Validating the application of cyclic hydraulic pressure pulses to reduce breakdown pressure in granite
Jackie Evan Kendrick,
Anthony Lamur,
Julien Mouli-Castillo,
Alexander Lightbody,
Andrew Fraser-Harris,
Katriona Edlmann,
Christopher Ian McDermott,
Zoe Kai Shipton
Affiliations
Jackie Evan Kendrick
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Ludwig Maximilian Universität 80333 Munich, Germany; School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3FE, UK; Corresponding author
Anthony Lamur
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Ludwig Maximilian Universität 80333 Munich, Germany
Julien Mouli-Castillo
School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3FE, UK; James Watt School of Engineering, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK; Energy Technologies Area, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA, USA
Alexander Lightbody
School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3FE, UK
Andrew Fraser-Harris
School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3FE, UK
Katriona Edlmann
School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3FE, UK
Christopher Ian McDermott
School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3FE, UK
Zoe Kai Shipton
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G1 1XJ, UK
Summary: As the geoenergy sector moves toward more sustainable practices, an emerging field of research is the proposed utilization of cyclic hydraulic pressure pulses to safely and efficiently enhance productivity. We demonstrate how cyclic hydraulic pressure pulses can reduce hydraulic breakdown pressure in granite using newly developed experimental equipment, which applies pulsed square waves of fluid pressure to large bench-top samples, monitored with dynamic high-resolution fiber optic strain sensors. Our results show a significant reduction in breakdown pressure can be achieved by cyclic pulsed pumping, and we explore the role of mean pressure and cyclic amplitude. Our results offer new insight into cyclic well-stimulation treatments and show potential for reducing peak power consumption during geothermal exploitation.
