Water-Induced Damage in Microporous Carbonate Rock by Low-Pressure Injection Test

In the present work, we investigate the mechanical weakening and deformation induced by water on a microporous carbonate rock, the Obourg Chalk from Mons Basin (Belgium), through conventional triaxial tests and injection tests. The injection tests were conducted by waterflooding critically loaded rock samples, initially in dry condition, in a way to minimize the variations in the effective pressures. Furthermore, the samples were instrumented with P-wave piezoelectric transducers to provide active ultrasonic monitoring while injecting. The results show a significant reduction in the mechanical strength of this chalk. Analysis of the mechanical tests and the associated deformation allows us to describe the mechanical behavior as a function of the confining pressure, which draws a brittle-ductile transition spanning from low to high confining pressure. The injection tests, moreover, revealed that the amount of water injected before triggering mechanical instability decreases exponentially with respect to the applied differential stress on the rock sample. The data, therefore, suggest that the failure might be controlled by a mechanical coupling between the water-invaded zone and the dry one. Since water-weakening plays an important role in several fields like oil industry, through secondary and tertiary recovery of hydrocarbons, Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS), as well as in the mechanical stability of underground cavities, the outcome of this work is of primary importance in mitigating any kind of problems related to these operations.