New Experimental Equipment Recreating Geo-Reservoir Conditions in Large, Fractured, Porous Samples to Investigate Coupled Thermal, Hydraulic and Polyaxial Stress Processes.

ABSTRACT: Use of the subsurface for energy resources (enhanced geothermal systems, conventional and unconventional hydrocarbons), or for storage of waste (CO₂, radioactive), requires the prediction of how fluids and the fractured porous rock mass interact. The GREAT cell (Geo-Reservoir Experimental Analogue Technology) is designed to recreate subsurface conditions in the laboratory to a depth of 3.5 km on 200 mm diameter rock samples containing fracture networks, thereby enabling these predictions to be validated. The cell represents an important new development in experimental technology, uniquely creating a truly polyaxial rotatable stress field, facilitating fluid flow through samples, and employing state of the art fibre optic strain sensing, capable of thousands of detailed measureme

SUBMITTER: McDermott CI 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6162306 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature