Experimental Mechanics Of Fractured Porous Rocks

The book offers novel petrophysical methods for obtaining and characterizing physical properties of sandstone and fractured carbonate rocks. The proposed experimental petrophysical test for the determination of permeability tensor ellipses in fractured rocks at a laboratory scale is a methodology of easy application and does not require complicated equipment. Such a test can be extended with 3D digital petrophysics. The estimation of principal permeability directions is useful in the realization of immiscible or miscible displacements in the rock. This book is of interest for professionals and researchers in the field of petrophysics and oil and gas exploration.

Porous Rock Failure Mechanics: Hydraulic Fracturing, Drilling and Structural Engineering focuses on the fracture mechanics of porous rocks and modern simulation techniques for progressive quasi-static and dynamic fractures. The topics covered in this volume include a wide range of academic and industrial applications, including petroleum, mining, and civil engineering. Chapters focus on advanced topics in the field of rock’s fracture mechanics and address theoretical concepts, experimental characterization, numerical simulation techniques, and their applications as appropriate. Each chapter reflects the current state-of-the-art in terms of the modern use of fracture simulation in industrial and academic sectors. Some of the major contributions in this volume include, but are not limited to: anisotropic elasto-plastic deformation mechanisms in fluid saturated porous rocks, dynamics of fluids transport in fractured rocks and simulation techniques, fracture mechanics and simulation techniques in porous rocks, fluid-structure interaction in hydraulic driven fractures, advanced numerical techniques for simulation of progressive fracture, including multiscale modeling, and micromechanical approaches for porous rocks, and quasi-static versus dynamic fractures in porous rocks. This book will serve as an important resource for petroleum, geomechanics, drilling and structural engineers, R&D managers in industry and academia. Includes a strong editorial team and quality experts as chapter authors Presents topics identified for individual chapters are current, relevant, and interesting Focuses on advanced topics, such as fluid coupled fractures, rock’s continuum damage mechanics, and multiscale modeling Provides a ‘one-stop’ advanced-level reference for a graduate course focusing on rock’s mechanics

This volume summarizes the results of experimental investigations on the mechanical behaviour of rock. These experiments have been conducted over a 40 year period in the Laboratory for the Physics of Rocks at High Pressure.

Porosity plays a clearly important role in geology. It controls fluid storage in aquifers, oil and gas fields and geothermal systems, and the extent and connectivity of the pore structure control fluid flow and transport through geological formations, as well as the relationship between the properties of individual minerals and the bulk properties of the rock. In order to quantify the relationships between porosity, storage, transport and rock properties, however, the pore structure must be measured and quantitatively described.Porous Rock Fracture Mechanics focuses on the fracture mechanics of porous rocks and modern simulation techniques for progressive quasi-static and dynamic fractures. The topics covered in this volume include a wide range of academic and industrial applications, including petroleum, mining, and civil engineering. The goal of this book is to summarize, in a manner the reader can use for future experimental work, many of the techniques for analyzing the porosity of rocks or other porous materials. The mechanisms pertaining to percussion drilling and blasting are investigated, with specific reference to the application of fracture mechanics. In order to gain an improved understanding of the mechanisms controlling rock fragmentation, a multidisciplinary approach is followed which includes laboratory experiments conducted in plexiglass and rock, in-situ field experiments and analytical/numerical modeling techniques.This book discusses scattering methods for porosity analysis, petrophysical approaches, and image analysis approaches. Chapters focus on advanced topics in the field of rock's fracture mechanics and address theoretical concepts, experimental characterization, numerical simulation techniques, and their applications as appropriate. The increased attention paid to experimental rock fracture mechanics has led to major contributions to the solving of geophysical problems.This book serves as an important guiding tool for petroleum, geomechanics, drilling and structural engineers, Civil Engineers, Material Scientists, R&D managers in industry and academia as well as researchers in this field find this book beneficial.

This monograph deals with the part of the field of ex-' perimental rock deformation that is dominated by the phenomena of brittle fracture on one scale or another. Thus a distinction has been drawn between the fields of brittle und ductile behaviour in rock, corresponding more or less to a distinction between the phenomena of fracture and flow. It is hoped eventually to present a survey of the ductile field in a separate volume. The last chapter of this volume deals with the transition between the two fields. The scope of this survey has been limited to the mec.hanical properties of rock viewed as a material on the laboratory scale. Thus, the topic and approach is of a "materials science" kind rather than of a "structures" kind. We are dealing with only one part of the wider field of rock mechanics, which also includes structural or boundary value problems, for example, those of the stability of slopes, the collapse of mine openings, earth quakes, the folding of stratified rock, and the convec tive motion of the earth's mantle. One topic thus ex cluded is the role of jointing, which it is commonly necessary to take into account in applications in engi neering and mining, and probably often in geology too.

Fracture and flow of rocks under stress and their geophysical and seismological implications raise fundamental questions in rock mechanics, particularly in the areas of tectonophysics and seismology. This text exclusively addresses the deformation and fracture of rock specimens under general triaxial compression, in which all three principal stress

(4). The next three papers extend these views by taking a closer look on parameters that govern hydraulic diffusivity in sandstones and other types of rocks. Specific targets addressed are the influence of differential stress on permeability (5), imaging of the fracture geometry (6), and pressure induced variations in the pore geometry (7). Contributions no. 8 to 10 cover investigations of permeability-porosity relationships during rock evolution (8), of the formation, propagation, and roughness of fractures in a plexi-glass block (9), and pressure oscillation effects of two-phase flow under controlled conditions (10). The subsequent four articles focus on diverse modeling approaches. Issues considered are how the geometry and the mechanical behavior of fractures can be characterized by mathematical expressions (11), how the evolution of permeability in a microcracking rock can be expressed by an analytical model (12), deviations from the cubic law for a fracture of varying aperture (13), and the numerical simulation of scale effects in flow through fractures (14). Three further papers refer to in situ observations, being related to topics as the assessment of in situ permeability from the spatio temporal distribution of an aftershock sequence (15), to the scale dependence of hydraulic pathways in crystalline rock (16), and to the significance of pore pressure - stress coupling in deep tunnels and galleries (17).

Despite of many years of studies, predicting fluid flow, heat, and chemical transport in fractured-porous media remains a challenge for scientists and engineers worldwide. This monograph is the third in a series on the dynamics of fluids and transport in fractured rock published by the American Geophysical Union (Geophysical Monograph Series, Vol. 162, 2005; and Geophysical Monograph, No. 122, 2000). This monograph is dedicated to the late Dr. Paul Witherspoon for his seminal influence on the development of ideas and methodologies and the birth of contemporary fractured rock hydrogeology, including such fundamental and applied problems as environmental remediation; exploitation of oil, gas, and geothermal resources; disposal of spent nuclear fuel; and geotechnical engineering. This monograph addresses fundamental and applied scientific questions and is intended to assist scientists and practitioners bridge gaps in the current scientific knowledge in the areas of theoretical fluids dynamics, field measurements, and experiments for different practical applications. Readers of this book will include researchers, engineers, and professionals within academia, Federal agencies, and industry, as well as graduate/undergraduate students involved in theoretical, experimental, and numerical modeling studies of fluid dynamics and reactive chemical transport in the unsaturated and saturated zones, including studies pertaining to petroleum and geothermal reservoirs, environmental management and remediation, mining, gas storage, and radioactive waste isolation in underground repositories. Volume highlights include discussions of the following: Fundamentals of using a complex systems approach to describe flow and transport in fractured-porous media. Methods of Field Measurements and Experiments Collective behavior and emergent properties of complex fractured rock systems Connection to the surrounding environment Multi-disciplinary research for different applications