Fracture Network Influence on Rock Damage and Gas Transport following an Underground Explosion

Stansberry, Aidan; Sweeney, Matthew R.; Hyman, Jeffrey D.; Strait, Justin; Lei, Zhou; Viswanathan, Hari S.; Stauffer, Philip H.

doi:10.3390/geotechnics4010009

Fracture Network Influence on Rock Damage and Gas Transport following an Underground Explosion

Journal Article · Wed Jan 31 00:00:00 EST 2024 · Geotechnics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.3390/geotechnics4010009· OSTI ID:2570657

Stansberry, Aidan ^[1]; Sweeney, Matthew R. ^[1]; Hyman, Jeffrey D. ^[1]; Strait, Justin ^[1]; ^[1]; Viswanathan, Hari S. ^[1]; ^[1]

Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

Simulations of rock damage and gas transport following underground explosions that omit preexisting fracture networks in the subsurface cannot fully characterize the influence of geo-structural variability on gas transport. Previous studies do not consider the impact that fracture network structure and variability have on gas seepage. In this study, we develop a sequentially coupled, axi-symmetric model to look at the damage pattern and resulting gas breakthrough curves following an underground explosion given different fracture network realizations. We simulate 0.327 and 0.164 kT chemical explosives with burial depths of 100 m for 90 stochastically generated fracture networks. Gases quickly reach the surface in 30% of the higher yield simulations and 5% of the lower yield simulations. The fast breakthrough can be attributed to the formation of connected pathways between fractures to the surface. The formation of a connected damage pathway to the surface is not clearly correlated with the fracture intensity (P32) in our simulations. Breakthrough curves with slower transport are highly variable depending on the fracture network sample. The variability in the breakthrough behavior indicates that ignoring the influence of fracture networks on rock damage, which strongly influences the hydraulic properties following an underground explosion, will likely lead to a large underestimation of the uncertainty in the gas transport to the surface. This work highlights the need for incorporation of fracture networks into models for accurately predicting gas seepage following underground explosions.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program; USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

Grant/Contract Number:: 89233218CNA000001

OSTI ID:: 2570657

Report Number(s):: LA-UR--23-28644; 2673-7094; 10.3390/geotechnics4010009

Journal Information:: Geotechnics, Journal Name: Geotechnics Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 4; ISSN 2673-7094

Publisher:: MDPICopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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