Volume-Based Modelling of Fault Reactivation in Porous Media Using a Visco-Elastic Proxy Model

Abstract

The injection of fluids into the subsurface takes place in the context of a variety of engineering applications such as geothermal power generation, disposal of wastewater, $$\hbox {CO}_{2}$$ storage and enhanced oil recovery. These technologies involve not only the underground emplacement of fluids in a geologic formation but also affect the stress state of these rocks. If the rock’s strength is surpassed, these stress changes can even lead to failure. In this context, we present a conceptual approach to model fault reactivation in porous media. As a starting point for developing and implementing this approach, the already existing combined hydro- and geomechanical model within the open-source simulator DuMu $$^{{x}}$$ was chosen. For the evaluation of shear slip on the fault plane, the classical Mohr–Coulomb failure criterion is used. Based on the energy balance from Kanamori (Earthquake thermodynamics and phase transformations in the earth’s interior, international geophysics, vol 76. Academic Press, London, pp 293–305, 2001), where a slip event on fault is described as a transformation of elastic energy into seismic waves, heat and an amount of energy required to cause fracture, we interpret failure as a dissipation of elastic energy. Furthermore, seismic data allow to infer a constant stress drop over a wide range of scales (Abercrombie and Leary in Geophys Res Lett 20(14):1511–1514, 1993). These findings are incorporated into our model by altering the material properties during the slip event. In detail, the linear elastic material law is replaced by a visco-elastic behaviour, which reproduces the characteristics mentioned above. This, in turn, leads to additional displacements, which are interpreted as the slip on the fault plane. Our results indicate that this pragmatic approach is capable of modelling fault reactivation without resolving the fault as a discrete surface but as a elements representing a fault zone instead.