Permeability Evolution and Frictional Stability of Fabricated Fractures With Specified Roughness

Fang, Yi; Elsworth, Derek; Ishibashi, Takuya; Zhang, Fengshou

doi:10.1029/2018jb016215

Title: Permeability Evolution and Frictional Stability of Fabricated Fractures With Specified Roughness

Journal Article · 03 October 2018 · Journal of Geophysical Research. Solid Earth

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1029/2018jb016215 · OSTI ID:1614208

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Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States). Inst. for Geophysics; Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States). EMS Energy Inst., and G3 Center; DOE/OSTI
Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States). EMS Energy Inst., and G3 Center
Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States). EMS Energy Inst., and G3 Center; National Inst. of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Koriyama (Japan). Fukushima Renewable Energy Inst.
Tongji Univ., Shanghai (China)

Roughness is widely observed on natural fractures, and its impact on the potential for induced seismicity and associated fluid migration in the subsurface remains unclear. Here we perform fracture shearing and fluid flow experiments on artificially fabricated fractures with specified roughness to investigate the role of fracture roughness on frictional properties and permeability evolution. Given the experimental conditions, we observe that rough fractures show high roughness ratio S _q/L _w and return higher frictional strength due to the presence of cohesive interlocking asperities. Rough fracture surfaces show velocity strengthening behavior in the initial shearing stage, which may evolve to velocity neutral and velocity weakening at greater displacements—suggesting a dynamic weakening that rough fractures become less stable with shearing. The surface roughness exerts a dominant control on permeability evolution over the entire shearing history. Permeability declines monotonically by about 2 orders of magnitude for smooth fractures. For high roughness fractures, the permeabilities evolve episodically due to cycled compaction and dilation during shearing. With a slip distance of 6 to 8 mm, permeability of the rough surface may enhance up to an order of magnitude, but significant permeability reduction may also occur for rough samples when asperities are highly worn with gouge clogging flow paths. However, there is no obvious correlation between permeability evolution and frictional behavior for rough fracture samples when fractures are subject to sudden sliding velocity changes.

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Research Organization:: Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Fossil Energy (FE)

Grant/Contract Number:: FE0023354

OSTI ID:: 1614208

Journal Information:: Journal of Geophysical Research. Solid Earth, Journal Name: Journal of Geophysical Research. Solid Earth Journal Issue: 11 Vol. 123; ISSN 2169-9313

Publisher:: American Geophysical UnionCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Slip Velocity Dependence of Friction-Permeability Response of Shale Fractures Jia, Yunzhong; Fang, Yi; Elsworth, Derek Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering, Vol. 53, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00603-019-02036-8	journal	December 2019
Cyclic Permeability Evolution During Repose Then Reactivation of Fractures and Faults Im, Kyungjae; Elsworth, Derek; Wang, Chaoyi Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, Vol. 124, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1029/2019jb017309	journal	May 2019
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58 GEOSCIENCES
Geochemistry & Geophysics
fabricated fractures
friction
permeability
specified roughness

Title: Permeability Evolution and Frictional Stability of Fabricated Fractures With Specified Roughness

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