--> The Evolution of Fracturing and Related Permeability Patterns in Numerical-Analytical Models (FRAPtre) of Fault Zone Growth
[First Hit]

Datapages, Inc.Print this page

The Evolution of Fracturing and Related Permeability Patterns in Numerical-Analytical Models (FRAPtre) of Previous HitFaultNext Hit Zone Growth

 

Salvini, Francesco, Fabrizio Balsamo, Fabrizio Storti, Università degli Studi Roma Tre, Rome, Italy

 

The interaction of many parameters controls the evolution of deformational architectures during faulting, including the Previous HitfaultNext Hit geometry and kinematics, the Previous HitfaultNext Hit slip mechanism, the amount of Previous HitfaultNext Hit displacement, the rock type and rheology, the boundary stress conditions, the pore fluid pressure, and the structural inheritance. Substantial improvements of our pre­dictive capability of fracture distributions in hydrocarbon exploration and development require to implement these parameters in modelling tools. We developed a numerical-ana-lytical tool (FRAPtre) that links these parameters to the deformation pattern for a given Previous HitfaultNext Hit geometry and kinematics. Results include also the static stress conditions evaluation as well as the permeability prediction. The Previous HitfaultNext Hit surfaces are gridded and stress/strength conditions at each cell are analytically computed by a series of stress tensor additions. The strength values are then computed by projecting the resulting stress tensor on the Previous HitfaultNext Hit cell surfaces, as well as the normal pressure and the shear. These parameters allow to compute the defor­mation function DF i.e. the difference between shear and strength on the Previous HitfaultNext Hit cell surface. DF measures the disposition of rock to break into a cataclastic fabric and then to form gouge layers. The Previous HitFaultNext Hit Gouge Index FGI is computed by cumulating the deformation function of all cells along the displacement path and multiplied by the clay content fraction at that cell. Finally, Previous HitfaultNext Hit permeability is computed by a generalised equation that matches Previous HitfaultTop core per­meability values available in the literature. Application to natural examples validates the pro­posed numerical-analytical approach.