TY - JOUR
T1 - Influence of fracture roughness on shear strength, slip stability and permeability
T2 - A mechanistic analysis by three-dimensional digital rock modeling
AU - Wang, Chaoyi
AU - Elsworth, Derek
AU - Fang, Yi
AU - Zhang, Fengshou
N1 - Funding Information:
This work is a partial result of the support provided by United States Department of Energy Grant DE-FE0023354. This support is gratefully acknowledged. This work utilizes data from literature which are cited in the main reference list, and data from numerical modeling of this study are shown in the main text.
Funding Information:
This work is a partial result of the support provided by United States Department of Energy Grant DE-FE0023354. This support is gratefully acknowledged. This work utilizes data from literature which are cited in the main reference list, and data from numerical modeling of this study are shown in the main text.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
PY - 2020/8
Y1 - 2020/8
N2 - Subsurface fluid injections can disturb the effective stress regime by elevating pore pressure and potentially reactivate faults and fractures. Laboratory studies indicate that fracture rheology and permeability in such reactivation events are linked to the roughness of the fracture surfaces. In this study, we construct numerical models using discrete element method (DEM) to explore the influence of fracture surface roughness on the shear strength, slip stability, and permeability evolution during such slip events. For each simulation, a pair of analog rock coupons (three-dimensional bonded quartz particle analogs) representing a mated fracture is sheared under a velocity-stepping scheme. The roughness of the fracture is defined in terms of asperity height and asperity wavelength. Results show that (1) Samples with larger asperity heights (rougher), when sheared, exhibit a higher peak strength which quickly devolves to a residual strength after reaching a threshold shear displacement; (2) These rougher samples also exhibit greater slip stability due to a high degree of asperity wear and resultant production of wear products; (3) Long-term suppression of permeability is observed with rougher fractures, possibly due to the removal of asperities and redistribution of wear products, which locally reduces porosity in the dilating fracture; and (4) Increasing shear-parallel asperity wavelength reduces magnitudes of stress drops after peak strength and enhances fracture permeability, while increasing shear-perpendicular asperity wavelength results in sequential stress drops and a delay in permeability enhancement. This study provides insights into understanding of the mechanisms of frictional and rheological evolution of rough fractures anticipated during reactivation events.
AB - Subsurface fluid injections can disturb the effective stress regime by elevating pore pressure and potentially reactivate faults and fractures. Laboratory studies indicate that fracture rheology and permeability in such reactivation events are linked to the roughness of the fracture surfaces. In this study, we construct numerical models using discrete element method (DEM) to explore the influence of fracture surface roughness on the shear strength, slip stability, and permeability evolution during such slip events. For each simulation, a pair of analog rock coupons (three-dimensional bonded quartz particle analogs) representing a mated fracture is sheared under a velocity-stepping scheme. The roughness of the fracture is defined in terms of asperity height and asperity wavelength. Results show that (1) Samples with larger asperity heights (rougher), when sheared, exhibit a higher peak strength which quickly devolves to a residual strength after reaching a threshold shear displacement; (2) These rougher samples also exhibit greater slip stability due to a high degree of asperity wear and resultant production of wear products; (3) Long-term suppression of permeability is observed with rougher fractures, possibly due to the removal of asperities and redistribution of wear products, which locally reduces porosity in the dilating fracture; and (4) Increasing shear-parallel asperity wavelength reduces magnitudes of stress drops after peak strength and enhances fracture permeability, while increasing shear-perpendicular asperity wavelength results in sequential stress drops and a delay in permeability enhancement. This study provides insights into understanding of the mechanisms of frictional and rheological evolution of rough fractures anticipated during reactivation events.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jrmge.2019.12.010
DO - 10.1016/j.jrmge.2019.12.010
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85087347904
SN - 1674-7755
VL - 12
SP - 720
EP - 731
JO - Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering
JF - Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering
IS - 4
ER -