Publications

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Natural gas is a clean fuel that will be the most important domestic energy resource for the first half the 21st centtuy. Ensuring a stable supply is essential for our national energy security. The research we have undertaken will maximize the extractable volume of gas while minimizing the environmental impact of surface disturbances associated with drilling and production. This report describes a methodology for comprehensive evaluation and modeling of the total gas system within a basin focusing on problematic horizontal fluid flow variability. This has been accomplished through extensive use of geophysical, core (rock sample) and outcrop data to interpret and predict directional flow and production trends. Side benefits include reduced environmental impact of drilling due to reduced number of required wells for resource extraction. These results have been accomplished through a cooperative and integrated systems approach involving industry, government, academia and a multi-organizational team within Sandia National Laboratories. Industry has provided essential in-kind support to this project in the forms of extensive core data, production data, maps, seismic data, production analyses, engineering studies, plus equipment and staff for obtaining geophysical data. This approach provides innovative ideas and technologies to bring new resources to market and to reduce the overall environmental impact of drilling. More importantly, the products of this research are not be location specific but can be extended to other areas of gas production throughout the Rocky Mountain area. Thus this project is designed to solve problems associated with natural gas production at developing sites, or at old sites under redevelopment.

Natural fractures in Jurassic through Tertiary rock units of the Raton Basin locally contain conjugate shear fractures that are mechanically compatible with associated extension fractures, i.e., they have a bisector to the acute angle that is parallel to the strike of associated extension fractures, normal to the thrust front at the western margin of the basin. Both sets of fractures are therefore interpreted to have formed during Laramide-age thrusting from west to east that formed the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and subsequently the foreland Raton Basin, and that imposed strong east-west compressive stresses onto the strata filling the basin. This pattern is not universal, however. Anomalous NNE-SSW striking fractures locally dominate strata close to the thrust front, and fracture patterns are irregular in strata associated with anticlinal structures within the basin. Of special interest are strike-slip style conjugate shear fractures within Dakota Sandstone outcrops 60 miles to the east of the thrust front. Mohr-Coulomb failure diagrams are utilized to describe how these formed as well as how two distinctly different types of fractures can be formed in the same basin under the same regional tectonic setting and at the same time. The primary controls in this interpretation are simply the mechanical properties of the specific rock units and the depth of burial rather than significant changes in the applied stress.

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Recent studies have observed compaction zones pass through porous rock under axisymmetric compression. An initially thin, compacted layer appears at the yield point of the stress-strain curve and then grows by thickening in the direction of maximum compression at constant stress. Strain localization theory has been applied to compaction to explain the formation of these features. This paper describes the growth of the compaction zones, that is, the propagation of their boundaries, in terms of shock wave analysis. The ratio of the applied shortening rate to the velocity of the boundary is related to the porosity change across the boundary. Certain features of the stress-strain curve are explained by the model.

Compaction bands are thin, tabular zones of grain breakage and reduced porosity that are found in sandstones. These structures may form due to tectonic stresses or as a result of local stresses induced during production of fluids from wells, resulting in barriers to fluid (oil, gas, water) movement in sandstone reservoirs. To gain insight into the formation of compaction bands the authors have produced them in the laboratory. Acoustic emission locations were used to define and track the thickness of compaction bands throughout the stress history during axisymmetric compression experiments. Narrow zones of intense acoustic emission, demarcating the boundaries between the uncompacted and compacted regions were found to develop. Unexpectedly, these boundaries moved at velocities related to the fractional porosity reduction across the boundary and to the imposed specimen compression stress. This appears to be a previously unrecognized, fundamental mode of deformation of a porous, granular material subjected to compressive loading with significant implications for the production of hydrocarbons.

Energy production, deformation, and fluid transport in reservoirs are linked closely. Recent field, laboratory, and theoretical studies suggest that, under certain stress conditions, compaction of porous rocks may be accommodated by narrow zones of localized compressive deformation oriented perpendicular to the maximum compressive stress. Triaxial compression experiments were performed on Castlegate, an analogue reservoir sandstone, that included acoustic emission detection and location. Initially, acoustic emissions were focused in horizontal bands that initiated at the sample ends (perpendicular to the maximum compressive stress), but with continued loading progressed axially towards the center. This paper describes microscopy studies that were performed to elucidate the micromechanics of compaction during the experiments. The microscopy revealed that compaction of this weakly-cemented sandstone proceeded in two phases: an initial stage of porosity decrease accomplished by breakage of grain contacts and grain rotation, and a second stage of further reduction accommodated by intense grain breakage and rotation.

Lueders' bands are shear deformation features commonly observed in rock specimens that have been deformed experimentally in the brittle-ductile transition regime. For specimens that contain both faults (shear fractures that separate the specimen) and bands, the bands form earlier in the deformation history and their orientations are often different from the fault These differences pose the question of the relationship between these two structures. Understanding the origin of these features may shed light on the genesis of apparent natural analogues, and on the general process of rock deformation and fracture in the laboratory. This paper presents a hypothesis for the formation of Lueders' bands in laboratory specimens based on deformation localization theory considered in the context of the nonuniform stress distribution of the conventional triaxial experiment Lueders' bands and faults appear to be equivalent reflections of the localization process as it is controlled by nonuniform distributions of stress and evolution of incremental constitutive parameters resulting from increasing damage. To relate conditions for localization in laboratory specimens to natural settings, it will be necessary to design new experiments that create uniform stress and deformation fields, or to extract constitutive data indirectly from standard experiments using computational means.

This paper reexamines orientations of shear bands (fault angles) predicted by a theory of shear localization as a bifurcation from homogeneous deformation. In contrast to the Coulomb prediction, which does not depend on deviatoric stress state, the angle between the band normal and the least (most compressive) principal stress increases as the deviatoric stress state varies from axisymmetric compression to axisymmetric extension. This variation is consistent with the data of Mogi (1967) on Dunham dolomite for axisymmetric compression, extension and biaxial compression, but the predicted angles are generally less than observed. This discrepancy may be due to anisotropy that develops due to crack growth in preferred orientations. Results from specialized constitutive relations for axisymmetric compression and plane strain that include this anisotropy indicate that it tends to increase the predicted angles. Measurements for a weak, porous sandstone (Castlegate) indicate that the band angle decreases with increasing inelastic compaction that accompanies increasing mean stress. This trend is consistent with the predictions of the theory but, for this rock, the observed angles are less than predicted.

Rock cores from drillholes UE25-NRG-4, USW-NRG-6, USW-NRG-7, and USW-SD-9 containing natural fractures were obtained from the Sample Management Facility at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. All recoverable fractures were sheared at constant normal stresses from 2.5 to 15 MPa, in the as-received condition (air-dry). Detailed profilometer data were collected from each fracture surface before testing. The tests yielded the normal closure as a function of normal stress, and the shear stress and dilation as functions of shear offset. The constitutive properties obtained from these stress-displacement relations were: normal stiffness, shear stiffness, shear strength, and dilation angle at peak shear stress. Shear strength plotted against normal stress for four thermomechanical units shows that friction angle varies from 370 to 460 and cohesion varies from 0.02 to 1.71 MPa.

The Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Project has been assigned the task of determining the suitability of the Yucca Mountain site. Among the concerns being investigated, the characterization of the mechanical properties of the fractures present in the host rock had direct relevance to repository design, and the pre- and post-closure performance assessment. Cores from drillholes NRG-4 and NRG-6 containing natural fractures were obtained from the Sample Management Facility at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Seven selected fracture were sheared at constant normal stress, either 5 or 10 MPa, in the as-received condition (air-dry). Detailed profilometer data was collected from each fracture surface before testing. The tests yielded the normal closure as a function of normal stress, and the shear stress and dilation as a function of shear offset. The constitutive properties resulting from the measurements were: normal stiffness, shear stiffness, shear strength and coefficient of friction, and dilation. Peak friction ranged from 0.89 to 1.11; residual friction ranged from 0.76 to 1.00. The lowest initial dilation angel was found to be 5.29{degree} and the highest was 11.28{degree}. The roughness characteristics of the fracture surfaces agree qualitatively with the simple mathematical model of Brown (1984) derived from fracture data in many other rock types.

A smooth artificial joint in Topopah Spring Member tuff was sheared at constant normal stress at velocities from 0 to 100 {mu}m/s to determine the velocity-dependence of shear strength. Two different initial conditions were used: (1) unprimed -- the joint had been shear stress-free since last application of normal stress, and before renewed shear loading; and (2) primed -- the joint had undergone a slip history after application of normal stress, but before the current shear loading. Observed steady-state rate effects were found to be about 3 times lager than for some other silicate rocks. These different initial conditions affected the character of the stress-slip curve immediately after the onset of slip. Priming the joint causes a peak in the stress-slip response followed by a transient decay to the steady-state stress, i.e., slip weakening. Slide-hold-slide tests exhibit time-dependent strengthening. When the joint was subjected to constant shear stress, no slip was observed; that is, joint creep did not occur. One set of rate data was collected from a surface submerged in tap water, the friction was higher for this surface, but the rate sensitivity was the same as that for surfaces tested in the air-dry condition.

Microstructural models of deformation of polycrystalline materials suggest that inelastic deformation leads to the formation of a corner or vertex at the current load point. This vertex can cause the response to non-proportional loading to be more compliant than predicted by the smooth yield-surface idealization. Combined compression-torsion experiments on Tennessee marble indicate that a vertex forms during inelastic flow. An important implication is that strain localization by bifurcation occurs earlier than predicted by bifurcation analysis using isotropic hardening.

The uniaxial compressive strength of air-dry and water-saturated ashfall tuff from the Nevada Test Site was measured as a function of strain rate from 10{sup {minus}6} to 10{sup 3} s{sup {minus}1}. Two different testing devices were used to achieve this wide range in rate, an electro-hydraulic, servo-controlled load frame, and a Kolsky bar. Critical strain rates of 82 s{sup {minus}1} and 22{sup {minus}1} were found for dry and saturated tuffs, respectively. Below the critical rate the strength is a weak function of strain rate and above the critical rate strength varies as the cube root of strain rate. The strengths of the dry and saturated tuff are the same above the critical rate. At slower rates, the saturated tuff is weaker at all rates and shows a slightly stronger strain-rate sensitivity. 26 refs., 5 figs.

The quasi-static failure criteria, elastic constants, and p-wave velocities have been determined for a granite and a sandstone in which blasting experiments are being carried out by the Advanced Technology Division (6258). In addition, the dynamic strength of the granite was measured using a Kolsky bar. Both rocks show a linear increase in strength with increasing confining pressure. The dynamic strength of the granite is as much as 330% greater than the quasi-static value. The strength of the granite was also dependent on the angle between the foliation and the loading direction. There was a 20% difference in the p-wave velocity between that measured parallel to and perpendicular to the bedding in the sandstone. 4 refs., 4 figs., 5 tabs.