Fluid-overpressure Driven Sediment Mobilisation and Its Risk for the Integrity for CO2 Storage Sites – An Analogue Modelling Approach

Warsitzka, Michael; Kukowski, Nina; May, Franz

doi:10.1016/j.egypro.2017.03.1461

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Fundamental attempts to describe fluidization in cohesive granular media mainly focused on gas invading dry materials [124]. In this configuration, laboratory experiments pointed out different regimes: low-cohesive grains mostly displayed expansion and pipe formation, while cohesive sediments exhibited uplift and tensile fractures [125]. A more detailed experimental and numerical study by Galland et al [126] pointed out the importance of two dimensionless parameters, (1) the ratio between the fluid pressure and the gravitational stress, and (2) the fluid pressure-to-host rock strength ratio.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Future challenges on focused fluid migration in sedimentary basins: Insight from field data, laboratory experiments and numerical simulations

Gay

Vidal

2022

Pap. Phys.

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In a present context of sustainable energy and hazard mitigation, understanding fluid migration in sedimentary basins – large subsea provinces of fine saturated sands and clays – is a crucial challenge. Such migration leads to gas or liquid expulsion at the seafloor, whichmay be the signature of deep hydrocarbon reservoirs, or precursors to violent subsea fluid releases. If the former may orient future exploitation, the latter represent strong hazards for anthropic activities such as offshore production, CO$_2$ storage, transoceanic telecom fibers or deep-sea mining. However, at present, the dynamics of fluid migration in sedimentary layers, in particular the upper 500 m, still remains unknown in spite of its strong influence on fluid distribution at the seafloor. Understanding the mechanisms controlling fluid migration and release requires the combination of accurate field data, laboratory experiments and numerical simulations. Each technique shall lead to the understanding of the fluid structures, the mechanisms at stake, and deep insights into fundamental processes ranging from the grain scale to the kilometers-long natural pipes in the sedimentary layers.Here we review the present available techniques, advances and challenges still open for the geosciences, physics, and computer science communities.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Future challenges on focused fluid migration in sedimentary basins: Insight from field data, laboratory experiments and numerical simulations

Gay

Vidal

2022

Pap. Phys.

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“…Additional scanning electron microscope images can be found in the supporting information. (b) Sketch of the experimental setup illustrating the upper experimental box (dimensions: 80 × 5 × 60 cm) and the lower pressure chamber (PC; modified from Warsitzka et al, 2017). Furthermore, the main deformation structures are indicated in the cover layer: forced fold, crestal fracture, and wing fractures.…”

Section: Experimental Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Formation of Forced Folds and Wing‐Like Sand Intrusions Driven by Pore Fluid Overpressure: Implications From 2‐D Experimental Modeling

2019

Self Cite

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Sand injections form by intrusion of overpressured, fluidized sand into surrounding low-permeable, fine-grained rocks. Modern 3-D seismic data revealed their abundant occurrence in many sedimentary basins and that their intrusion is typically associated with forced folding and tensile fractures of the sealing cover layer. In order to investigate the kinematic evolution of forced folds in relation to the associated propagation of fractures originating from an overpressured source layer, we performed idealized, quasi-2-D analog experiments. The models consist of noncohesive and cohesive granulates to mimic a sand reservoir and its overburden layer and injected air to produce fluid overpressure in the layered materials. Our results show that forced folding first induces tensile bending fractures at the base of the fold limbs at a certain critical fluid pressure. Due to further increase of the fluid pressure, the apex of these bending fractures serves as origin for branching, conical fractures characterized by shear and tensile failure. Fracture breakthrough is accompanied by a rapid uplift of the breached fold limb and a pressure drop in the reservoir layer followed by a continuous subsidence of the central forced fold. The morphology of the fracture pattern and the forced fold provides helpful implications for understanding formation processes of natural sand injections observed in seismic data and in outcrops.

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“…Sedimentary basins are characterized by successive deposits, which appear as multiple reflectors in the seismic profiles, making it look like a geological millefeuille, with multiple layers exhibiting different physical properties (Figure 1). To our knowledge, few studies in the literature consider the effect of discontinuities, i.e., interfaces between two layers of different properties, on sediment mobilization and fluid escape structures [16,19,30]. The few existing works mainly focus on the effect of cohesion of the covering layer.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pipe Formation by Fluid Focalization in Bilayered Sediments

Gay,

Tangavelou,

Vidal

2024

Fluids

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Pipe structures are commonly encountered in the geophysical context, and in particular in sedimentary basins, where they are associated with fluid migration structures. We investigate pipe formation through laboratory experiments by injecting water locally at a constant flow rate at the base of water-saturated sands in a Hele–Shaw cell (30 cm high, 35 cm wide, gap 2.3 mm). The originality of this work is to quantify the effect of a discontinuity. More precisely, bilayered structures are considered, where a layer of fine grains overlaps a layer of coarser grains. Different invasion structures are reported, with fluidization of the bilayered sediment over its whole height or over the finer grains only. The height and area of the region affected by the fluidization display a non-monotonous evolution, which can be interpreted in terms of fluid focusing vs. scattering. Theoretical considerations can predict the critical coarse grains height for the invasion pattern transition, as well as the maximum topography at the sediment free surface in the regime in which only the overlapping finer grains fluidize. These results have crucial geophysical implications, as they demonstrate that invasion patterns and pipe formation dynamics may control the fluid expulsion extent and localization at the seafloor.

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Fluid-overpressure Driven Sediment Mobilisation and Its Risk for the Integrity for CO2 Storage Sites – An Analogue Modelling Approach

Cited by 5 publications

References 28 publications

Future challenges on focused fluid migration in sedimentary basins: Insight from field data, laboratory experiments and numerical simulations

Future challenges on focused fluid migration in sedimentary basins: Insight from field data, laboratory experiments and numerical simulations

The Formation of Forced Folds and Wing‐Like Sand Intrusions Driven by Pore Fluid Overpressure: Implications From 2‐D Experimental Modeling

Pipe Formation by Fluid Focalization in Bilayered Sediments

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