Effects of Water and scCO2 Injection on the Mechanical Properties of Granite at High Temperatures

Abstract

Geothermal energy is an important resource to substitute for traditional fossil fuels. The mechanical properties of reservoir rock under the conditions of water and scCO2 injection at different temperatures are crucial for the safety of Enhanced Geothermal Systems. However, the effects of working fluid on the mechanical properties of granite at in situ temperatures are still rarely reported. To reveal the impact mechanisms, conventional triaxial compression experiments were conducted on granite specimens with different confining pressures (2–20 MPa), different pore fluid (10 MPa water or CO2), and different temperatures (25–150°C) in the present study. SEM analyses were applied to the specimens to determine failure surface morphologies after the experiments. The experimental results show that the effective confining pressure, pore fluid, and temperature have significant effects on the strength of granite specimens. The strength of granite increases with the increase of effective confining pressure, with similar granite strength under the same effective confining pressure (dry, water, and CO2). Temperature strengthening of granite is limited by high confining pressure (∼15 MPa). Under the effective confining pressure of 5 MPa, temperature weakening occurs on granite specimens when temperature is higher than 90°C. There is fluid diffusion in the specimens during compression. The higher viscosity of water may cause a temporary decrease in effective confining pressure, which may increase the strength of granite. The growth or formation of cracks is mainly observed in quartz and feldspar grains without short-term chemical effects. More visible cracks are observed on the specimens and more volume of fluid is injected under CO2 injection conditions, which may be beneficial to increase the permeability of geothermal reservoir.