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Effect of pre-existing cracks on thermal cracking of granitic rocks under confinement

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Abstract

Pre-existing cracks affect the thermal, hydraulic, and mechanical behavior of rocks. However, little effort has been devoted to investigating thermal cracking interactions with pre-existing cracks. In this paper, we propose a novel thermo-mechanical grain-based finite discrete element method approach to investigate the influence of pre-existing cracks on thermal cracking processes under confining pressure in granitic rocks. An intact synthetic granite sample was mechanically and thermally calibrated against experimental data for Stanstead granite, and petrographic thin sections of thermally treated granite up to 380 °C were used to qualitatively calibrate the thermal cracking pattern in terms of cracking evolution with respect to mineral grains. Then, we introduced varying levels of pre-existing cracks density to the calibrated synthetic sample to study the emergent thermo-mechanical behavior under unconfined and confined conditions. Additionally, we studied the effect of varying friction coefficients of pre-existing cracks on the thermal cracking process. Results show that thermal cracks preferably initiated from the tips of pre-existing ones due to stress concentration and the number of initiated thermal cracks decreased with increasing pre-existing cracks density. A decreasing trend of thermal cracking with confinement was also observed. Interestingly, increasing pre-existing crack friction increased the number of thermal cracks under different confinement conditions due to increased stress concentration along cracks interfaces. The results of this novel numerical process contribute to a better understanding of failure mechanisms in granitic rocks, particularly in geothermal reservoirs and underground nuclear waste repositories under various thermal and mechanical loading conditions.

Article highlights

  • Novel thermo-mechanical grain-based finite discrete element method approach was developed for thermal cracking in granitic rocks.

  • Thermal cracks preferably initiated from the tips of pre-existing ones due to stress concentration.

  • As the pre-existing cracks density increased, the number of thermal cracks decreased, while fragmentation intensity increased.

  • The relationship between isostatic confinement and the quantity of thermal cracks followed a harmonic decay model.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Discovery Grants 341275, PGS D3-518886 and NSERC/Energi Simulation IRC. K. R. Aboayanah acknowledges the funding received from the Lassonde International Graduate Scholarship in Mining at the University of Toronto. A. K. Popoola acknowledges the funding he received from the Queen Elizabeth II Scholarship at the University of Toronto. We would like to acknowledge the contribution of NVIDIA Corporation with the donation of the GPU used for this work. The authors would also like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments and suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil and Mineral Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Kareem Ramzy Aboayanah, Aly Abdelaziz, Lei Sun, Ekaterina Ossetchkina, Karl Peterson & Giovanni Grasselli

  2. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Afeez K. Popoola & Giovanni Grasselli

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  1. Kareem Ramzy Aboayanah
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  2. Afeez K. Popoola
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  3. Aly Abdelaziz
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  4. Lei Sun
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  5. Ekaterina Ossetchkina
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  6. Karl Peterson
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  7. Giovanni Grasselli
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Contributions

KRA samples preparation, conceptualization, methodology, software, and writing the original draft. AKP samples preparation, thin section analysis and visualization, and writing. AA software, review, and editing. LS conceptualization, software, review, and editing. EO thin section preparation, imaging, and review and editing. KP thin section preparation and analysis, supervision, and review and editing. GG supervision, review and editing, and funding acquisition.

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Correspondence to Lei Sun.

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Aboayanah, K.R., Popoola, A.K., Abdelaziz, A. et al. Effect of pre-existing cracks on thermal cracking of granitic rocks under confinement. Geomech. Geophys. Geo-energ. Geo-resour. 8, 126 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40948-022-00431-0

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