SFB 1313 Publication "Diagnosing Hydro-Mechanical Effects in Subsurface Fluid Flow Through Fractures"

New SFB 1313and SimTech publication, published in  Pure and Applied Geophysics. The work has been developed within the SFB 1313 research project B05.

"Diagnosing Hydro-Mechanical Effects in Subsurface Fluid Flow Through Fractures"

Authors

• Patrick Schmidt (University of Stuttgart)
• Holger Steeb (University of Stuttgart, SFB 1313 research projects B05, C05, and Z02)
• Jörg Renner (Ruhr University Bochum)

Abstract

Hydro-mechanically induced transient changes in fracture volume elude an analysis of pressure and flow rate transients by conventional diffusion-based models. We used a previously developed fully coupled, inherently non-linear numerical simulation model to demonstrate that harmonic hydraulic excitation of fractures leads to systematic overtones in the response spectrum that can thus be used as a diagnostic criterion for hydro-mechanical interaction. The examination of response spectra, obtained from harmonic testing at four different field sites, for the occurrence of overtones confirmed their potential for the hydro-mechanical characterization of tested reservoirs. A non-dimensional analysis identified relative aperture change as the critical system parameter.