Duration - 01/04/2022 - 31/03/2023
Research Geoscientist - Janis Aleksans
Principal Investigator - Conrad Childs
Research collaborator - Martin Schöpfer University of Vienna
Project funded by Nagra, Equinor and
by the iCRAG (Irish Centre for Research in Applied Geosciences) project funded by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI)
Project description
Reactivation of geological faults due to induced changes in stresses in the subsurface is a significant threat to the viability of many projects
that involve injection of fluids into subsurface reservoirs. Standard geomechanical methods for evaluating the potential to reactivate faults
are based on calculations of resolved shear stresses on mapped fault surfaces and numerical modelling of the same. These approaches do not
include two potentially important geomechanical aspects, 1) the geometrical irregularity of fault surfaces on all scales of observation and
2) the possibility that localised failure in the wall-rock plays an important role in controlling reactivation. This project will employ a
novel numerical modelling approach, a Rigid Block Spring Network model, that incorporates both slip on existing faults and failure in the
wall-rock adjacent to the fault. The primary project objectives are 1) test the impact of mapped and sub-resolution fault surface irregularity
on fault reactivation, 2) define situations in which wall-rock failure, rather than fault frictional properties control reactivation and
3) evaluate the situations in which current approaches to risking reactivation are likely to be inaccurate and define an improved methodology
for these situations.
Contact: Conrad Childs
Tel: +353 1 716 2608
conrad.childs@ucd.ie
Project Web Site: for partners and sponsors only