Modeling of coupled thermal-hydraulic-mechanical-chemical processes for predicting the evolution in permeability and reactive transport behavior within single rock fractures

抄録

A coupled numerical model was developed to study the fluid flow and mass transport behavior of rock fractures under coupled thermal-hydraulic-mechanical-chemical (THMC) conditions. In particular, the model was employed for the purpose of expressing the evolution of permeability and the reactive transport behavior within rock fractures by considering the geochemical processes (e.g., pressure dissolution). In order to validate the model, it was utilized to replicate the experimental measurements of the evolution of the hydraulic aperture and the element concentrations obtained from two flow-through experiments using single granite and mudstone fractures. The simulated results were seen to coincide with the experimental data for the evolution of the hydraulic aperture and the effluent element concentrations without adopting any fitting parameters that are often used in other THMC coupled models presented in literature. Overall, the developed model should be valid for evaluating the evolution of the fluid flow and the mass transport behavior within rock fractures induced by mineral dissolution under stress- and temperature-controlled conditions.