Pore-Scale Controls on Reaction-Driven Fracturing

Abstract

In this article we attempt to shed some light on the factors that determine whether volume-increasing reactions and growth in pores will reduce or increase permeability. We will start by describing fi eld-scale examples of reaction-driven fracturing, and use a Discrete Element Model (DEM) to analyze how the resulting pattern and the rate and progress of reaction depend on the initial porosity of the rock. Ultimately, however, stress generation is related to growth processes taking place at the pore scale. We will therefore zoom in and describe pore-scale growth processes and how these are associated with fracturing and the production of new reactive surface area and new transport channelways for migrating fl uids. Stress generation by growth in pores requires that crystals continue to grow even after having ‘hit’ the pore wall. This implies that the fl uid from which the crystals precipitate is not squeezed out from the reactive interface by the normal stress generated by the growth, but can be kept in place as a thin fi lm by opposing forces that operate at very small scales. To understand the dynamics of crystal growth against confi ning pore walls, we need to zoom in even further and examine interface processes taking place at the nanometer scale. Hence, the last part of this chapter focuses on the nanometer-scale morphology of the reacting interface and the mechanical and transport properties of the fl uids confi ned along reactive grain boundaries.