Self‐similar distributions of fluid velocity and stress heterogeneity in a dissolving porous limestone. Issue 3 (3rd March 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Linga, Gaute; Mathiesen, Joachim; Renard, François
• Is Part Of: Journal of geophysical research. Volume 122:Issue 3(2017)
• Page Start: 1726
• Page End: 1743
• Publication Date: 2017-03-03
• Subjects: stress -- fluid flow -- limestone -- porous -- self‐similarity -- digital rock physics; Geomagnetism -- Periodicals; Geochemistry -- Periodicals; Geophysics -- Periodicals; Earth sciences -- Periodicals; 551.1
• DOI: 10.1002/2016JB013536
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2169-9313

Abstract

Abstract: In a porous rock, the spatial distribution of the pore space induces a strong heterogeneity in fluid flow rates and in the stress distribution in the rock mass. If the rock microstructure evolves through time, for example, by dissolution, fluid flow and stress will evolve accordingly. Here we consider a core sample of porous limestone that has undergone several steps of dissolution. Based on 3‐D X‐ray tomography scans, we calculate numerically the coupled system of fluid flow in the pore space and stress in the solid. We determine how the flow field affects the stress distribution both at the pore wall surface and in the bulk of the solid matrix. We show that during dissolution, the heterogeneous stress evolves in a self‐similar manner as the porosity is increased. Conversely, the fluid velocity shows a stretched exponential distribution. The scalings of these common master distributions offer a unified description of the porosity evolution, pore flow, and the heterogeneity in stress for a rock with evolving microstructure. Moreover, the probability density functions of stress invariants (mechanical pressure or von Mises stress) display heavy tails toward large stresses. If these results can be extended to other kinds of rocks, they provide an additional explanation of the sensitivity to failure of porous rocks under slight changes of stress. Key Points: The fluid‐solid interaction problem is solved numerically in a porous limestone core sample at several stages of dissolution Probability density functions of fluid velocity and solid stress evolve self‐similarly as porosity and flow rate is varied The unified distributions provide an additional explanation of the sensitivity of rocks to failure due to fluid flow and dissolution