Quinn Wenning

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Wenning

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Quinn

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0000-0002-6042-6295

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Publications 1 - 10 of 33

Eight years of geoenergy research in SCCER-SoE
Giardini, Domenico; Guidati, Gianfranco; Gischig, Valentin; et al. (2021)
Swiss Bulletin für angewandte Geologie
Shale fault zone structure and stress dependent anisotropic permeability and seismic velocity properties (Opalinus Clay, Switzerland)
Wenning, Quinn; Madonna, Claudio; Zappone, Alba; et al. (2021)
Journal of Structural Geology
Given shale's potential to serve as both a caprock for geological carbon sequestration and as the host for nuclear waste disposal, this study focuses on the structural characterization around a 1.5–3 m thick fault within the Opalinus Clay host rock and petrophysical characterization of both the host rock and fault core. Seven boreholes were drilled at the Mont Terri Rock laboratory in late 2018 to constrain the orientation of the so-called ‘Main Fault’ and several fracture families within the fault core using core and image logs. Contrary to typical fault models, matrix permeability and seismic velocity measurements show similarities in the host rock and within the Main Fault. In the clay-rich samples, measurements performed in laboratory at varying confining pressures indicate p-wave velocities range from 2.60 to 2.95 km/s perpendicular to foliation and 3.38–3.58 km/s parallel to foliation at near in-situ confining pressures, which increase with similar anisotropy at higher confining pressures (200 MPa). Since the permeability of the host rock and fault zone is very low (10−19–10−21 m2) flow is expected to prevail along fractures, where critical stress fault analysis suggests that potential hydraulically conductive fractures are actually conjugate to the Main Fault trend.
Heat Propagation Through Fractures During Hydraulic Stimulation in Crystalline Rock
Wenning, Quinn; Gholizadeh Doonechaly, Nima; Shakas, Alexis; et al. (2022)
Proceedings of the 56th U.S. Rock Mechanics/Geomechanics Symposium
The Bedretto Underground Laboratory for Geosciences and Geoenergies (BULGG) is located in central Switzerland and serves as a test bed for geothermal energy research. Several boreholes were drilled from the laboratory section (ca. 1.1 km overburden) to serve as injection boreholes for stimulation and geophysical monitoring boreholes. During a hydraulic stimulation injection in winter 2020 into injection borehole ST2 interval ranging from 313 to 320 m, we observe a thermal perturbation using distributed fiber optic temperature sensing in a neighboring open borehole (MB1) at a depth of 275 m to 295 m. Prior to injection, there is a thermal anomaly in MB1 at about 289 m due to natural fracture fluid flow. Below this depth the temperature is approximately 1.5 °C higher than above. During injection there is a gradual upward movement of the thermal anomaly to ca. 278 m depth. After injection is stopped, the thermal signal gradually recovers to the original depth. The cause for such a temperature change is potentially due to increased warm water flow reaching the base of MB1 from deeper ST2 or poro-elastic fracture closure of the cold-water conducting fractures at 278 and 289 m depth in MB1 during stimulation.
Fault sealing and caprock integrity for CO2 storage: an in-situ injection experiment
Zappone, Alba; Rinaldi, Antonio Pio; Grab, Melchior; et al. (2020)
Solid Earth Discussions
The success of geological carbon storage depends on the assurance of a permanent confinement of the injected CO2 in the storage formation at depth. One of the critical elements of the safekeeping of CO2 is the sealing capacity of the caprock overlying the storage formation, despite faults and/or fractures, which may occur in it. In this work, we present an ongoing injection experiment performed in a fault hosted in clay at the Mont Terri underground rock laboratory (NW Switzerland). The experiment aims at improving our understanding on the main physical and chemical mechanisms controlling i) the migration of CO2 through a fault damage zone, ii) the interaction of the CO2 with the neighbouring intact rock, and iii) the impact of the injection on the transmissivity in the fault. To this end, we inject a CO2-saturated saline water in the top of a 3 m think fault in the Opalinus Clay, a clay formation that is a good analogue of common caprock for CO2 storage at depth. The mobility of the CO2 within the fault is studied at decameter scale, by using a comprehensive monitoring system. Our experiment aims to the closing of the knowledge gap between laboratory and reservoir scales. Therefore, an important aspect of the experiment is the decameter scale and the prolonged duration of observations over many months. We collect observations and data from a wide range of monitoring systems, such as a seismic network, pressure temperature and electrical conductivity sensors, fiber optics, extensometers, and an in situ mass spectrometer for dissolved gas monitoring. The observations are complemented by laboratory data on collected fluids and rock samples. Here we show the details of the experimental concept and installed instrumentation, as well as the first results of the preliminary characterization. Analysis of borehole logging allow identifying potential hydraulic transmissive structures within the fault zone. A preliminary analysis of the injection tests helped estimating the transmissivity of such structures within the fault zone, as well as the pressure required to mechanically open such features. The preliminary tests did not record any induced microseismic events. Active seismic tomography enabled a sharp imaging the fault zone. Weniger anzeigen
Chemo‐Mechanical Coupling in Fractured Shale With Water and Hydrocarbon Flow
Wenning, Quinn; Madonna, Claudio; Kurotori, Takeshi; et al. (2021)
Geophysical Research Letters
The transport of chemically reactive fluids through fractured clay-rich rocks is fundamental to many subsurface engineering technologies. Here, we present results of direct-shear laboratory experiments with simultaneous imaging by X-ray Computed Tomography in Opalinus claystone with subsequent fluid injection to unravel the interplay between mechanical fracture deformation, fluid sorption, and flow. Under constant radial stress (σc = 1.5 MPa), the average mechanical aperture (Formula presented.) increases with shear displacement. Upon brine injection, (Formula presented.) is reduced by 40% relative to initial conditions ((Formula presented.) μm) and fluid-sorption induces a divergent displacement of the two sample halves (Δh = ±50 − 170 μm) quantified by digital image correlation. None of these changes are observed in a control experiment with decane, indicating that creep is subordinate to swelling in sealing the fracture. Swelling-induced changes in permeability within the fracture are heterogeneous and largely affect the fracture flow field, as computed using numerical simulations.
Multi-disciplinary characterizations of the Bedretto Lab – a unique underground geoscience research facility
Ma, Xiaodong; Hertrich, Marian; Amann, Florian; et al. (2021)
Solid Earth Discussions
The increased interest in subsurface development (e.g., unconventional hydrocarbon, deep geothermal, waste disposal) and the associated (triggered or induced) seismicity calls for a better understanding of the hydro-seismo-mechanical coupling in fractured rock masses. Being able to bridge the knowledge gap between laboratory and reservoir scales, controllable meso-scale in situ experiments are deemed indispensable. In an effort to access and instrument rock masses of hectometer size, the Bedretto Underground Laboratory for Geosciences and Geoenergies (‘Bedretto Lab’) was established in 2018 in the existing Bedretto Tunnel (Ticino, Switzerland), with an average overburden of 1000 m. In this paper, we introduce the Bedretto Lab, its general setting and current status. Combined geological, geomechanical and geophysical methods were employed in a hectometer-scale rock mass explored by several boreholes to characterize the in situ conditions and internal structures of the rock volume. The rock volume features three distinct units, with the middle fault zone sandwiched by two relatively intact units. The middle fault zone unit appears to be a representative feature of the site, as similar structures repeat every several hundreds of meters along the tunnel. The lithological variations across the characterization boreholes manifest the complexity and heterogeneity of the rock volume, and are accompanied by compartmentalized hydrostructures and significant stress rotations. With this complexity, the characterized rock volume is considered characteristic of the heterogeneity that is typically encountered in subsurface exploration and development. The Bedretto Lab can adequately serve as a test-bed that allows for in-depth study of the hydro-seismo-mechanical response of fractured crystalline rock masses.
In-situ experiment reveals CO2 enriched fluid migration in faulted caprock
Weber, Ulrich Wolfgang; Rinaldi, Antonio Pio; Roques, Clément; et al. (2023)
Scientific Reports
The sealing characteristics of the geological formation located above a CO2 storage reservoir, the so-called caprock, are essential to ensure efficient geological carbon storage. If CO2 were to leak through the caprock, temporal changes in fluid geochemistry can reveal fundamental information on migration mechanisms and induced fluid–rock interactions. Here, we present the results from a unique in-situ injection experiment, where CO2-enriched fluid was continuously injected in a faulted caprock analogue. Our results show that the CO2 migration follows complex pathways within the fault structure. The joint analysis of noble gases, ion concentrations and carbon isotopes allow us to quantify mixing between injected CO2-enriched fluid and resident formation water and to describe the temporal evolution of water–rock interaction processes. The results presented here are a crucial complement to the geophysical monitoring at the fracture scale highlighting a unique migration of CO2 in fault zones.
Probabilistic geological model using multi-scale geophysical data: An example from the Bedretto Lab
Shakas, Alexis; Wenning, Quinn; Hertrich, Marian; et al. (2021)
Abstract Volume 19th Swiss Geoscience Meeting
Fault sealing and caprock integrity for CO2 storage: an in-situ injection experiment
Zappone, Alba; Rinaldi, Antonio Pio; Grab, Melchior; et al. (2021)
Solid Earth
The success of geological carbon storage depends on the assurance of a permanent confinement of the injected CO2 in the storage formation at depth. One of the critical elements of the safekeeping of CO2 is the sealing capacity of the caprock overlying the storage formation, despite faults and/or fractures, which may occur in it. In this work, we present an ongoing injection experiment performed in a fault hosted in clay at the Mont Terri underground rock laboratory (NW Switzerland). The experiment aims at improving our understanding on the main physical and chemical mechanisms controlling i) the migration of CO2 through a fault damage zone, ii) the interaction of the CO2 with the neighbouring intact rock, and iii) the impact of the injection on the transmissivity in the fault. To this end, we inject a CO2-saturated saline water in the top of a 3 m think fault in the Opalinus Clay, a clay formation that is a good analogue of common caprock for CO2 storage at depth. The mobility of the CO2 within the fault is studied at decameter scale, by using a comprehensive monitoring system. Our experiment aims to the closing of the knowledge gap between laboratory and reservoir scales. Therefore, an important aspect of the experiment is the decameter scale and the prolonged duration of observations over many months. We collect observations and data from a wide range of monitoring systems, such as a seismic network, pressure temperature and electrical conductivity sensors, fiber optics, extensometers, and an in situ mass spectrometer for dissolved gas monitoring. The observations are complemented by laboratory data on collected fluids and rock samples. Here we show the details of the experimental concept and installed instrumentation, as well as the first results of the preliminary characterization. Analysis of borehole logging allow identifying potential hydraulic transmissive structures within the fault zone. A preliminary analysis of the injection tests helped estimating the transmissivity of such structures within the fault zone, as well as the pressure required to mechanically open such features. The preliminary tests did not record any induced microseismic events. Active seismic tomography enabled a sharp imaging the fault zone.
Fault Zone Spatial Stress Variations in a Granitic Rock Mass: Revealed by Breakouts Within an Array of Boreholes
Zhang, Shihuai; Ma, Xiaodong; Bröker, Kai Erich Norbert; et al. (2023)
Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth
The in situ stress state within fault zones is technically challenging to characterize. At the Bedretto Underground Laboratory in the Swiss Alps, the breakouts observed in an array of eight inclined boreholes penetrating a fault zone offer a unique opportunity to characterize the fault-associated spatial stress variations. Synthesizing multiple geophysical logs, natural geologic structures intersecting these boreholes are identified, revealing a hierarchy of a major fault zone along with secondary structures. Within the boreholes, breakout rotations occur over multiple scales, spanning individual fractures and the entire major fault zone. We first estimate and rule out the effect of the fracture-induced anisotropy on the breakout rotations, which are attributed mainly to the stress variations. Based on the stress field around a circular borehole and Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion, the observed breakout azimuths are used to invert the stress information. Results show that the stress field outside the fault zone features a stress ratio (quantifying the relative stress magnitude) of about 0.9, an inclined overburden stress (inclination: 12°∼18°), and a maximum horizontal principal stress (SHmax) oriented N100∼120°E. Within the fault zone, a substantial reduction of the stress ratio and complicated stress rotations are constrained, likely induced by the stress drop on local fractures. As a result, less critical stress state inside the major fault zone is expected. Our work provides a semi-quantitative estimation of the in-situ stress variations around fault zones in the absence of direct stress measurements, which is beneficial to a number of scientific and engineering applications

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