Stress orientation to 5km depth in the basement below Basel (Switzerland) from borehole failure analysis

A vertical profile of maximum horizontal principal stress, SHmax, orientation to 5km depth was obtained beneath the Swiss city of Basel from observations of wellbore failure derived from ultrasonic televiewer images obtained in two 1km distant near-vertical boreholes: a 2755 m exploration well (OT2) imaged from 2550 m to 2753 m across the granitic basement-sediment interface at 2649 m; and a 5km deep borehole (BS1) imaged entirely within the granite from 2569 m to 4992 m. Stress-related wellbore failure in the form of breakouts or drilling-induced tension fractures (DITFs) occurs throughout the depth range of the logs with breakouts predominant. Within the granite, DITFs are intermittently present, and breakouts more or less continuously present over all but the uppermost 100 m where they are sparse. The mean SHmax orientations from DITFs is 151±13° whereas breakouts yield 143 ±14°, the combined value weighted for frequency of occurrence being N144°E±14°. No marked depth dependence in mean SHmax orientation averaged over several hundred meters depth intervals is evident. This mean SHmax orientation for the granite is consistent with the results of the inversion of populations of focal mechanism solutions of earthquakes occurring between depths of 10-15km within regions immediately to the north and south of Basel, and with the T-axis of events occurring within the reservoir (Deichmann and Ernst, this volume). DITFs and breakouts identified in OT2 above and below the sediment-basement interface suggest that a change in SHmax orientation to N115°E ±12° within the Rotliegendes sandstone occurs near its interface with the basement. The origin of the 20-30° change is uncertain, as is its lateral extent. The logs do not extend higher than 80 m above the interface, and so the data do not define whether a further change in stress orientation occurs at the evaporites. Near-surface measurements taken within 50km of Basel suggest a mean orientation of N-S, albeit with large variability, as do the orientation of hydrofractures at depths up to 850 m within and above the evaporite layers and an active salt diapir, also within 50km of Basel. Thus, the available evidence supports the notion that the orientation of SHmax above the evaporites is on average more N-S oriented and thus differs from the NW-SE inferred for the basement from the BS1/OS2 wellbore failure data and the earthquake data. Changes in stress orientation with depth can have significant practical consequences for the development of an EGS reservoir, and serve to emphasise the importance of obtaining estimates from within the target rock mas

Stress characterization and temporal evolution of borehole failure at the Rittershoffen geothermal project

International audienceIn the Upper Rhine Graben, several innovative projects based on enhanced geothermal system (EGS) technology exploit local deep-fractured geothermal reservoirs. The principle underlying this technology consists of increasing the hydraulic performances of the natural fractures using different stimulation methods in order to circulate the natural brine at commercial flow rates. For this purpose, knowledge of the in situ stress state is of central importance to predict the response of the rock mass to different stimulation programs. Here, we propose a characterization of the in situ stress state from the analysis of ultrasonic borehole imager (UBI) data acquired at different key moments of the reservoir development using a specific image correlation technique. This unique dataset has been obtained from the open-hole sections of the two deep wells (GRT-1 and GRT-2, ∼ 2500 m) at the geothermal site of Rittershoffen, France. We based our analysis on the geometry of breakouts and drilling-induced tension fractures (DITFs). A transitional stress regime between strike-slip and normal faulting consistent with the neighboring site of Soultz-sous-Forêts is evident. The time-lapse dataset enables us to analyze both in time and space the evolution of the structures over 2 years after drilling. The image correlation approach developed for time-lapse UBI images shows that breakouts extend along the borehole with time and widen (i.e., angular opening between the edges of the breakouts) but do not deepen (i.e., increase in the maximal radius of the breakouts). The breakout widening is explained by wellbore thermal equilibration. A significant stress rotation at depth is evident. It is shown to be controlled by a major fault zone and not by the sediment-basement interface. Our analysis does not reveal any significant change in the stress magnitude in the reservoir

Hydraulic Fracturing Mine Back Trials — Design Rationale and Project Status

Last year, a joint Mining and Oil & Gas industry consortium was established in Canada to conduct hydraulic fracturing (HF) tests accompanied by a mine-back of fractured regions to assess HF models and microseismic monitoring data during controlled experiments. Details about the displacement field, fracture aperture and extent, and micro-seismic parameters could then be verified and used as calibration data for modeling of HF processes in igneous and dense sedimentary rocks

Evaluation of the Diametrical Core Deformation and Discing Analyses for In-Situ Stress Estimation and Application to the 4.9 km Deep Rock Core from the Basel Geothermal Borehole, Switzerland

The in situ state of rock mass stresses is a key design parameter, e.g., for deep engineered geothermal systems. However, knowledge of the stress state at great depths is sparse mostly because of the lack of possible in situ tests in deep boreholes. Among different options, core-based in situ stress estimation may provide valuable stress information though core-based techniques have not yet become a standard. In this study we focus on the Diametrical Core Deformation Analysis (DCDA) technique using monzogranitic to monzonitic rock drill cores from 4.9 km depth of the Basel-1 borehole in Switzerland. With DCDA the maximum and minimum horizontal stress (S-Hmax and S-hmin) directions, and the horizontal differential stress magnitudes ( increment S) can be estimated from rock cores extracted from vertical boreholes. Our study has three goals: first, to assess photogrammetric core scanning to conduct DCDA; second, to compare DCDA results with borehole breakout and stress-induced core discing fracture (CDF) data sets; and third, to investigate the impact of rock elastic anisotropy on increment S. Our study reveals that photogrammetric scanning can be used to extract reliable core diametrical data and CDF traces. Locally aligned core pieces showed similar S-Hmax orientations, conform to borehole breakout results. However, the variability of core diametrical differences was large for the Basel-1 core pieces, which leads to a large spread of increment S. Finally, we demonstrate that core elastic anisotropy must be considered, requiring robust estimates of rock elastic moduli, to receive valuable stress information from DCDA analyses.ISSN:1434-453XISSN:0723-263

Stress orientation to 5 km depth in the basement below Basel (Switzerland) from borehole failure analysis

ISSN:1661-8734ISSN:1661-872

Influence of Stress Path on Stress Memory and Stress Fracturing in Brittle Rocks

A two-dimensional numerical model based on the Distinct Element Method, previously calibrated to the laboratory properties of undamaged and damaged Lac du Bonnet (LdB) granite, was used to investigate the influence of stress path on the development of stress memory and stress fracturing in brittle rocks. Various cycles of loading and unloading, similar to those imposed during Kaiser Effect tests, were first applied to undamaged numerical specimens of LdB granite. The results of Kaiser Effect test simulations were found to be consistent with those of published laboratory and numerical investigations. Further simulations were conducted to investigate the influence of stress path resulting from the excavation of a tunnel on the depth of stress fracturing around the excavation boundary. For this purpose, the stress paths at points on and near the tunnel wall, obtained from a continuum finite element model, were applied to the calibrated numerical specimen. It was found that the amount of damage in the numerical specimens decreases rapidly with increasing distance from the excavation wall. The findings of this research shed some light on the influence of stress path and grain-scale heterogeneity on stress memory in brittle rocks and stress fracturing around underground openings.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author