Characterization of stress-dependent microcrack compliance and orientation distribution in anisotropic crystalline rocks

Abstract

Crystalline rocks in the subsurface are of interest for geothermal energy extraction, nuclear waste storage, and, when weathered or fractured, as aquifers. Compliant discontinuities such as microcracks, cracks and fractures may nucleate and propagate due to changes in pore pressure, stress and temperature. These discontinuities may provide flow pathways for fluids and, if fracturing extends to surrounding rocks, may allow escape of fluids to neighbouring formations. Monitoring such rocks using sonic logs, passive seismic, borehole seismic and surface seismic requires understanding of the propagation of elastic waves in the presence of such discontinuities. These may have an anisotropic orientation distribution as in situ stress may be anisotropic. As crystalline rock may display intrinsic anisotropy due to foliation and the preferential orientation of anisotropic minerals, quantification of the relative importance of intrinsic and microcrack-induced anisotropy is important. This may be achieved based on the stress sensitivity of elastic wave velocities. A method that allows both the orientation distribution of microcracks and the stress dependence of their normal and shear compliance to be estimated independently of the elastic anisotropy of the background rock is presented. Results are given for anisotropic samples of gneiss from Bukov in the Czech Republic and granite from Grimsel in Switzerland based on the ultrasonic velocity measurements of Aminzadeh et al. The microcrack orientation distribution is approximately transversely isotropic for both samples with a preferred orientation of microcrack normals perpendicular to foliation. This preferred alignment is stronger in the sample of gneiss than in the granite sample, and the normal and shear compliance of the microcracks decreases with increasing compressive stress. This occurs because the contact between opposing faces of the discontinuities grows with increasing compressive stress, and this results in a decrease in elastic anisotropy with increasing compressive stress. At low stress, the ratio of microcrack normal compliance to shear compliance is approximately 0.25 for the granite sample and 0.7 for the sample of gneiss. The normal compliance Z_N for both samples decreases faster with increasing compressive stress than the shear compliance Z_T, resulting in a decrease in Z_N/Z_T with increasing compressive stress.