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Discrete Element Modeling of Micro-scratch Tests: Investigation of Mechanisms of CO2 Alteration in Reservoir Rocks

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Abstract

The injection of CO2 into geological formations leads to geochemical re-equilibrium between the pore fluid and rock minerals. Mineral–brine–CO2 reactions can induce alteration of mechanical properties and affect the structural integrity of the storage formation. The location of alterable mineral phases within the rock skeleton is important to assess the potential effects of mineral dissolution on bulk geomechanical properties. Hence, although often disregarded, the understanding of particle-scale mechanisms responsible for alterations is necessary to predict the extent of geomechanical alteration as a function of dissolved mineral amounts. This study investigates the CO2-related rock chemo-mechanical alteration through numerical modeling and matching of naturally altered rocks probed with micro-scratch tests. We use a model that couples the discrete element method (DEM) and the bonded particle model (BPM) to perform simulations of micro-scratch tests on synthetic rocks that mimic Entrada sandstone. Experimental results serve to calibrate numerical scratch tests with DEM–BPM parameters. Sensitivity analyses indicate that the cement size and bond shear strength are the most sensitive microscopic parameters that govern the CO2-induced alteration in Entrada sandstone. Reductions in cement size lead to decrease in scratch toughness and an increase in ductility in the rock samples. This work demonstrates how small variations of microscopic bond properties in cemented sandstone can lead to significant changes in macroscopic large-strain mechanical properties.

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Acknowledgements

This material is based upon work supported as part of the Center for Frontiers of Subsurface Energy Security, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science and Office of Basic Energy Sciences under Award Number DE-SC0001114. Sandia National Laboratories is a multimission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC., a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International, Inc., for the US Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA-0003525. We would like to thank Maryam Mirabolghasemi from the University of Texas at Austin for valuable suggestions during this study.

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  1. Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, 200 E. Dean Keeton, Austin, TX, 78712, USA

    Zhuang Sun, D. Nicolas Espinoza & Matthew T. Balhoff

  2. Geomechanics Department, Sandia National Laboratories, 1515 Eubank SE Mailstop 0750, Albuquerque, NM, 87185-0750, USA

    Thomas A. Dewers

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  1. Zhuang Sun
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  2. D. Nicolas Espinoza
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Correspondence to D. Nicolas Espinoza.

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Sun, Z., Espinoza, D.N., Balhoff, M.T. et al. Discrete Element Modeling of Micro-scratch Tests: Investigation of Mechanisms of CO2 Alteration in Reservoir Rocks. Rock Mech Rock Eng 50, 3337–3348 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00603-017-1306-z

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