Previous studies showed that cloud-fracture networks (CFNs), networks of permeable microfractures densely distributed over rock body, formed in granite at superhot geothermal conditions (> ~400 °C) through the stimulation of pre-existing microfractures by low-viscosity water near and above its critical temperature. The CFNs were also shown to form in granite at conventional (~150 – 300 °C) and superhot geothermal conditions by injection of low-viscosity CO₂, through the same mechanism as that by low-viscosity water at superhot geothermal conditions. The stimulation of pre-existing microfractures by the low-viscosity CO₂ implied that CFNs may be formed in the matrix (i.e., unfractured rock) of naturally-fractured conventional and superhot geothermal environments, where conventional bi-winged hydraulic fractures are known to be difficult to be achieved by injection of cold water. The present study illustrates the possibility of CFN formations in naturally-fractured geothermal environments, along with the shear-slip of the natural fractures, through CO₂-injection experiments into cylindrical granite samples, each contained a sawcut (representing a natural fracture) inclined from the sample axis, under geothermal conditions. The experiments show that CO₂ injection induced a larger cumulative shear displacement on the sawcut at conventional geothermal condition than at superhot geothermal condition. CFNs were formed at conventional and superhot geothermal conditions; nonetheless, the fracture-apertures were thinner for the CFN formed at conventional geothermal condition. The results imply that CFNs may be formed in naturally fractured geothermal environments, and may provide additional fluid-flow paths between the stimulated natural fractures.

How to cite: Pramudyo, E., Goto, R., Sakaguchi, K., and Watanabe, N.: Shear-slip and Complex Fracturing by CO2 Injection in Naturally Fractured Granite at Geothermal Conditions, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-11330, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-11330, 2023.

Matrix acidification is one of the most popular stimulation techniques to increase the porosity and permeability of reservoir systems. Usually, the thermal-hydro-mechanical properties of reservoir rocks affected by the matrix acidification process are studied using flow-through tests or autoclave experiments. In this study, a novel acidification approach was tested using a thermal triaxial device at the TU Darmstadt laboratory. Thereby, hydrochloric acid 0.0375% (HCl pH=2) was flushed continuously through a total of five Remlinger sandstone samples under reservoir conditions (90^oC temperature, s₁=25 MPa, and s₃=23MPa). Changes in matrix permeability and other petrophysical parameters due to the chemical reaction between the rock sample and HCl were recorded before, during, and after the reactive experiments. In addition, outflow fluid samples were collected and the pH was subsequently measured. After approximately 30 days of continuous flow for each sample, the permeability increased for all the samples, with a maximum increase of 300%. Likewise, porosity increased from 13.2% to 14.5%. In contrast, P- and -S-wave velocities decreased from 2608 to 2189 m‧s^-1 and from 1540 to 1380 m‧s^‑1, respectively. Test results provide important information for reservoir stimulation and can be used to benchmark THMC models.

How to cite: Ramirez, A., Hung, P. T., Weydt, L., and Sass, I.: Long-term matrix acidification experiments under reservoir conditions using the Thermo-Triaxial device, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-13703, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-13703, 2023.

Shale has been focused because of its potentials in fossil fuel as unconventional reservoirs and in carbon storage as cap rocks. Fluid rock interaction is important for shale study. Because hydraulic fracturing in unconventional oil and gas development and the sealing ability of cap rock are all related to the fluid-rock interaction. The fluid-rock interactions,  such as the spontaneous imbibition (SI), were studied on Wolfcamp Shale core samples in Midland Basin, west Texas in this work. Multiple experiments including X-ray diffraction (XRD), contact angle measurement, scanning electronic microscopy (SEM), and (ultra-) small angle X-ray scattering [(U)SAXS] were performed to characterize the mineralogy, wettability, and pore structure to assist the analysis of the SI data in Wolfcamp Shale. XRD results indicated the Wolfcamp Shale samples were dominated by carbonate and siliciclastics with different sample depths, which is concordant with the well-logging data. The SI experiments were conducted in hydrophilic de-ionized water (DIW) and hydrophobic D2T (a mixture of two parts of decane and one part of toluene). Most samples have layer structure, therefore, the SI experiments were performed in directions that parallel to the layer (P direction) and transverse to the layer (T direction) on each sample. The fitting slopes of SI results show that samples have better pore connectivity in hydrophobic D2T than DIW in both directions. In P direction, the imbibed volume of DIW and D2T are very close to each other, which indicate the Wolfcamp Shale could be more oil wet. (U)SAXS results provided the pore diameter distribution (PDD) of the samples, which separates the samples into two groups. Associated with mineralogy, group 1 is dominated by siliciclastic with pores at 10 nm and 50 nm, and group 2 is dominated by carbonate with pores at 100 nm and 600 nm. Coupled with PDD and mineralogy, the fitting slopes in group 2 in DIW P direction decrease and then increase with clay content with the turning-point at 30%. The micro-fractures and well-aligned clay minerals in SEM images in samples with more clay content could help to form fluid pathways during the DIW imbibition. Such a positive relationship in fitting slopes and clay content also appeared in D2T P direction imbibition. In summary, the experiments conducted on the Wolfcamp Shale in west Texas including SI, XRD, SEM, and (U)SAXS could investigate fluid transport mechanisms in shale to support the studies for unconventional reservoir development and carbon storage.

How to cite: Zhao, C., Hu, Q., Wang, Q., Fan, M., Ilavsky, J., and Wang, M.: Fluid-rock interaction of Wolfcamp Shale: the effects of pore structure and mineralogy, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-7185, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-7185, 2023.

In the last decades, the enormous potential for direct geothermal heat from aquifers attracted special attention, particularly toward those thermal springs indicating areas in which exploitation of geothermal energy might be economically feasible for indirect uses such as electrical power production. The availability of geochemical data besides the location of thermal spring areas assumes particular importance, especially in the first stages of a geothermal exploration program. In this work, we present a digitised format of the literature review of Gerald Ashley Waring on the geothermal springs of the world. This unprecedented dataset contains geographical coordinates (from georeferentiation) of ~6,000 geothermal spring areas, including complementary data such as temperatures, flow rates, total dissolved solids content (TDS, expressed in ppm), and quantitative chemical analysis of major elements (only for a few hundred sites). Using temperature and flow rate, we derive the heat discharged from 1483 thermal spring areas (between ~10^-5 and ~10³ MW, with a median value of ~0.5 MW and ~8300 MW in total). We complement this information with geological data sets currently available in the literature and analyse them using statistical and geospatial tools and a supervised machine-learning algorithm. We show that terrestrial heat flow, topography, volcanism, and extensional tectonic play a key role in the occurrence of thermal waters around the globe. These results can also be beneficial to address the geothermal interest towards specific and less studied areas and significantly drive the first steps of the geothermal surveys and detailed investigations. Finally, this data set in electronic format will be beneficial for future research on the spatial distribution of thermalism at a small scale and the variation of temperature and flow rate of several thermal springs in the last decades in certain regions.

How to cite: Tamburello, G., Chiodini, G., Ciotoli, G., Procesi, M., Rouwet, D., and Sandri, L.: Global thermal spring distribution and relationship to endogenous and exogenous factors, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-13900, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-13900, 2023.

Shale is an unconventional oil and gas reservoir with both generation and storage characteristics. Diagenesis has an important impact on its organic petrological characteristics, reservoir physical properties, pore system structure characteristics, mineral component content and transformation. Diagenesis is of great significance for its porosity and permeability analysis, reservoir comprehensive evaluation and shale gas productivity. At present, the researches on diagenesis and diagenetic evolution mainly focus on conventional sandstone reservoir. Because the application of conventional oil and gas reservoir characterization technology to shale reservoir is limited, and the diagenetic characteristics of shale reservoir are difficult to identify, the researches on diagenetic evolution of shale reservoir are relatively weak, and the comprehensive researches on diagenesis and diagenetic evolution of shale reservoir are relatively scarce.

At present, there are mainly two kinds of research methods on the dual effects of thermal evolution and diagenesis of shale: the first is the direct observation method, which uses high-resolution equipment to analyze shale samples with different maturity and diagenesis to determine the characteristics and development differences of diagenesis. However, this method ignores the heterogeneity and regional differences of samples, and cannot show all the evolution characteristics of shale in the diagenesis process. The second is the physical simulation method, that is, the sample of low maturity is selected, the temperature series is set, and the generation of diagenesis process is induced by heating. This method reduces the heterogeneity of samples and the influence of regional differences on the experimental results to a certain extent. It has strong comparability and can provide the overall characteristics in the process of diagenesis. However, the disadvantage is that it lacks intuitive characterization and cannot clearly and intuitively display the diagenetic evolution characteristics of minerals in the same area.

In view of the above problems, the diagenesis and diagenetic evolution of low-mature organic-rich Marine type II shale in the Middle Proterozoic Xiamalin Formation in Zhangjiakou area of Hebei Province were studied by using the method of high temperature and high pressure physical simulation. The characteristics of diagenesis were observed and characterized in the simulated samples, and the types of diagenesis in the simulated products were identified. A conceptual model of shale diagenetic evolution sequence based on physical simulation is established. In addition, this study also uses direct observation method to characterize the diagenetic characteristics of natural marine shales of Xiamaling Formation in this area. Five diagenetic types including compaction, cementation, dissolution, hydrocarbon generation of organic matter and clay mineral transformation are identified, and diagenetic stages of Xiamaling Formation shales are divided. Furthermore, the marine diagenetic evolution sequence and diagenetic evolution model of the Mesoproterozoic Xiamalin Formation in Zhangjiakou area of Hebei Province are established (Fig.1). This study makes up for the deficiency in the study of shale diagenetic evolution, and has important reference and indicative significance for the development of other high-over-mature Marine shale gas reservoirs in China and the world.

Fig. 1. Diagenetic evolution sequence of the Mesoproterozoic Xiamaling marine shale in Zhangjiakou, Hebei.

How to cite: Xu, L., Chen, L., Wei, H., and Yang, K.: Diagenesis characteristics and diagenetic evolution of organic-rich marine shale, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-10601, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-10601, 2023.

In the central part of Tuscany region (Italy), is located the Larderello – Travale geothermal system which is a large-scale steam dominated system with reservoir temperatures that can exceed 350°C (Bellani et al. 2004). The characteristic high heat flow in this particular area is due to the presence of a thermal anomaly caused by the intrusion of a big Pliocene batholith into the upper crust (Musumeci et al. 2002). This work is aimed at investigating the relationships between carbon emissions and heat, particularly to analyse the distribution of CO₂, CH₄ and soil temperatures in the Monterotondo Marittimo and Sasso Pisano areas. Three hundred measurements of gas fluxes from the soil have been performed using the accumulation chamber method. CO₂ fluxes range from 0.1 gm^-2d^-1 to about 20,000 gm^-2d^-1, while CH₄ fluxes, available for a lower number of points, vary between 0 and 637 gm^-2d^-1. Soil temperatures were also measured at each location and ranges from 8.0 °C to 100 °C, with an average of 39.8 °C.

CO₂ fluxes show a polymodal statistical distribution with (i) a background population characterised by an average CO₂ flux in the order of 16.0 g m^-2 d^-1 and (ii) anomalous populations with an average CO₂ flux of 400 g m^-2 d^-1 and 1600 g m^-2 d^-1   for Sasso Pisano and Monterotondo Marittimo respectively. Not null CH₄ fluxes were measured only at points with a CO₂ flux in the range of the anomalous CO₂ flux population. The statistical distribution of the CH₄ resulted more complex with two populations characterized by an average value of 0.8 g m^-2d^-1 and 174 g m^-2d^-1 respectively, probably reflecting differences in the gas transport mechanism in the soil and/or soil permeability, which is largely variable in the areas with anomalous flux.

The areas characterized by anomalous soil gas fluxes, show also an evident soil temperature anomaly (reaching values close to 100 °C), suggesting that soil degassing is accompanied by a significant process of steam condensation. In the anomalous areas, the CO₂/CH₄ ratios by weight vary between 1.6 x 10^-4 to 1.0 x 10^-1 and fall in the range of variation observed for the geothermal fluids of the Larderello-Travale region (Truesdell & Nehring, 1978; Chiodini et al., 1991; Chiodini & Marini, 1998).

Assuming that the soil is heated by steam condensation, a thermal energy release associated to the degassing process of about 200 MW is estimated for Monterotondo Marittimo, an energy release >15 MW is estimated for Sasso Pisano, where the measurements are still in progress.

How to cite: Ariano, A., Frondini, F., Cardellini, C., Chiodini, G., Petrelli, M., Vetuschi Zuccolini, M., and Virgili, G.: Carbon dioxide, methane and heat emissions of the Monterotondo Marittimo and Sasso Pisano geothermal areas (Tuscany, Italy), EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-14038, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-14038, 2023.

The Kızıldere geothermal field, located in the eastern part of the Büyük Menderes Graben, is one of the most productive geothermal systems in Western Anatolia (Türkiye). Electricity production in the field, which began in 1984, is still ongoing with three flash type geothermal power plants.

Four geothermal reservoirs with different rock compositions and geochemical characteristics have been identified in Kızıldere geothermal system. Steam production has changed over time from a shallow reservoir to the hottest deep reservoirs in the system. In the steam phase, CO₂ is the dominant gas type in the Kızıldere geothermal system, with concentrations ranging from 98% to 99%. The ¹³C analyses revealed that the primary source of CO₂ is Paleozoic aged metamorphics and that the origin of CO₂ is primarily reservoir carbonate dissolution. The deep reservoir contains sulfate, sulfide minerals, dissolved sulfate, dissolved sulfide (HS-), H₂S gas, and organic sulfur compounds. Sulfate in thermal waters could be caused by gypsum dissolution or the oxidation of sulfides such as pyrite and pyrrhotite.

In this study, the possibilities of reducing H₂S and CO₂ emissions by chemical and biological methods were investigated, taking into account the characteristics of the Kızıldere geothermal system. For this purpose, field tests were carried out with 6 different solutions  and the selected bacteria to examine the reduction of non-condensable gases in the Kızıldere geothermal field.

How to cite: Tut Haklıdır, F. and Şengün Çetin, R.: Geochemical Characteristics of the Kızıldere Geothermal System (Turkey) and a Case Study for Emission Reduction in the Kızıldere Geothermal Field, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-2037, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-2037, 2023.

Fractures such as joints and faults are widely present in crustal rocks. These discontinuity structures often form complex networks and dominate the bulk behaviour of geological media. Thus, understanding how fracture networks affect multiphysical processes and phenomena in subsurface rock formations is highly relevant to many geoenergy and geoengineering applications. However, the large-scale behaviour of fractured rocks consisting of many fractures cannot be derived by simple applications of the knowledge of single fractures, due to the hierarchy of scales, heterogeneities, and physical mechanisms as well as the possible emergence of qualitatively different macroscopic properties. In other words, macroscopic phenomena in fractured media arise from the many-body effects of numerous interacting fractures, such that the emergent properties at the fracture network scale are much richer and often surprising compared to the behaviour of each individual fracture. So, more is different!

To study this problem, I have developed a novel physics-based discrete fracture network modelling framework to simulate seismo-thermo-hydro-mechanical-chemical processes in fractured rocks. This modelling approach faithfully honours the discontinuous nature of geological media via explicit representations of fracture populations in rock and numerically computes multiphysics processes by solving the governing equations of fundamental mechanics. No a priori assumption about the representative elementary volume is needed, rendering this approach as an appropriate tool to study hierarchical crustal rocks that may have no characteristic length scale. Using this modelling paradigm, diverse macroscopic phenomena are spontaneously captured as emergent properties physically arising from the collective behaviour of a large population of existing/growing fractures in rock.

In this presentation, I will illustrate the richness of collective phenomena in fractured media and elucidate the underlying multiscale, multiphysical mechanisms that drive their emergence. I will also show some application examples of using this fractured media simulation framework to address subsurface engineering problems such as underground excavation, injection-induced seismicity, and nuclear waste disposal. The modelling framework established and research findings obtained have important implications for safe and sustainable development of geoenergy and geoengineering.

How to cite: Lei, Q.: More is different: On the emergence of collective phenomena in fractured geological media, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-3770, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-3770, 2023.

Understanding fracture propagation in chemically active rock formations is of interest to several engineering and science disciplines. Fracture nucleation and growth governed by in-situ chemo-poro-mechanical processes is crucial, for instance, during the transformation of CO2 into solid carbonate rock. The process consists of injecting a non-resident mixed fluid phase of CO2 in water which dissolves parts of the fracture-porous medium system and precipitates secondary minerals, altering the solid’s porosity and permeability. Hence, dissolution/precipitation processes and concomitant solid weakening alter physico-chemical properties in the system, which in the presence of pore pressure changes, may facilitate and enhance fracture nucleation and growth. More importantly, the evolution of fracture networks in the rock determines fluid flow, which is crucial for progressing chemical processes such as ionic advection and diffusion. This study focuses on the complex chemo-hydro-mechanical responses in naturally fractured rock formations subject to acidic carbon water injection. We use a recently developed framework to incorporate the mechanisms of reactive transport, fluid flow and transport in porous media, and fracture propagation in poroelastic media. Due to the complexity of such coupled phenomena, few numerical modeling and experimental studies have been published in this area. Existing models often oversimplify the chemical interactions by using simplistic fitting functions. Contrary to these conventional approaches, the considered framework uses PHREEQC to estimate the localized chemical interactions for a general system. A key novelty of this study is in applying the considered framework to study CO2 injection into complex naturally fractured basalt formations.

How to cite: Pena Clavijo, S., Addassi, M., Finkbeiner, T., and Hoteit, H.: Reaction-assisted fracture propagation: An application to carbon storage, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-1111, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-1111, 2023.

Changes in temperature can modify the geochemistry of groundwater. This effect is very relevant not only for natural geothermal phenomena, but also for geothermal energy systems and Underground Thermal Energy Storage (UTES) systems. We propose a novel method that can be used to verify sophisticated numerical models and understand the thermo-hydro-chemical (THC) processes more clearly. The method decouples the chemistry from the thermo-hydraulic (TH) processes. The chemistry is obtained from geochemical batch calculation by PHREEQC and the TH processes from the finite element code CODE_BRIGHT. The method has been applied to a UTES pilot project near Bern, Switzerland, and compared with the THC coupled code RETRASO. The good agreement between the presented method and RETRASO verifies the correct implementation of our method. Moreover, the results provide information about the dominant reactive transport processes, mineral reaction rates and porosity changes.

Acknowledgements: This work was financed by the ERANET project HEATSTORE (170153-4401). This project has been subsidized through the ERANET cofund GEOTHERMICA (Project n. 731117), from the European Commission, RVO (the Netherlands), DETEC (Switzerland), FZJ-PTJ (Germany), ADEME (France), EUDP (Denmark), Rannis (Iceland), VEA (Belgium), FRCT (Portugal), and MINECO (Spain). Also, the first author is supported by a grant from the Department of Research and Universities of the Generalitat de Catalunya (2022 FI_B1 00208).

How to cite: Vidal, R. and Saaltink, M. W.: Decoupling thermo-hydraulic processes from chemical reactions to understand the effect of heat on chemical reactions, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-8356, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-8356, 2023.

Swelling of clay-sulfate rocks is a serious problem in geotechnical projects. In Staufen (a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany), the heave of the land surface occurred as a result of clay-sulfate rock swelling, triggered by water inflow in Triassic Grabfeld Formation (formerly Gipskeuper = “Gypsum Keuper”). Clay-sulfate swelling is controlled by clay swelling due to osmotic processes, combined with chemical swelling due to the transformation of anhydrite into gypsum, associated with a volume increase. Previous studies showed that hydro-mechanical (HM) models can be employed to determine the mechanical behavior of swelling rocks with an accuracy sufficient for planning remedial measures. In such models, a constitutive relation between swelling pressure (stress) and swelling deformation (strain) must be defined (“swelling law”). In the present study, we developed coupled HM models to reproduce the heave observed at the Staufen site. We implemented different swelling laws, namely linear, semi-logarithmic, and sigmoidal constitutive relations between stress and strain. We compared the model calculations with the measured long-term heave records at the study site. We then analyzed the errors associated with each modeling approach to evaluate its effectiveness. This contribution provides insights about the performance of three existing swelling laws to estimate the long-term mechanical behavior of clay-sulfate rocks.

How to cite: Taherdangkoo, R., Mahfuzh Abdallah, N., and Butscher, C.: Hydro-mechanical modeling of swelling processes in clay–sulfate rocks: comparison of swelling laws, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-1120, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-1120, 2023.

Understanding the behavior of hydro-mechanical processes is a challenging task, and groundwater plays an important role in these. We separate the effect of groundwater into two main parts: the pore pressure and the seepage force. Our interest is in the latter part, where we develop a model that incorporates analytically seepage forces in a linear elastic model. This is work in progress; we present our latest developments, focusing on both the theoretical framework and application.

The approach is a further development of the Analytic Element Method, which, was recently extended to linear elasticity. We link a groundwater analytic element to a linearly elastic one, including the seepage forces directly in the equation of the linear elastic model. We initially limit the model to one-way coupling and exclude the effect of stresses and strains on the hydraulic conductivity.

We present an application where we isolate the impact of the seepage force on the mechanical model focusing on situations where we expect a large pressure gradient.

How to cite: Toller, E. and Strack, O.: A Hydro-Mechanical Analytic Element Model for Seepage Forces, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-1958, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-1958, 2023.

When CO₂ is injected into the saline aquifer or depleted reservoir for geological carbon storage, physical processes are tightly coupled, affecting CO₂ flooding and its trapping mechanisms.

For example, injection induces pore pressure build-up and dilation of pore space, which can uplift the ground surface or tensile/shear failure of the caprock which may result in the leakage of CO₂. Thus, rigorous analyses of coupled flow and geomechanics are necessary to predict the long-term security of geological carbon storage. In this study, we focus on two irreversible (path-dependent) processes that are coupled through flow and geomechanics: hysteretic capillary pressure in flow and elastoplasticity in geomechanics. Hysteresis in capillary pressure during drainage and imbibition processes can be seen as mechanical energy dissipation. We employ our previously proposed numerical model based on the 1D elastoplasticity algorithm for constitutive relation of the hysteretic capillary pressure in two-phase flow, i.e., capillary pressure and irreducible water saturation. In particular, we model the irreducible (plastic) water saturation being attributed to the part from the hysteretic capillary pressure, which yields a mathematically well-posed problem. We implement the irreversible flow and geomechanics simulation, calculating the residual saturations and plastic strain from each iteration of flow and geomechanics, as we employ the fixed-stress sequential method solving coupled flow and geomechanics.

From the numerical experiments, we find robust computations of the coupled processes, highlighting the coupled effects of capillary hysteresis and elastoplasticity. As residual/capillary and structural trappings are major trapping mechanisms for CO₂ geological storage, the proposed constitutive relation and algorithm for coupled path-dependent processes can predict flooding and trapping of CO₂ underground more accurately.  

How to cite: Yoon, H. C. and Kim, J.: Numerical Modeling of Capillary Hysteresis and Coupled Elastoplasticity for Geological Carbon Storage, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-4700, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-4700, 2023.

Understanding the mechanisms that control the development of fractures in complex thermally deformed media, as well as how they interact with smaller-scale and larger-scale heterogeneiies in material properties, is relevant to a number of natural and engineered processes. In this study, we investigate the results of numerical simulations of thermal shock and the resultant fracturing of brittle rock slabs in the context of a fracture growth benchmark. The benchmark, based on multiple laboratory experiments, induces the non-planar formation of multiple fractures due to thermal shock on ceramic mm-scale slabs. The benchmark experiment tracks fracture geometries for a series of shock temperatures and is used to directly validate our numerical approach, which utilises a three-dimensional in-house finite element code to simulate thermo-mechanical deformation. The ensuing damage and spatially variable fracture apertures are quantified, as well as the resulting fracture network patterns. In our approach, fractures are represented as NURBS surfaces, which are discretised using quadrilaterals and triangles. The matrix is discretised using isoparametric tetrahedral and hexahedral elements. We show in our results how thermal shock affects the fracture aperture distributions, and how these aperture distributions depend on the initial heterogeneities in the modelled slab. We discuss how the simulated fracture interactions are self-organising, and compare well to the proposed multi-fracture benchmark. Additionally, we discuss the manner in which geometry, scale, and heterogeneity influence the resulting fracture pattern and aperture distribution. 

How to cite: Paluszny, A., Suchoy, L., Saceanu, M. C., and Zimmerman, R. W.: Coupled thermo-mechanical growth of multiple fractures in brittle heterogeneous rocks during thermal shock and resulting aperture distributions, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-7515, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-7515, 2023.

In the context of shallow subsurface ice storage, low temperature coolant fluid is circulated through multiple borehole heat exchangers (BHEs) to form ice in the surrounding soil. This can be used later on in building cooling applications. To evaluate the environmental impact of freezing and thawing cycles, we extended the classical Thermal-Hydro-Mechanical model in the OpenGeoSys software platform to simulate the aforementioned phase change scenarios.

The new feature development and verification is divided into several subsequent steps. In the model verification, the Stefan problem of slab melting is employed as the benchmark case: the numerical results from OpenGeoSys is verified against the available analytical solution. In the subsequent code verification, the concept of manufactured solution is adopted, in which the numerical outcome is compared with the reference data to show accurate agreement. Following that, the ultimate verification is conducted by comparing results from OpenGeoSys and the open source package like FreeFEM++.

For the application of the extended numerical model, we simulate the ice formation around the four BHEs in 3 dimensions for a quarter of the test field setup and over a period of 30 days. With -15 ^oC temperature imposed on the lower section of the BHE wall and the considered material data, the numerical simulation suggests an up to 50 cm thick layer of frozen soil surrounding the borehole. In the model results, major volumetric deformation of soil is observed in the close vicinity of the BHEs where the ice grows, also triggering small vertical surface elevation. Current on-going work is focusing on the coupling effect between thermal conductivity of soil, mechanical deformation and hydrology, where one of the envisioned impacts is the groundwater flow deviation due to the ice formed.

How to cite: Gerasimov, T., Naumov, D., Nagel, T., Kolditz, O., and Shao, H.: Numerical modelling of ice forming and thawing in a subsurface energy storage application, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-11566, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-11566, 2023.