Pore Fluid Flow Research Articles

Relative importance of poroelastic effects and viscoelastic relaxation for postseismic velocity fields after normal and thrust earthquakes: Insights from 2D finite-element modelling

Earthquakes on faults in the brittle upper crust evoke sudden changes in pore fluid pressure as well as postseismic viscoelastic flow in the lower crust and lithospheric mantle but the relative importance of these processes during the postseismic phase has not been systematically studied. Here, we use two-dimensional finite-element models to investigate how pore fluid pressure changes and postseismic viscoelastic relaxation interact during the earthquake cycle of an intracontinental dip-slip fault. To isolate the effects from pore fluid flow and viscoelastic relaxation from each other, we performed experiments with and without pore fluid flow and viscoelastic relaxation, respectively. In different experiments, we further varied the permeability of the crust and the viscosity of lower crust or lithospheric mantle. Our model results show poroelastic effects dominate the velocity field in the first months after the earthquake. In models considering poroelastic effects, the surfaces of both hanging wall and footwall of the normal fault subside at different velocities, while they move upwards in the thrust fault model. Depending on the permeability and viscosity values, viscoelastic relaxation dominates the velocity field from about the second postseismic year onward although poroelastic effects may still occur if the permeability of the upper crust is sufficiently low. With respect to the spatial scales of poroelastic effects and viscoelastic relaxation, our results show that pore fluid pressure changes affect the velocity field mostly within 10–20 km around the fault, whereas the signal from viscoelastic relaxation is recognizable up to several tens of kilometres away from the fault. Our findings reveal that both poroelastic effects and viscoelastic relaxation may overlap earlier and over longer time periods than previously thought, which should be considered when interpreting aftershock distributions, postseismic Coulomb stress changes and surface displacements.

Electric double layer overlap limits flow rate in Janus electrocatalytic self-pumping membranes

Nanoporous membranes with platinum (Pt) and gold (Au) coated on opposite faces can autonomously pump fluid in the presence of hydrogen peroxide, but the physics is not fully understood. Here, we show with simulation results that the self-pumping flow rate can be considerably increased by avoiding the overlap of electric double layers (EDL) inside pores. Due to catalytic electrochemical reactions on Pt and Au, hydrogen ions (H+) are generated and depleted on opposite sides of the membrane, establishing a self-generated electric field and associated electro-osmotic flow through the pores. By optimizing the pore radius, EDL overlap is avoided and an area-averaged self-pumping flow speed of 23 µm/s can be achieved, which is 20 times higher than previously reported. By conducting the first-ever physico-chemical computational model of self-pumping membranes, this work reveals the mechanism of self-pumping flow in porous two-sided “Janus” membranes and highlights the potential of developing biomimetic membranes and lab-on-chip devices that can precisely and remotely control fluid flow in pores or channels in an “on/off” manner.

Numerical Simulation of Hydrate Decomposition during the Drilling Process of the Hydrate Reservoir in the Northern South China Sea

The process of drilling in natural gas hydrate reservoirs in sea areas involves problems such as hydrate decomposition and wellbore instability. To study the response behaviors of a reservoir during the drilling process, a two-dimensional numerical model of drilling fluid invading a hydrate reservoir in a cylindrical coordinate system was established to simulate the processes of heat and mass transfer, gas–liquid two-phase flow, and hydrate formation and decomposition in the hydrate reservoir during the drilling process. Based on the hydrate reservoir at station W17, Shenhu area of the South China Sea, the physical property response of the hydrate reservoir under different drilling fluid temperatures and salinity values was studied. The simulation results showed that during the drilling process, the temperature and pressure of the reservoir respond rapidly in a large area, further promoting the hydrate decomposition in the reservoir around the wellbore and leading to secondary hydrate formation. Moreover, a high hydrate saturation zone appears near the decomposed hydrate area in the layer without free gas, which corresponds to the low water saturation and high salinity zone. The hydrate decomposition area in the layer with free gas is larger than that without free gas. The increase in the drilling fluid temperature significantly enhances the hydrate decomposition in both layers of the reservoir. The hydrate decomposition near the wellbore under the high drilling fluid temperature will cause a sharp increase in the pressure in the reservoir, leading to the flow of pore fluid into the wellbore. The increase in drilling fluid salinity has little effect on the range of the hydrate decomposition in the reservoir but significantly increases the salinity of the pore water in the layer with free gas. As the drilling fluid temperature increases, the possibility of the gas invasion from the reservoir into the wellbore will be greatly increased at the early stage.

A 3D visualization method for identifying fabric characteristics during suffusion using transparent soil

Suffusion is a process by which fine particles move through the voids between coarse particles (intergranular voids) by seepage flow. Therefore, identifying the arrangement of coarse particles (coarse matrix), intergranular voids, and the spatial distribution of fine particles is a key issue for studying suffusion. Transparent soil is being increasingly used to replace real soil in laboratory model tests for studying the internal particle movements and pore fluid flow in soils. This study established an experimental setup for scanning a transparent soil specimen during seepage by a moving laser and made an attempt to construct a 3D digital mesostructural model of the specimen based on the images of the sequentially illuminated cross-sections. An example test on a gap-graded soil was conducted to show the performance of the presented method. It demonstrated that the coarse matrix and intergranular voids can be visualized and quantified at satisfactory precisions; moreover, the loss and redistribution of fine particles as well as important phenomena such as deposition at pore bodies and clogging of pore throats can also be visualized and identified qualitatively.

Identification and quantitative evaluation of pores and throats of a tight sandstone reservoir (Upper Triassic Xujiahe Formation, Sichuan Basin, China)

Pores and throats are the key parameters for determining the pore structure and fluid flow behavior in tight sandstone reservoirs. In this paper, pores and throats of the tight sandstone reservoir of the Upper Triassic Xujiahe Formation in the northern Sichuan Basin were investigated using classical petrography, scanning electron microscopy, and confocal laser scanning microscopy. In addition, a method of pore as well as throat identification and quantitatification using high-pressure mercury injection (HPMI) measurements was worked out. The results show that clay mineral-related pores are well developed in lithic sandstone and feldspathic lithic sandstone in addition to pores produced by dissolution of calcite cement and clastic grains. Intergranular pores are connected by lamellar, curved lamellar, and narrow pore throats. The pores and throats associated with intragranular dissolution and clay minerals are mostly tube shaped. The rapid-increasing and slow-increasing profiles of the mercury injection curves represent the dominance of pores and throats, respectively, allowing to differentiate pores and throats. Calculations show, in addition to fractured lithic sandstone, that has micron-sized pore–throat systems, the other lithic sandstones possess dominatly nano-sized pore–throat systems. In case of feldspathic lithic sandstones, micron-sized and nano-sized pore throat systems are equally important. In micron-sized pore throat dominated reservoirs, the pore volume is slightly larger than the throat volume, whereas for the nano-sized pore throat system, the pore volume is considerably larger than the throat volume. The key factors that are favorable for the formation of lithic sandstone pore throat systems are early calcite dissolution, lithic fragments dissolution, and early chlorite cementation. In contrast the key factors that are favorable for the formation of feldspathic lithic sandstone pore throat systems are dissolution of feldspars and lithic fragments.

Experimental measurement and clustered equal diameter particle model of permeability with methane hydrate in glass beads

Permeability is a key parameter for gas recovery from marine hydrate reservoirs. In this study, two kinds of BZ02 and BZ04 glass beads provided skeleton structure for methane hydrate synthesis in pressure vessel. Based on the observation of Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), the glass beads in the pressure vessel were considered to be equal diameter spheres and stacked in the form of orthorhombic. The water effective permeability KW of glass beads with different hydrate saturations (SH) were carried out by steady-state water injection method. Experimental results indicated that the presence of methane hydrate could cause significant decrease of KW, and the gas produced by hydrate dissociation would reduce the resistance of fluid flow in pores. The permeability ratio in the presence and absence of hydrate KrW was exponentially decreasing with the SH. A clustered equal diameter particle (CEDP) model was proposed that methane hydrate was clustered as equal diameter spheres and occupied in the center of pore space. The internal surface area of pore space with and without hydrate was simplified and the KrW-SH relationship was deduced in detail. When the saturation exponent n of BZ02 and BZ04 were recommended to be 10 and 18, respectively, the KrW in the CEDP model was fitted well with the experimental results. This model also revealed that the radius of glass beads and hydrate particles had a stronger effect on the KrW.

Evolution of earth pressure coefficient of sand undergoing varying rate of dissolution

In fluid-saturated granular materials, the physicochemical interaction between pore-fluids and grain minerals alters packing conditions, which in turn leads to stress change, deformation and, in extreme cases, even collapse. Chemical weathering, either naturally occurring or induced by human activities, is among such processes. This paper presents an experimental study illustrating the major effects of chemical weathering on the deformation and stress state of granular materials, emphasising particulate systems entirely made by highly soluble carbonate grains. Laboratory experiments are conducted by subjecting granular assemblies to acidic environments under oedometric conditions. The reaction rate is controlled by regulating various testing parameters, such as acid concentration and pore fluid flow rate. Experiments revealed that the lateral earth pressure steadily reduces in some cases, while others exhibit non-monotonic evolution. From a macroscopic standpoint, the rate of the chemical reaction was critical to determine the emergence of either of these trends. Such findings are relevant for any particulate system in which the stress conditions are controlled by multi-physical processes proceeding at different rates, such as waste products within bioreactors, gouge materials within faults and natural deposits subjected to the injection/extraction of reactive fluids.

Visualization of Interstitial Pore Fluid Flow.

Pore scale analysis of flow through porous media is of interest because it is essential for understanding internal erosion and piping, among other applications. Past studies have mainly focused on exploring macroscopic flow to infer microscopic phenomena. An innovative method is introduced in this study which permits visualization of interstitial fluid flow through the pores of a saturated synthetic transparent granular medium at the microscale. Several representative images of Ottawa sand were obtained using dynamic image analysis (DIA), for comparison with flow through perfect cylinders. Magnified transparent soil particles made of hydrogel were cast in 3D printed molds. Custom 3D printed jigs were employed for accurate positioning of the particles to ensure that particles have the same flow area within the soil. The pore fluid was embedded with silver-coated hollow microspheres that allowed for their florescence and tracking their movement within the model when illuminated by a laser light source. Images of the flow were captured from the model using a high-speed camera. This, along with particle image velocimetry (PIV) provided for the velocity and direction analysis of fluid flow movements within the pore space of a planar 2D model. Comparison of interstitial flow through homogeneous porosity-controlled Ottawa-shaped and cylindrical particles demonstrates that the magnitude of turbulence is related to particle roundness.

3d Characterization of Inter-Particle Pore Network and Fluid Flow in Segregated Heap with Existence of Crushed Ore and Agglomerations

3d Characterization of Inter-Particle Pore Network and Fluid Flow in Segregated Heap with Existence of Crushed Ore and Agglomerations

Lithofacies types, reservoir characteristics, and hydrocarbon potential of the lacustrine organic-rich fine-grained rocks affected by tephra of the permian Lucaogou formation, Santanghu basin, western China

Volcanisms were widespread during the Permian periods in the Santanghu Basin. However, information on the classification of the lithofacies of the Lucaogou Formation (Lucaogou Fm) is still lacking, and the hydrocarbon potential of the organic-rich fine-grained rocks (FGRs) remains uncertain. Therefore, this study determines the lithofacies classification standard of the Lucaogou Fm FGRs, clarifies the advantageous lithofacies types, and evaluates the unconventional resource potential based on organic geochemical analysis, macroscopic core observation, core routine test, rock mineral identification, and pore structure characterization. The Lucaogou Fm FGRs are mainly composed of felsic minerals and dolomite, which can be divided into four rock types with high organic matter (OM) content and laminated structure. Based on TOC, rock type, and sedimentary structure, ten types of lithofacies were determined: organic-rich massive tuff (ORMT), organic-medium massive tuff (OMMT), organic-medium massive dolomite (OMMD), organic-poor massive dolomite (OPMD), organic-rich laminated tuffaceous dolomite (ORLTD), organic-medium laminated tuffaceous dolomite (OMLTD), organic-poor laminated tuffaceous dolomite (OPLTD), organic-rich laminated dolomitic tuff (ORLDT), organic-medium laminated dolomitic tuff (OMLDT), organic-poor laminated dolomitic tuff (OPLDT). There is a large amount of algal OM in the Lucaogou Fm FGRs because of the deposition of tephra, but they seriously hinder the development of pore space and the flow of pore fluid due to the relatively low maturity, resulting in poor pore structure and fluid mobility. Among them, ORMT, OPMD, OMMT, and OMMD have been transformed by diagenesis, with various types and scales of pore space, and obviously good physical properties, oiliness, pore structure, as well as fluid mobility. Followed by OPLTD, ORLTD, and OMLTD, while OPLDT, OPLDT, and OMLDT are the worst. The advantageous lithofacies of the Lucaogou Fm FGRs are influenced by both rock types and OM abundance, and are also related to sedimentary structures. In addition, the Lucaogou Fm FGRs have a large thickness, high-quality OM, high content of brittle minerals, low content of clay minerals, developed micro-nanopores network, and certain producible oil, indicating that they have significant hydrocarbon potential.

Spatiotemporal Evolution of Pore Pressure Changes and Coulomb Failure Stress in a Poroelastic Medium for Different Faulting Regimes

AbstractSpatial distribution of aftershocks has been explained by the co‐seismic static Coulomb Failure Stress changes (ΔCFS) to some extent. In practice, the earth's crust is porous medium saturated with fluid filling pores, cavities, cracks, and faults. The pore fluid flow plays an important role in the evolution of the stress field in porous medium of the earth. The ΔCFS can be influenced by the co‐seismic pore pressure changes and the post‐seismic pore fluid flow. In order to understand such impacts, we built 3D fault‐slip finite element models to study the evolution of the pore pressure changes and the ΔCFS based on the fully coupled poroelastic theory. The strike‐slip, reverse, and normal faulting models were investigated separately. The patterns of co‐seismic ΔCFS were similar to the elastic stress changes on a homogeneous half‐space, but there were considerable differences in details especially in the near‐fault area when considering co‐seismic pore pressure change. Due to post‐seismic pore fluid flow, the near‐field stress shadow narrowed gradually in the strike‐slip model. In the reverse faulting model, both the near‐field stress shadow and enhanced areas expanded. In the normal faulting model, the stress shadow near the epicenter reduced. The pore pressure changes decayed sharply at the beginning and then gradually approached to zero because the system evolves to drained conditions. These results can help us to understand the effect of pore fluid flow on Coulomb Failure Stress evolution and might improve the understanding of earthquake triggering and aftershock forecasting.

Face stability analysis of shallow shield tunneling in layered ground under seepage flow

This paper presents a limit equilibrium model for the shield face stability with special emphasis on the effects of ground heterogeneity and seepage flow. The model considers a new wedge mechanism whose inclination is capable of changing across soil layers to account for the spatial variation of soil mechanical properties. The limit equilibrium of the mechanism is established by using the method of slices, which considers horizontal arching without the need for arbitrary assumptions on soil stress distribution. The deterioration effects of groundwater flow are included by evaluating seepage force in the limit equilibrium based on an analytical hydraulic head field. To assess the proposed model, three-dimensional coupled pore fluid flow and stress finite element simulations are conducted. The above two methods are compared under different combinations of ground profiles, soil parameters, and hydrogeological conditions. These comparative analyses show the suitability of the limit equilibrium model. The influences of how horizontal arching is considered on the computed necessary face pressures under complex geological and hydrogeological conditions are explored.

Visualization of interactions between depressurization-induced hydrate decomposition and heat/mass transfer

Visual evidences to understand the interactions between hydrate decomposition and heat/mass transfer are currently lacking. This study proceeds from the hydrate morphology to visualize the interactions between depressurization-induced hydrate decomposition and heat/mass transfer from different scales. Reactor-scale hydrate distribution evolution shows that the dominant influencing factor of hydrate decomposition transforms from heat transfer to mass transfer. More importantly, pore-scale visual evidences suggest that the mass transfer of gas shows significant effects on hydrate morphology evolution. Specifically, the limited gas diffusion in liquid phase could lead to the hydrate morphology evolution from patchy pore-filling to “grain-bridging” during hydrate decomposition. The combination of grain-bridging hydrate together with the water layer that wraps the hydrate is termed as “hydrate bridge” in this work. It is also worth noting that the grain-bridging hydrate could accelerate fluid flow in pores according to our seepage simulation results. These findings provide visual evidences for variations in physical properties of hydrate-bearing sediments during hydrate decomposition. Since physical properties of hydrate-bearing sediments play important roles in hydrate decomposition, the hydrate morphology evolution characteristics analyzed here are valuable for hydrate exploitation in field tests.

Interpretation of TRT data in the presence of natural convection and groundwater flow in saturated ground

Ground thermal properties play important roles in the design of geothermal heat exchangers (GHEs). Constant ground thermal properties, as often considered in analysis and design of GHEs, often do not account for the coupled effect of thermal and pore fluid flow in saturated ground. This paper presents a series of advanced finite element analyses (FEAs) of thermal response test (TRT) on a geothermal borehole heat exchanger (BHE) installed in uniform and multi-layered saturated soil deposits. Considering coupled thermo-hydro flow in saturated ground, FEAs explore the effects of ground hydraulic characteristics (e.g., groundwater flow, soil permeability), power injection rate, and duration of thermal response test on the value of effective ground thermal conductivity keff. Results show that the value of keff, in the presence of coupled thermo-hydro flow condition, can be multiple times of the thermal conductivity value estimated considering only conductive heat transport in coarse grained soil. Example calculations following two available BHE design standards confirm that consideration of soil permeability and selection of appropriate duration of TRT may lead to significant reduction in the design length of BHEs.

Wave-induced flow of pore fluid in a cracked porous solid containing penny-shaped inclusions

An aim of current study is to analyze the contribution of reflected longitudinal waves to wave-induced fluid flow (WIFF) in the cracked porous solid. Initially, we investigate the time harmonic plane waves in cracked porous solid by employing the mathematical model proposed by Zhang et al. (2019). The solution is obtained in form of the Christoffel equations. The solution of the Christoffel equations indicates that there exist four (three dilatational and one shear) waves. These waves are attenuated in nature due to their complex and frequency-dependent velocities. The reflection coefficients are calculated at the sealed pore stress-free surface of cracked porous solid for the incidence of P 1 and S V waves. It is found that three longitudinal waves contribute to WIFF and the contribution of these waves to the induced fluid in the cracked porous solid is analyzed using the reflection coefficients of these longitudinal waves. We analytically show that the fluid flow induced by these longitudinal waves is linked directly to their respective reflection coefficients. Finally, a specific numerical example is considered to discuss and to depict the impact of various parameters on the characteristics of propagation like phase velocity/attenuation, reflection coefficients and WIFF of longitudinal waves.

Stability analysis of shield tunnel face under complex ground conditions

Current underground space development features ever-increasing scales. More and more planned tunnel lines have alignments that are characterized by varying passing depths. Both conditions make it more frequent that the shield tunnel face is exposed to heterogeneous ground consisting of distinct soil layers and hydraulic loads, which makes it remarkably challenging to maintain a stable shield face. This work presents a limit equilibrium model to analyze the face stability of shield tunnel under complex ground conditions. The model is consistent with the existing method of slices for uniform soil profile in that the effect of horizontal arching is considered without the need of an a priori assumption on the distribution of horizontal stresses, but extends it to the stratified ground by allowing the variation of failure mechanism across soil layers. Three-dimensional coupled pore fluid flow and stress finite element analyses are performed to study the tunnel face stability in heterogeneous ground consisting of horizontal layers and subjected to hydraulic loads. The results show that the multilayer wedge model can compute limit support pressures that are reasonably close to finite element solutions. Lastly, the finite element method and the multilayer wedge model are employed to analyze the stability of tunnel face in aquifer-aquitard alternate layers with confined water.

Characterizing locality- and scale-dependent heterogeneity in conglomerate core and associated fluid flow using X-ray CT imaging

Heterogeneous conglomerates preserving matrix and clasts caused the complex distribution of pore spaces and can eventually influence fluid flow. To evaluate the influence of complex heterogeneous features in conglomerate rock on both pore distribution and fluid flow, two conglomerate cores were analyzed using X-ray computed tomography (X-ray CT). Conglomerate cores (Core I and Core II) characterized by different distributions of matrix and clasts represented highly heterogeneous features; in Core I (clast-supported conglomerate), clasts were evenly distributed through the entire core, but in Core II (matrix-supported conglomerate), large-sized clasts were dominantly positioned at the bottom of core. Such heterogeneous features caused differences in volume of pores (Core I: 7,409.54 mm3 and Core II: 17,525.83 mm3). Based on X-ray CT image analysis, the numerical model (single-phase fluid simulation) was implemented to evaluate the permeability of conglomerate at different scales. Especially, due to inner heterogeneous features (e.g., matrix, clasts, and cracks) in conglomerate cores, permeabilities were changed significantly dependent on the selected location and size of sub-domains representing a few centimeters (kh and kv: 1.18×10-12 to 1.01×10-10m2). This suggests that the effect of small-scale heterogeneity should be evaluated carefully when heterogeneous conglomerate cores were analyzed. Additionally, the measurement scale for X-ray CT analysis should be large enough to capture such heterogeneous features (e.g., the size of clasts).

Nonlinear Mechanical Effect of Free Water on the Dynamic Compressive Strength and Fracture of High-Strength Concrete.

It is well-known that the effect of interstitial fluid on the fracture pattern and strength of saturated high-strength concrete is determined by qualitatively different mechanisms at quasi-static and high strain rate loading. This paper shows that the intermediate range of strain rates (10−4 s−1 < < 100 s−1) is also characterized by the presence of a peculiar mechanism of interstitial water effect on the concrete fracture and compressive strength. Using computer simulations, we have shown that such a mechanism is the competition of two oppositely directed processes: deformation of the pore space, which leads to an increase in pore pressure; and pore fluid flow. The balance of these processes can be effectively characterized by the Darcy number, which generalizes the notion of strain rate to fluid-saturated material. We have found that the dependence of the compressive strength of high-strength concrete on the Darcy number is a decreasing sigmoid function. The parameters of this function are determined by both low-scale (capillary) and large-scale (microscopic) pore subsystems in a concrete matrix. The capillary pore network determines the phenomenon of strain-rate sensitivity of fluid-saturated concrete and logistic form of the dependence of compressive strength on strain rate. Microporosity controls the actual boundary of the quasi-static loading regime for fluid-saturated samples and determines localized fracture patterns. The results of the study are relevant to the design of special-purpose concretes, as well as the assessment of the limits of safe impacts on concrete structural elements.

A physics-informed and hierarchically regularized data-driven model for predicting fluid flow through porous media

This paper presents a new deep learning data-driven model for predicting structure dependent pore-fluid velocity fields in rock. The model is based on a Convolutional Auto-Encoder (CAE) artificial neural network capable of learning from image data generated by direct numerical simulations of fluid flow through pore-structures, such as by Lattice Boltzmann or molecular dynamics methods. The main novelty of the model in comparison to previous CAE-based data-driven approaches consists of three parts. The first is a methodology for decomposing the full-domain of the porous media into sub-regions, or “sub-domains”, in order to reduce the overall size of the CAE, batch process the sub-domains in parallel, and enable the CAE to learn local and generalizable nonlinear mappings of pore-fluid velocities. The second consists of embedding the finite difference solutions of the incompressible Navier-Stokes and continuity equations into convolutional layers prior to the CAE in order to provide the CAE with knowledge of fluid dynamics physics (PhyFlow). The third main novelty is that the training of the CAE is regularized with a hierarchical loss function that encourages the learning of fluid flow patterns (in a way similar to ranked modes in principal component analysis), ranking from most to least important. This is shown to increase the stability in learning, reduce over-fitting, and promote interpretability of the CAE neural network layers (HierCAE). The comprehensive new data-driven model, which we call the PhyFlow-HierCAE model, is shown to exhibit improved accuracy and generalizability of flow field predictions over conventional CAE models, attributable to the embedded physical knowledge and the hierarchical regularization, as well as realize orders of magnitude speed-ups in computation times as a surrogate for the direct numerical simulations. Examples of training and forward predictions on unseen pore-structures are provided and evaluated for data from Lattice Boltzmann and molecular dynamics simulations of pore-fluid flow. The model is shown to be a fast and accurate emulator (or “surrogate”) for predicting effective permeability of unseen pore-structures based on learning from relatively small direct numerical simulation datasets.

Numerical simulation study on ore-forming factors of the Gejiu ore deposit, China

The Gejiu superlarge tin polymetallic mining area in Yunnan hosts the largest tin-copper polymetallic ore field worldwide. The output of tin and copper provides power for the development of the country. Therefore, the study of mineralization is very important. But the geological structure is diverse, and the mineralization of different geological structures is different. In this study, the geological characteristics, tectonics, mineralogy, and geochemistry of these typical magmatic hydrothermal deposits were analyzed, various geological structures are studied, and the finite-element method was used to simulate the mineralization of chalcopyrite in the study area. Finally, the results are validated against the instance area. The numerical results show that the hydrothermal flow is the main factor controlling the mineralization. The pore fluid flow is driven by the temperature gradient. Favorable metallogenic areas are located in faults, between horizontal strata, and at intersections of faults. In the future, by simulating the metallogenic region and studying the metallogenic structure, the locations of ore bodies can be predicted. Our research confirms the results of the coupled model in the field of emerging computational geoscience and provides insights into the mineralization process.