Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cb9f654ff-mwwwr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-08-01T03:24:21.595Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

15 - Fluid transport in rocks – the basics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

Agust Gudmundsson
Agust Gudmundsson
Affiliation:
Royal Holloway, University of London
Get access

Summary

Aims

To understand fluid transport in the crust in general, and in rock fractures such as faults and hydrofractures in particular, some of the basic principles of fluid transport in porous and fractured media must be given. These principles include Darcy's law for flow in porous media and the cubic law for flow in fractures. Only the basic definitions and formulas that are needed in this and subsequent chapters are given. There are many excellent books on hydrogeology and fluid flow in porous media where the details can be found. The main aims of this chapter are to:

  • Explain Darcy's law for fluid flow in porous media.

  • Explain the cubic law for fluid flow in fractures.

  • Present the model for fluid flow in a single set of fractures.

  • Present models for fluid flow in orthogonal sets of fractures.

  • Present some basic general results on fracture-related permeability.

Fluid transport in porous and fractured rocks

Fluid flow in crustal rocks is through pores, through fractures, or, most commonly, through both pores and fractures. How fluids are transported is of great academic and applied interest; understanding all kinds of fluid reservoirs depends on knowing and, preferably, being able to predict their permeabilities and fluid-transport or hydromechanical properties. Fluid flow in the crust is primarily through porous or fractured media, or a mixture of both (see Appendix E.2 for the physical properties of some crustal fluids).

Information

Type
Chapter
Information
Rock Fractures in Geological Processes , pp. 466 - 495
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Aguilera, R., 1995. Naturally Fractured Reservoirs. Tulsa, OK: Penn Well Publishing Company.Google Scholar
Aguilera, R., 2000. Well test analysis of multi-layered naturally fractured reservoirs. Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology, 39, 31–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Al-Busaidi, A., Hazzard, J. F., and Young, R. P., 2005. Distinct element modeling of hydraulically fractured Lac du Bonnet granite. Journal of Geophysical Research, 110, B06302, doi:10.1029/2004JB003297.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Amadei, B. and Stephansson, O., 1997. Rock Stress and its Measurement. London: Chapman & Hall.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aydin, A., 2000. Fractures, faults, and hydrocarbon entrapment, migration and flow. Marine Petroleum Geology, 17, 797–814.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barton, C. A., Zoback, M. D., and Moos, D., 1995. Fluid flow along potentially active faults in crystalline rock. Geology, 23, 683–686.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bear, J., 1988. Dynamics of Fluids in Porous Media. New York: Dover.Google Scholar
Bear, J., 1993. Modelling flow and contaminant transport in fractured rocks. In: Bear, J., Tsang, C. F., and Marsily, G. (eds.), Flow and Contaminant Transport in Fractured Rock. New York: Academic Press, pp. 1–37.Google Scholar
Berkowitz, B., 2002. Characterizing flow and transport in fractured geological media: a review. Advances in Water Resources, 25, 861–884.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bons, P. D., 2001. The formation of large quartz veins by rapid ascent of fluids in mobile hydrofractures. Tectonophysics, 336, 1–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brebbia, C. A. and Dominguez, J., 1992. Boundary Elements: an Introductory Course. Boston, MA: Computational Mechanics.Google Scholar
Brenner, S. L. and Gudmundsson, A., 2002. Permeability development during hydrofracture propagation in layered reservoirs. Norges Geologiske Undersøkelse Bulletin, 439, 71–77.Google Scholar
Brenner, S. L. and Gudmundsson, A., 2004. Permeability in layered reservoirs: field examples and models on the effects of hydrofracture propagation. In: Stephansson, O., Hudson, J. A., and Jing, L. (eds.), Coupled Thermo-Hydro-Mechanical-Chemical Processes in Geo-Systems, Geo-Engineering Series, Vol. 2. Amsterdam: Elsevier, pp. 643–648.Google Scholar
Bruggeman, G. A., 1999. Analytical Solutions of Geohydrological Problems. Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Chapman, R. E., 1981. Geology and Water: An Introduction to Fluid Mechanics for Geologists. London: Nijhoff.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chilingar, G. V., Serebryakov, V. A., and Robertson, J. O., 2002. Origin and Prediction of Abnormal Formation Pressures. London: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Coward, M. P., Daltaban, T. S., and Johnson, H. (eds.), 1998. Structural Geology in Reservoir Characterization. Geological Society of London Special Publication 127. London: Geological Society of London.Google Scholar
Dahlberg, E. C., 1994. Applied Hydrodynamics in Petroleum Exploration. New York: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Daneshy, A. A., 1978. Hydraulic fracture propagation in layered formations. AIME Society of Petroleum Engineers Journal, 33–41.
Marsily, G., 1986. Quantitative Hydrogeology. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Deming, D., 2002. Introduction to Hydrogeology. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Domenico, P. A. and Schwartz, F. W., 1998. Physical and Chemical Hydrogeology, 2nd edn. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Dresen, G., Stephansson, O., and Zang, A., (eds.). 2006. Rock damage and fluid transport, part I. Pure and Applied Geophysics, 163 (5–6).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Economides, M. J. and Nolte, K. G. (eds.), 2000. Reservoir Stimulation. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
,EUR 17116, 1997. Interim Guide to Fracture Interpretation and Flow Modelling in Fractured Reservoirs. EC Report, Brussels.Google Scholar
Evans, J. P., Forster, C. B., and Goddard, J. V., 1997. Permeability of fault-related rocks, and implications for hydraulic structure of fault zones. Journal of Structural Geology, 19, 1393–1404.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Faybishenko, B., Witherspoon, P. A., and Benson, S. M. (eds.), 2000. Dynamics of Fluids in Fractured Rocks. Washington, DC: American Geophysical Union.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fetter, C. W., 1994. Applied Hydrogeology, 3rd edn. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Finkbeiner, T., Barton, C. A., and Zoback, M. D., 1997. Relationships among in-situ stress, fractures and faults, and fluid flow: Monterey formation, Santa Maria basin, California. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, 81, 1975–1999.Google Scholar
Fyfe, W. S., Price, N. J., and Thompson, A. B. 1978. Fluids in the Earth's Crust. Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Giles, R. V., 1977. Fluid Mechanics and Hydraulics, 2nd edn. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Gudmundsson, A., 1999. Fluid overpressure and stress drop in fault zones. Geophysical Research Letters, 26, 115–118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gudmundsson, A., 2000. Active fault zones and groundwater flow. Geophysical Research Letters, 27, 2993–2996.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gudmundsson, A., Fjeldskaar, I., and Brenner, S. L., 2002. Propagation pathways and fluid transport of hydrofractures in jointed and layered rocks in geothermal fields. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 116, 257–278.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haneberg, W. C., Mozley, P. S., Moore, J. C., and Goodwin, L. B. (eds.), 1999. Faults and Subsurface Fluid Flow in the Shallow Crust. Washington, DC: American Geophysical Union.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hardebeck, J. L. and Hauksson, E., 1999. Role of fluids in faulting inferred from stress field signatures. Science 285, 236–239.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ingebritsen, S. E. and Sanford, W. E., 1998. Groundwater in Geologic Processes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kümpel, H. J. (ed.), 2003. Thermo-Hydro-Mechanical Coupling in Fractured Rock. Berlin: Birkhäuser.CrossRef
Labaume, P., Craw, D., Lespinasse, M., and Muchez, P. (eds.), 2002. Tectonic processes and the flow of mineralising fluids. Tectonophysics, 348, 1–185.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Larsen, B., Grunnaleite, I., and Gudmundsson, A., 2009. How fracture systems affect permeability development in shallow-water carbonate rocks: an example from the Gargano Peninsula, Italy. Journal of Structural Geology, doi:10.1016/jsg.2009.05.009CrossRef
Larsen, B., Gudmundsson, A., Grunnaleite, I., Sælen, G., Talbot, M. R., and Buckley, S., 2010. Effects of sedimentary interfaces on fracture pattern, linkage, and cluster formation in peritidal carbonate rocks. Marine and Petroleum Geology, doi:10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2010.03.011.CrossRef
Lee, C. H. and Farmer, I., 1993. Fluid Flow in Discontinuous Rocks. London: Chapman & Hall.Google Scholar
Nelson, R. A., 1985. Geologic Analysis of Naturally Fractured Reservoirs. Houston, TX: Gulf Publishing.Google Scholar
Philipp, S. L., 2008. Geometry and formation of gypsum veins in mudstones at Watchet, Somerset, SW-England. Geological Magazine, 145, 831–844.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Secor, D. T., 1965. Role of fluid pressure in jointing. American Journal of Science, 263, 633–646.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Selley, R. C., 1998. Elements of Petroleum Geology. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Sibson, R. H., 1996. Structural permeability of fluid-driven fault-fracture meshes. Journal of Strucural Geology, 18, 1031–1042.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simonson, E. R., Abou-Sayed, A. S., and Clifton, R. J., 1978. Containment of massive hydraulic fractures. Society of Petroleum Engineers Journal, 18, 27–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Singhal, B. B. S. and Gupta, R. P., 1999. Applied Hydrogeology of Fractured Rocks. London: Kluwer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smits, A. J. 2000. A Physical Introduction to Fluid Mechanics. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Stauffer, D. and Aharony, A., 1994. Introduction to Percolation Theory. London: Taylor & Francis.Google Scholar
Stearns, D. W. and Friedman, M., 1972. Reservoirs in fractured rocks. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Memoirs, 16, 82–106.Google Scholar
Sun, R. J., 1969. Theoretical size of hydraulically induced horizontal fractures and corresponding surface uplift in an idealized medium. Journal of Geophysical Research, 74, 5995–6011.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Teufel, L. W. and Clark, J. A., 1984. Hydraulic fracture propagation in layered rock: Experimental studies of fracture containment. Society of Petroleum Engineers Journal, 19–32.
Tsang, C. F. and Neretnieks, I., 1998. Flow channeling in heterogeneous fractured rocks. Reviews of Geophysics, 36, 275–298.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Turcotte, D. L., 1997. Fractals and Chaos in Geology and Geophysics, 2nd edn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Valko, P. and Economides, M. J., 1995. Hydraulic Fracture Mechanics. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Wang, J. S. Y., 1991. Flow and transport in fractured rocks. Reviews of Geophysics, 29, 254–262.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Warpinski, N. R., 1985. Measurement of width and pressure in a propagating hydraulic fracture. Society of Petroleum Engineers Journal, 46–54.
Warpinski, N. R., Schmidt, R. A., and Northrop, D. A., 1982. In-situ stress: the predominant influence on hydraulic fracture containment. Journal of Petroleum Technology, 653–664.
Warpinski, N. R. and Teufel, L. W., 1987. Influence of geologic discontinuities on hydraulic fracture propagation. Journal of Petroleum Technology, 209–220.
Yew, C. H., 1997. Mechanics of Hydraulic Fracturing. Houston, TX: Gulf Publishing.Google Scholar
Zhang, X., Koutsabeloulis, N., and Heffer, K., 2007. Hydromechanical modeling of critically stressed and faulted reservoirs. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, 91, 31–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zimmerman, R. W. and Yeo, I.-W., 2000. Fluid flow in rock fractures: from the Navier-Stokes equations to the cubic law. In: Faybishenko, B., Witherspoon, P. A., and Benson, S. M. (eds.), Dynamics of Fluids in Fractured Rock. Geophysical Monograph 122. Washington, DC: American Geophysical Union, pp. 213–224.Google Scholar

Accessibility standard: Unknown

Accessibility compliance for the PDF of this book is currently unknown and may be updated in the future.

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×