Fault activation and induced seismicity in geological carbon storage – Lessons learned from recent modeling studies

Rutqvist, Jonny; Rinaldi, Antonio Pio; Cappa, Frédéric; Jeanne, Pierre; Mazzoldi, Alberto; Urpi, Luca; Guglielmi, Yves; Vilarrasa, Víctor

doi:10.1016/j.jrmge.2016.09.001

Cited by 187 publications

(78 citation statements)

References 58 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In contrast, deeper sections of a normal fault may be destabilized by the combined effect of thermoelastic and poroelastic stress and by pore pressure increase. This is somewhat similar to previous thermal perturbation effects on fault stability (Segall & Fitzgerald, ) and to injection‐induced fault reactivation studies (De Simone et al, ; Rutqvist et al, ) that showed how the pressurization of a certain rock mass volume influences the state of stress beyond this volume itself. Similar to the above‐mentioned studies, it is possible to infer from our results that also normal fault reactivation could happen above the repository: In this case, shear stress changes depicted in Figure b would be reversed in sign, leading to the nucleation of rupture in the upper section of the fault.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Fault Stability Perturbation by Thermal Pressurization and Stress Transfer Around a Deep Geological Repository in a Clay Formation

et al. 2019

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The increase of temperature of a low‐permeability, fluid‐saturated media may trigger significant thermal pressurization, where the expansion of pore fluid cannot be accommodated by the thermal expansion of the pore space. With the aid of a coupled thermohydromechanical numerical simulator, we investigate the possible impact of thermal pressurization during the life of a deep geological repository (DGR) for high‐level radioactive waste, characterized by the emplacement of radioactive material‐filled canisters in a series of parallel tunnels, excavated in a low‐permeability clay formation. We represent the fault as a planar structure embedded in a thermoporoelastic material and shear activation evaluated by a strain‐softening Mohr‐Coulomb failure criterion. The results show that stress changes caused by temperature and thermal pressurization of a rock mass around the emplacement tunnels may trigger a slip event on a fault plane in proximity of the geological disposal site: Rupture nucleates at depth, hundreds of meters below the DGR. Stress transfer plays a key role, while a direct hydraulic connection between the repository and the nucleation zone is not necessary in order to trigger rupture. A low stress ratio may favor the occurrence of slip up to a distance of 600 m of the fault from the outermost tunnel. These results highlight the need of investigating hydromechanical properties and local stress conditions at depth to characterize the geomechanical response of weak planes located in the surroundings of a high‐level radioactive waste repository and to provide sufficient knowledge for the safe development of the DGR site.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Fault Stability Perturbation by Thermal Pressurization and Stress Transfer Around a Deep Geological Repository in a Clay Formation

et al. 2019

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Consequently, the number of scientific publications on the subject has also risen dramatically. Most studies, however, focus on injection‐induced seismicity, showing that a complex relationship between pore pressure changes, poroelastic stress, and earthquakes is often at play during an induced earthquake sequence [ Shapiro and Dinske , ; Goertz‐Allmann and Wiemer , ; Committee on Induced Seismicity Potential in Energy Technologies , ; Ellsworth , ; Rinaldi et al ., ; Chang and Segall , ; Catalli et al ., ; Rutqvist et al ., ]. By contrast, seismicity during extraction operations has received little attention in the literature, and the relevant physical mechanisms underlying it are not as well understood.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 87%

On the physics‐based processes behind production‐induced seismicity in natural gas fields

Zbinden¹,

Rinaldi²,

Urpi³

et al. 2017

JGR Solid Earth

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Induced seismicity due to natural gas production is observed at different sites worldwide. Common understanding states that the pressure drop caused by gas production leads to compaction, which affects the stress field in the reservoir and the surrounding rock formations and hence reactivates preexisting faults and induces earthquakes. In this study, we show that the multiphase fluid flow involved in natural gas extraction activities should be included. We use a fully coupled fluid flow and geomechanics simulator, which accounts for stress‐dependent permeability and linear poroelasticity, to better determine the conditions leading to fault reactivation. In our model setup, gas is produced from a porous reservoir, divided into two compartments that are offset by a normal fault. Results show that fluid flow plays a major role in pore pressure and stress evolution within the fault. Fault strength is significantly reduced due to fluid flow into the fault zone from the neighboring reservoir compartment and other formations. We also analyze scenarios for minimizing seismicity after a period of production, such as (i) well shut‐in and (ii) gas reinjection. In the case of well shut‐in, a highly stressed fault zone can still be reactivated several decades after production has ceased, although on average the shut‐in results in a reduction in seismicity. In the case of gas reinjection, fault reactivation can be avoided if gas is injected directly into the compartment under depletion. However, gas reinjection into a neighboring compartment does not stop the fault from being reactivated.

show abstract

“…Afterwards, we use our model within an inverse modeling framework of iTOUGH2-PEST (Finsterle and Zhang, 2011), which includes parameter estimation, sensitivity and uncertainty analyses and apply it to all three injection wells On one hand, the TOUGH-FLAC simulator (Rutqvist, 2011) couples the TOUGH2 simulator for fluid flow in porous media with the FLAC3D simulator for geomechanics and deformation (Itasca, 2009). The applications of TOUGH-FLAC cover geothermal (e.g., Jeanne et al, 2015;Rinaldi et al, 2015a), nuclear waste disposal (e.g., , compressed air storage systems , shale gas 2015), as well as geologic carbon sequestration (Rutqvist et al, 2008; and related induced seismicity (Cappa and Rutqvist, 2011;Rinaldi et al, 2014aRinaldi et al, , 2014bRinaldi et al, , 2015bRutqvist et al, , 2016Urpi et al, 2016). On the other hand, iTOUGH2 (Finsterle, 2004;2007;Finsterle et al, 2014) has been largely used for sensitivity analysis and parameter estimation for several hydrogeological application (e.g., Doetsch et al, 2013;Finsterle et al, 2013;Poskas et al, 2014;Wainwright et al, 2013;Yuan et al, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inverse modeling of ground surface uplift and pressure with iTOUGH-PEST and TOUGH-FLAC: The case of CO2 injection at In Salah, Algeria

Rinaldi

Rutqvist

Finsterle

et al. 2017

Computers & Geosciences

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Ground deformation, commonly observed in storage projects, carries useful information about processes occurring in the injection formation. The Krechba gas field at In Salah (Algeria) is one of the best-known sites for studying ground surface deformation during geological carbon storage. At this first industrial-scale on-shore CO 2 demonstration project, satellite-based grounddeformation monitoring data of high quality are available and used to study the large-scale hydrological and geomechanical response of the system to injection. In this work, we carry out

show abstract

Fault activation and induced seismicity in geological carbon storage – Lessons learned from recent modeling studies

Cited by 187 publications

References 58 publications

Fault Stability Perturbation by Thermal Pressurization and Stress Transfer Around a Deep Geological Repository in a Clay Formation

Fault Stability Perturbation by Thermal Pressurization and Stress Transfer Around a Deep Geological Repository in a Clay Formation

On the physics‐based processes behind production‐induced seismicity in natural gas fields

Inverse modeling of ground surface uplift and pressure with iTOUGH-PEST and TOUGH-FLAC: The case of CO2 injection at In Salah, Algeria

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About