Journal
COMPUTERS AND GEOTECHNICS
Volume 134, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.compgeo.2021.104120
Keywords
Fault slip; Fluid injection; Hydraulic heterogeneity; Shale reservoir; Induced seismicity
Categories
Funding
- State Key Laboratory of Shale Oil and Gas Enrichment Mechanisms and Effective Development, China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) [35800000-20-ZC0607-0005]
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [41831291]
- Swiss National Science Foundation [IZLCZ0_189882]
- Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF) [IZLCZ0_189882] Funding Source: Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF)
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This study examines the impact of reservoir heterogeneity on fault slip in shale reservoirs subjected to hydraulic stimulation through a numerical model simulating coupled hydro-mechanical processes. The research findings indicate the significant role of reservoir heterogeneity in fault reactivation when the hydraulic fracture is away from the fault but at a distance smaller than the correlation length.
We study the impact of reservoir heterogeneity on fault slip in shale reservoirs subject to hydraulic stimulation. We construct a two-dimensional numerical model representing the horizontal cross-section of a faulted heterogeneous shale formation and simulate coupled hydro-mechanical processes in the system during and after high-pressure fluid injection. We conceptualize the natural fault as a geological composite consisting of a fault core and a damage zone that involves a set of subsidiary fractures parallel to the fault strike. We couple the solid deformation and fault displacement with the Darcy flow based on poro-elasticity principles and hydromechanical constitutive relations. The heterogeneous nature of the permeability field of the shale reservoir is mimicked as a random field governed by a log-normal probability density function and prescribed correlation lengths. We elucidate the linkage between fault slip and fluid flow field, permitting the capture of the spatiotemporal evolution of preferential flow channels and their consequences on fault slip and induced seismicity. We report a significant role of reservoir heterogeneity in fault reactivation when the hydraulic fracture is away from the fault but at a distance smaller than the correlation length. The results of our research have important implications for many fluid injection-related geoengineering activities.
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