Does fault activation affect the hydraulic disconnectivity of faults in mudstone?

大野 宏和; 武田 匡樹; 石井 英一

Extended abstract of International Conference on Coupled Processes in Fractured Geological Media; Observation, Modeling, and Application (CouFrac 2020) (Internet), 4 Pages, 2020/11

Low-permeability mudstone is a candidate host rock for radioactive waste disposal, but thermal-hydro-mechanically induced shear stresses and thermal pressurization due to the release of heat from radioactive waste may cause activation of faults in the host rock. Previous studies revealed that hydraulic connectivity of fractures in the deeper part of the Wakkanai Formation (siliceous mudstone) is limited and hence its effective permeability is very low. We performed an injection test on a fault in the deeper part to induce fault activation, and investigated the effect of fault activation on the hydraulic disconnectivity of the fault by analyzing pressure derivatives obtained by repetitive packer tests before and after the injection. The injection test successfully induced a remarkable dilational-shear failure within the fault, and the log-log plots of pressure derivatives changed after the failure from an upward-trend-type indicating a limited extent of flow-paths to a horizontal-trend-type suggesting well-connected flow-paths. The test-section pressure had already recovered when the horizontal-trend-type was observed. After the borehole had been open for 6 weeks, the pressure derivatives were restored to the upward-trend-type. We consider that self-sealing such as fracture closure by creep recovered the hydraulic disconnectivity of the fault after the failure.