Collaborative Research: Development of a Fracture Processes Facility at DUSEL Homestake

合作研究：DUSEL Homestake 开发断裂过程设施

• 批准号: 0919497
• 负责人: Leonid Germanovich
• 金额: $ 18.65万
• 依托单位: Georgia Tech Research Corporation
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-08-15 至 2013-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0919497&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Development; Fracture; Processes

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).The proposed research is directed towards the preparation of a Preliminary Design Report for an NSF Major Research Equipment and Facility Construction (MREFC) project: The Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory (DUSEL) at the former Homestake mine in South Dakota. Intellectual Merit: This award will create carefully controlled faults at scales of 1-100 meters using thermal techniques to modify in situ stresses to the point where the rock fails in shear. These experiments will extend experiments on fault nucleation and growth to length scales 2-3 orders of magnitude greater than are currently possible in the laboratory. The experiments would be done at depths where the modified in situ stresses are sufficient to drive faulting, obviating the need for large, expensive loading frames. DUSEL Homestake presents an opportunity to conduct a unique experimental program by providing access to locations with vertical stresses as large as 60 MPa (down to 2400 meter depth), more than sufficient to create faults. It also allows facilities at different depths, permitting experiments to be conducted under different stress levels. These proposed experiments require a facility providing access to large rock volumes in the deep subsurface in a controlled setting, and one where interdisciplinary collaborations are encouraged; all the conditions are met at DUSEL Homestake. The ultimate scientific objective of this research is to substantially elevate understanding of faulting processes in crystalline rock, with particular emphasis on how faults are initiated and grow through intact rock. Another important objective is to observe and characterize the reactivation of a natural, existing fault. Both can be done at Homestake. The experimental suite we propose is motivated by a fundamental need across geosciences to advance the understanding of how rocks fail by fracturing. The experiment responds specifically to ideas in Deep Science, and to guidance and experiments in the DUSEL S1 Technical Report, and it is motivated by the Induced Fracture and Deformation Processes Laboratory in EarthLab.Broader Impacts: Other experiments outside the field of rock mechanics will benefit from, and can accompany, the proposed experiments. The experiments will address formation of shear fractures in previously intact rock, slip on pre-existing joints, fault gouge formation, the influence of fault gouge on fault reactivation, and the evolution of fault permeability. It will further understanding of hydraulic fracturing, how fracture energy and rock strength scale with size, and how microbial systems exploit fractures. The results of the research will have direct applications for the production of geothermal energy and hydrocarbons, as well as the storage of waste and environmental remediation in the subsurface. Since the research is so highly cross-disciplinary, it will provide a rich environment for fostering new ideas among existing and future generations of scientists and engineers.

该奖项是根据2009年的《美国回收与再投资法》（公法111-5）资助的。拟议的研究旨在为NSF大型研究设备和设施建设（MREFC）项目制定初步设计报告：深层地下科学和工程实验室（Dusel）在南达克塔尔（South Dakota）以前的Housestake Mine in South Housestake Mine。智力优点：该奖项将使用热技术在1-100米的尺度上仔细控制故障，以将原位应力修改为岩石在剪切中失败的地步。这些实验将把关于断层成核和生长的实验扩展到长度尺度的2-3个数量级，比实验室中可能大。实验将在经过修改的原位应力足以驱动断层的深度上进行，从而消除了对大型，昂贵的装载帧的需求。 Dusel Homestake为进行独特的实验程序提供了机会，通过提供对垂直应力的位置的访问权限为60 MPa（降至2400米），足以造成故障。它还允许不同深度的设施，可以在不同的应力水平下进行实验。这些提议的实验需要在受控的环境中提供一个在深层地下中提供大岩石量的设施，并鼓励跨学科合作。 Dusel Homestake满足所有条件。这项研究的最终科学目标是实质上提高了对晶体岩石中断层过程的理解，尤其强调了如何通过完整的岩石启动和生长断层。另一个重要的目标是观察和表征自然现有断层的重新激活。两者都可以在霍姆斯塔克（Homestake）完成。我们提出的实验套件是由整个地球科学的基本需求激发的，以促进对岩石如何通过破裂而失败的理解。该实验对深度科学的思想以及Dusel S1技术报告中的指导和实验进行了特别的反应，并且是由Earthlab的诱导断裂和变形过程实验室的动机。BROADER的影响：岩石机械领域以外的其他实验将受益，并且可以伴随，可以伴随，提议的实验。实验将解决以前完整岩石中剪切裂缝的形成，在预先存在的接头上滑动，断层岩层形成，断层岩石对断层重新激活的影响以及断层通透性的演变。它将进一步了解液压压裂，骨折能量和岩石强度尺寸的尺寸以及微生物系统如何利用断裂。该研究的结果将直接应用地热能和碳氢化合物的生产，以及在地下中废物和环境修复的存储。由于这项研究是如此高度跨学科，因此它将为在科学家和工程师的现有和后代中培养新思想提供丰富的环境。