Fracture Permeability Evolution in Desert Peak Quartz Monzonite

摘要

Fracture flow experiments are being conducted on quartz monzonite core from the Desert Peak East EGS site, Churchill County, Nevada. The flow experiments are conducted at temperatures of 167-169 C and 5.5 MPa confining pressure through artificial fractures. Two injection fluids, a saline solution and a silica-bearing solution, have been used to date. Flow rates are typically 0.02 mL/min, but other rates have been used. The fracture surfaces are characterized with a contact profilometer. The profilometry data demonstrate that it is possible to fabricate statistically similar fracture surfaces and enable us to map aperture variations, which we use in numerical simulations. Effluent samples are collected for chemical analysis. The fluid pressure gradient is measured across the specimen and effective hydraulic apertures are calculated. The experiments show a reduction in permeability over time for both injection fluids, but a more rapid loss of permeability was observed for the silica-bearing solution. The calculated hydraulic aperture is observed to decrease by 17% for the saline solution and 75% for the silica-bearing fluid, respectively. Electrical resistivity measurements, which are sensitive to the ionic content of the pore fluid, provide additional evidence of fluid-rock interactions.