress) depends mainly on the homogeneity index or shape parameter m in the Weibull’s distribution for the rock. Experimental results show that the evolution of permeability is closely related to rock deformation stages: the permeability has a rapid increase with the growth of cracks and their surface areas (i.e., onset of fracture coalescence point), and reaches the maximum at rock failure. Both the experimental and analytical results show that this point of rapid increase in permeability on the permeability-pressure curve corresponds to the critical point on the stress-strain curve; for rock compression, the stress at this point is approximately 80% of the peak strength. Thus, monitoring the evolution of permeability may provide a new means of identifying the critical point of rock brittle fracture.     

Static and dynamic conceptual model of a complexly fractured crystalline rock aquifer

A conceptual model of anisotropic and dynamic permeability is developed from hydrogeologic and hydromechanical characterization of a foliated, complexly fractured, crystalline rock aquifer at Gates Pond, Berlin, Massachusetts. Methods of investigation include aquifer‐pumping tests, long‐term hydrologic monitoring, fracture characterization, downhole heat‐pulse flow meter measurements, in situ extensometer testing, and earth tide analysis. A static conceptual model is developed from observations of depth‐dependent and anisotropic permeability that effectively compartmentalizes the aquifer as a function of foliation intensity. Superimposed on the static model is dynamic permeability as a function of hydraulic head in which transient bulk aquifer transmissivity is proportional to changes in hydraulic head due to hydromechanical coupling. The dynamic permeability concept is built on observations that fracture aperture changes as a function of hydraulic head, as measured during in situ extensometer testing of individual fractures, and observed changes in bulk aquifer transmissivity as determined from earth tides during seasonal changes in hydraulic head, with higher transmissivity during periods of high hydraulic head, and lower transmissivity during periods of relatively lower hydraulic head. A final conceptual model is presented that captures both the static and dynamic properties of the aquifer. The workflow presented here demonstrates development of a conceptual framework for building numerical models of complexly fractured, foliated, crystalline rock aquifers that includes both a static model to describe the spatial distribution of permeability as a function of fracture type and foliation intensity and a dynamic model that describes how hydromechanical coupling impacts permeability magnitude as a function of hydraulic head fluctuation. This model captures important geologic controls on permeability magnitude, anisotropy, and transience and therefor offers potentially more reliable history matching and forecasts of different water management strategies, such as resource evaluation, well placement, permeability prediction, and evaluating remediation strategies.     

Regional flow simulation in fractured aquifers using stress-dependent parameters

A model function relating effective stress to fracture permeability is developed from Hooke's law, implemented in the tensorial form of Darcy's law, and used to evaluate discharge rates and pressure distributions at regional scales. The model takes into account elastic and statistical fracture parameters, and is able to simulate real stress-dependent permeabilities from laboratory to field studies. This modeling approach gains in phenomenology in comparison to the classical ones because the permeability tensors may vary in both strength and principal directions according to effective stresses. Moreover this method allows evaluation of the fracture porosity changes, which are then translated into consolidation of the medium.     

Effect and mechanism of stresses on rock permeability at different scales

1 Introduction Unlike general solids, rocks are porous materialswhich include different scales of pores, such as pores, cracks, fractures, capillary and disfigurement in the crystal, tiny pores and cracks between crystal grains at micro-scale, in which the fluid is water, oil or gas. Thedifferences between rocks and solids can be seen in two aspects, one is stresses bearing states. Solids are only subjected to external stresses, while rocks are subjected to external stresses σ ij (i, j=1,2,3)…     

地震活动增强方式及其复杂性

分析了地震活动增强特征参数W1与相应其它参数的关系以及在一些6级左右地震前W1值的动态图像变化。结果表明中强以上地震前的地震活动“增强”通常表现为在强度上的增高、时间和空间上的丛集以及强度增高与时空丛集同时出现3种方式。一些6级左右地震前W1值动态图像变化表明地震过程往往表现为多应力集中区相互作用和影响的演变过程。     

水库诱发地震时空演化与库水加卸载及渗透过程的关系 ——以紫坪铺水库为例

为了解水库蓄水过程中,水库诱发地震活动的动态响应机制,本文建立了针对水库诱发地震(Reservoir-induced seismicity,RIS)定量化研究的数理模型,并以紫坪铺水库为例,对库区地质构造及水文地质结构条件、水库蓄水后库区小震活动时空演化特征进行了详细的研究.在此基础上,利用有限元方法计算了水库蓄水过程中弹性附加应力场、有效附加应力场、孔隙压力和断层稳定性的动态变化,讨论了RIS时空演化与库水加卸载及渗透过程的动态响应关系.结果表明:(1) RIS诱发机制的定量化模型可分为2个层次:一是以孔隙介质为载体的流体渗流对岩体变形和稳定性的影响,由流-固耦合形式的岩体变形与孔隙渗流模型进行描述;二是对断层相关的RIS定量研究可将水库附加水头压力沿断层面(区)的扩散与断层库仑应力变化联系起来.两种形式模型方法的结合能为RIS定量研究提供一个相对宏观的力学框架;(2) 断裂渗透结构对孔隙压力变化下断裂的力学响应具有重要的影响,研究区主干断裂可能属于一种上盘破碎带导水、下盘地层及断层核阻水的"下阻上导型"的渗透结构类型,不同程度的具有使地表水体向深部渗流的通道性.库区深部岩体渗透稳定性的差异在很大程度上导致了诱发地震活动对岩性条件的依赖.(3) 紫坪铺水库蓄水后,小震活动在空间分布上呈现出条带状分布、丛集分布和地震迁移的特点,小震震源深度优势分布在地下4~10 km范围内,在通济场断裂与安县-灌县断裂的深部汇聚区域震源分布最为密集.同时,小震活动主要集中发生在脆性程度高、渗透稳定性低的碳酸盐岩地层中,而在岩性较软弱、渗透稳定性高的三叠系须家河组砂泥岩和煤系地层中很少有地震发生.在水库蓄水后地震活动的时间响应特征上,水库西南侧和东北侧两个丛集区的小震活动可能属于"快速响应型"RIS,而都江堰小震群活动可能属于"滞后响应型"诱发地震活动;(4) RIS的发生与库水加卸载及渗透过程中库底岩体有效应力的变化密切相关.在以挤压为主的构造应力环境中,库体荷载作用的结果一般会使库底断层更趋向稳定,而水库附加水头压力扩散的效应则是促使断层趋向失稳,正是这个矛盾双方相互制约与平衡的动态过程,控制了断层库仑应力变化的取向,从而决定了RIS时空演化的规律.     

华南褶皱系典型成矿区多期次构造演化与控矿机制数值模拟

本文基于流-固耦合模型对研究区主要控矿构造的发育演化过程和控矿机制进行数值模拟研究.根据研究区不同构造期次下形成的最大主应力、体积应变、剪切应变、岩层渗透率变化、孔隙压力以及流体流动样式等成矿地质环境的定量结果,分析个旧超大型成矿系统的构造-岩浆-流体要素的相互作用机制.模拟结果显示,在成矿期构造应力场作用下,在先存背斜构造部位形成了强烈的张应力环境,构成了一系列沿北北东走向的有利侵位通道和空间.岩浆反复侵位于此并产生巨大浮力作用,控制了背斜构造发育并形成了低压力、高渗透的扩容空间,促进矿液长效聚集成矿.另一方面,根据东西向断裂组的应力-应变状态及共轭剪切断裂成生发育情况,剖析了该组断裂的形成机制以及在成矿期的性质、运动状态及导矿容矿作用.     

超声激励低渗煤层甲烷增透机理

超声激励增透煤层是一种不受甲烷储层地质条件和气源特性限制,具有普遍应用价值的增采技术.但由于煤岩致密、裂隙发育,煤岩孔隙度存在多尺度效应,受储层介质尺度效应影响的增透促吸机理尚不明确.本文通过CT观测实验和渗透率测定实验,对超声波作用下煤样不同尺度裂隙发展规律进行了分析,对比测定超声作用煤样渗透率变化规律,建立了超声增透煤层甲烷渗透率的修正公式.研究结果表明:CT观测实验很好地证明了超声的机械震碎作用;在声场衰减范围内,煤体损伤和机械震碎作用明显;超声波作用后的煤层渗透率有平均135%～169%的提高.研究工作为超声激励增加煤层的渗透率提供了实验基础.     

基于速率-状态摩擦定律的地震二维准动力学数值模拟:浅层正应力变化对断层演化的影响

本文基于结合速率-状态摩擦定律（RSF）的二维准动力学数值模型,以半空间垂直走滑断层为研究对象,通过比较两种正应力随深度变化模型的模拟结果,研究了浅层正应力变化对断层演化参数、地震孕育过程、震后滑移传播等方面的影响.结果显示,我们的数值模型在给定模型参数和约束条件下,能够完整模拟出地震周期中震间、震前、同震以及震后多个特征阶段.常数正应力模型下,动态破裂在浅层速率强化区停止,而在浅层变化正应力模型下动态破裂可以传播至自由表面,导致浅层更高的最大滑移速率和同震滑移量.两种模型下的地震矩、地震周期、平均应力降和震后滑移传播等差别不明显.两种滑移模型的傅氏振幅谱与理论K^-2模型傅氏振幅谱均符合较好,且浅层变化正应力模型下的拐角波数值高于常数正应力模型,说明两种模型均符合地震同震滑移模型的运动学特征,并且浅层变化正应力模型下最终应该产生高于常数正应力模型的高频强地面运动水平.我们认为选用不同的模型参数对最终结果存在显著影响,应当根据具体问题来选择模型参数,这样才能在保证结果准确前提下有效提高计算效率.     

Effect of frictional heating and thermal advection on pre-seismic sliding: a numerical simulation using a rate-, state- and temperature-dependent friction law

Laboratory experiments on simulated faults in rocks clearly show the temperature dependence of dynamic rock friction. Since rocks surrounding faults are permeable, we have developed a numerical method to describe the thermo-mechanical evolution of the pre-seismic sliding phase which takes into account both the rate-, state- and temperature-dependent friction law and the heat advection term in the energy equation. We consider a laminar fluid motion perpendicular to a vertical fault plane and assume that fluids move away from the fault plane. A semi-analytical temperature solution which accounts for the variability of slip velocity and stress on the fault has been found. This solution has been generalized to the case of a time varying fluid velocity and then was used to include the thermal pressurization effect. After discretizing the temperature solution, the evolution of the system is obtained by the solution of a system of first order differential equations which allows us to determine the evolution of slip, slip rate, friction coefficient, effective normal stress, temperature and fluid velocity. The numerical solutions are found using a Runge-Kutta method with an adaptative stepsize control in time. When the thermal pressurization effects can be neglected, the heat advection effect gives rise to a delay, with respect to the purely conductive case, of the earthquake occurrence time. This delay increases with increasing permeability H of the system. When the thermal pressurization effects are taken into account the situation is opposite, i.e. the onset of instability tends to precede that of the purely conductive case. The advance in the time of occurrence of instability increases with increasing coefficient of thermal pressurization. In the small permeability range (H ≤ 10^?18 m²), the seismic moment and nucleation length of the pre-seismic phase are significantly smaller than those predicted by the purely conductive model.