Fluid induced deformation in porous media – Sensitivity analysis of a poroelastic model

Abstract

The poromechanical behaviour of granular materials are influenced by the rheological properties and stress state of the injected fluid in addition to the state of the porous media. Fluid injection through a granular continuum generally results in the elastic or plastic deformation of the material which reflects as the change in porosity due to particle rearrangement. This phenomenon results in fluid induced instabilities in the porous media which is commonly observed during CO2 sequestration, oil and hydrocarbon recovery, high pressure grouting, hydraulic fracturing. Solid-fluid interaction in porous media is a fundamental multi-physics problem encountered in civil engineering, petroleum, and mining industries. Injecting fluid into the porous materials results in the deformation of the existing solid skeleton, especially when the flow rate is greater than the ability of the media to permeate the fluid. Deformations can be considered as poroelastic when the storage of reversible elastic energy controls the process. Among the existing poroelastic models which predict the fluid induced deformation in porous media, a coupled non-linear continuum-based model proposed by MacMinn is used in this study. This model takes into account various fluid properties and predicts the material response under different boundary conditions. The efficiency of this model to capture the deformation characteristics of porous media under different flow rate, fluid viscosity, porosity of the media and other geometric parameters will be carried out in this study.