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Impact of Confining Stress on Capillary Pressure Behavior During Drainage Through Rough Fractures

Author(s)
Silva, Josimar A.; Kang, Peter K.; Yang, Zhibing; Cueto-Felgueroso Landeira, Luis; Juanes, Ruben
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Abstract
We study, numerically, the behavior of capillary pressure (Pc) during slow immiscible displacement in a rough fracture as a function of the degree of fracture aperture heterogeneity that results from two distinct mechanisms: normal confining stress and fracture surface correlation. We generate synthetic self-affine rough fractures at different correlation scales, solve the elastic contact problem to model the effect of confining stress, and simulate slow immiscible displacement of a wetting fluid by a nonwetting one using a modified invasion percolation model that accounts for in-plane curvature of the fluid-fluid interface. Our modeling results indicate that the power spectral density, S(f), of Pc, can be used to qualitatively characterize fracture aperture heterogeneity. We show that the distribution of forward avalanche sizes follows a power law Nf(Sf) ∝ Sf−α, with exponent α=2, in agreement with previously reported values for porous media and equal to the expected theoretical exponent for a self-organized criticality process.
Date issued
2019-07
URI
https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/128233
Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering; Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
Journal
Geophysical Research Letters
Publisher
American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Citation
Silva, Josimar A. et al. "Impact of Confining Stress on Capillary Pressure Behavior During Drainage Through Rough Fractures." Geophysical Research Letters 46, 13 (July 2019): 7424-7436 © 2019 American Geophysical Union
Version: Final published version
ISSN
0094-8276
1944-8007

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