Numerical and experimental simulation of fault reactivation and earthquake rupture applied to induced seismicity in the Groningen gas field

Buijze, A.J.L.

doi:10.33540/60

Cited by 7 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 188 publications

(647 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The first aim of our paper was to gain further insight in the poro-mechanical aspects of induced seismicity in displaced faults. We confirmed many of the findings based on numerical simulation of earlier studies, in particular those by Van den Bogert (2015, 2018, Buijze et al (2017Buijze et al ( , 2019, Buijze (2020) and Van Wees et al (2017). A new aspect concerned the coupling between the two slip patches that develop during induced slip in a displaced fault, which affects both the forward simulation and the eigenvalue computation.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

“…We build on this existing body of knowledge to cope with the particularities of the stress field resulting from depletion of a reservoir with displaced faults; these include singularities and discontinuities in the shear and normal stresses, and the development of two distinct slip patches that may merge at increased depletion levels. Our paper also builds on the findings of more recent (numerical) work on depletion-induced seismicity, in particular the seminal reports by Van den Bogert (2015, 2018 and further publications by, amongst others, Buijze et al (2017Buijze et al ( , 2019, Buijze (2020) and Van Wees et al (2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 54%

“…2) might still form a barrier for propagation to outside the reservoir if dynamic effects would be sufficiently small. Such complexities of dynamic fault slip are outside the scope of our paper and we refer to Van den Bogert (2018), Buijze et al (2017), Buijze et al (2019) and Buijze (2020) for examples and further analyses.…”

Section: Loss Of Stabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…If this happens in one patch before the critical slip length Dy Ã is reached, that is, before nucleation takes place, continued patch growth will occur which may now reach values beyond Dy Ã without leading to nucleation in that patch, although seismicity may still be triggered by nucleation in the other patch. If drops to dyn in both patches before Dy Ã is reached, nucleation will be avoided altogether ( Van den Bogert, 2018;Buijze, 2020). With continuing depletion, non-seismic merging of the patches may then occur.…”

Section: Termination Criteriamentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Induced aseismic slip and the onset of seismicity in displaced faults

Meulenbroek

2022

Netherlands Journal of Geosciences

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We address aseismic fault slip and the onset of seismicity resulting from depletion-induced or injection-induced stresses in reservoirs with pre-existing vertical or inclined faults. Building on classic results, we discuss semi-analytical modelling techniques for fault slip including dislocation theory, Cauchy-type singular integral equations and the use of Chebyshev polynomials for their solution and an eigenvalue-based stability analysis. We consider slip patch development during depletion for faults with zero, constant static and slip-weakening friction, and our results confirm earlier findings based on numerical simulation, in particular the aseismic growth of two slip patches that may subsequently merge and/or become unstable resulting in nucleation of seismic slip. New findings include improved approximate expressions for the induced seismic moment per unit strike length and a description of the effect of coupling between the slip patches which affects both forward simulation and eigenvalue computation for high values of the ratio of fault throw to reservoir height. Our implementation based on analytical inversion and semi-analytical integration with Chebyshev polynomials is more efficient and more robust than our numerical integration approach. It is not yet well suited for Monte Carlo simulation, which typically requires sub-second simulation times, but with some further development that option seems to be within reach. Moreover, our results offer a possibility for embedded fault modelling in large-scale numerical simulation tools.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 54%

Section: Loss Of Stabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Termination Criteriamentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Induced aseismic slip and the onset of seismicity in displaced faults

Meulenbroek

2022

Netherlands Journal of Geosciences

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Potentially, such earthquakes could be caused or triggered by a substantial rupture in the reservoir. So far, rupture arrest in the field has been addressed for idealised flat or planar two-dimensional (2D) fault planes by Wentinck (2018a), Buijze et al (2019) and Buijze (2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Induced seismicity in the Groningen gas field – arrest of ruptures by fault plane irregularities

Wentinck,

Kortekaas

2023

Netherlands Journal of Geosciences

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

From dynamic rupture simulations, we reveal under which conditions a rupture in the Groningen gas field stops along fault dip or along fault strike after it starts on a fault in the reservoir. The simulations focus on the capabilities of fault plane irregularities to arrest ruptures. Such irregularities can be recognised in sandstone outcrops. Fault planes in the Groningen field, extracted from the 3D seismic data by seismic attribute extraction methods, show similar irregularities. A detailed surface of a major fault plane in the field indicates that steps and jogs of tenths of metres are possible. Although these irregularities are close to seismic resolution and could be partially artificial, we investigated their effect on rupture arrest.For typical current stresses in the Groningen field, jogs and steps of this length scale are found to be remarkably effective to stop ruptures in the reservoir. Also, a significant increase in the fault dip along fault strike can stop these ruptures but a kink in the fault under a constant fault dip not.Including non-planar fault features and pressure diffusion in the Carboniferous, the simulations in this paper follow trends of previous simulations in the literature using 2D planar faults. In particular, the horizontal stress in this formation and the strength of the Carboniferous fault zone are important for rupture propagation. If the fault would have been reactivated in the Neogene or Quaternary and poorly healed in clay-rich parts, rupture propagation into the Carboniferous can only be prevented by jogs of sufficient size and lateral continuity under the present estimate of the horizontal field stress.

show abstract