Meso-Mechanical Characteristics of Granite with Natural Cracks after Mud Acid Corrosion

Rongchen Tong, Hejuan Liu, Jianfeng Liu, Yingkun Shi, Lihuan Xie and Shengnan Ban
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Rongchen Tong: State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China
Hejuan Liu: State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China
Jianfeng Liu: College of Water Resource and Hydropower, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China
Yingkun Shi: Shandong Hi-Speed Company Limited, Jinan 250014, China
Lihuan Xie: State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China
Shengnan Ban: State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 3, 1-19

Abstract: Most of the discovered high-temperature geothermal energy systems are often related with granite that is characterized by natural faults, fractures and cracks of different size. However, the porosity and permeability of the granite matrix is very low, greatly limiting the efficiency of heat extraction in granitic rock. Chemical stimulation, which is regarded as one of the most important means of reservoir stimulation, has consequently received more and more attention. In this paper, a Triassic granite obtained from the eastern region of Liaoning Province in China was reacted with three different concentration of mud acid solution (8% HCl + 1% HF, 10% HCl + 2% HF, 12% HCl + 3% HF) and the resulting microstructure changes studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). The experimental results show that the number of micropores in the granite increases after chemical corrosion by mud acid solution. A higher mud acid solution concentration results in a much higher pore volume. Triaxial compression tests on the granite before and after chemical corrosion were carried out to study the effect of acidification on the mechanical characteristics of granite, showing that the peak stress and elastic modulus of granite decreases 25.7% and 16.5%, respectively, after exposure to mud acid solution (12% HCl + 3% HF) corrosion for three weeks at room temperature. The particle flow program PFC2D based on discrete element method was used to investigate the mechanical response before and after the chemical corrosion. Considering that the granite is rich in microcracks, the study is simplified by considering them all grouped into one main closed fracture. The influences of main crack inclination angle, crack length, friction coefficient and confining pressure on the mechanical response were investigated. Under the triaxial compression loading state, wing cracks appear at the initial crack tip, then secondary cracks begin to appear. The sensitivity analysis shows that three characteristic strengths (crack initiation strength, damage strength and peak strength) are strongly correlated with crack length, crack inclination angle, crack surface friction coefficient and confining pressure. These three characteristic strengths decrease 60%, 59% and 53%, respectively, compared with their initial values with the increase of main crack length from 6 mm to 22 mm, while they present positive correlation with the fracture friction coefficient from 0 to 1.0 and confining pressure from 10 to 50 MPa. There is a critical inclination angle of the main crack (i.e., 45°), meaning that these three characteristic strengths of granite decrease with inclination angles smaller than 45°, while they increase with an inclination angle larger than 45°. After the corrosion effect of mud acid solution on granite, the pore structure was changed and mechanical properties was damaged, which further affect the failure mode and failure process of granite samples affected by mud acid solutions. This paper provides a theoretical reference for evaluating the effect of chemical stimulation technology on the mechanical characteristics of granite, serving for the continuous hydraulic stimulation design after the chemical stimulation.

Keywords: geothermal energy development; granite; mud acid solution; particle flow code; characteristic strength (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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