Evolution of Permeability during Fracturing Processes in Rocks under Conditions of Geological Storage of CO2

We investigated experimentally the change in permeability in three different types of soft rocks including mudstone, sandstone, and tuff from the Fureoi and Takinoue formations, which are representative of the CCS demonstration site at Tomakomai in Japan, and another type of mudstone from the Besho Fm. (B-M). Permeability during deformation, shear fracturing, and post-failure slipping is estimated from measured flow rate and differential pore pressure. In addition, the morphologies of the shear fracture zones were examined using the X-ray CT scanning technique. All the samples exhibit typical brittle-fracturing behaviors, except for the B-M sample which does not show a major shear fracture. During the fracturing process, the permeability increased by one to three orders of magnitude. Further changes in the post-failure slipping and stress relaxation regimes show strong dependence on the type of rocks. Observed changes in permeability can be interpreted as results of fracturing creation, shear zone smoothing, closure and reactivation of fractures under different stress regimes.