The understanding of the coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical behaviour of fault zones in naturally fractured reservoirs is of fundamental importance for a variety of societal and economic reasons, such as the sustainable energy transition for the safe use of natural resources. The idea here is to carry out a thermally controlled in situ fluid injection experiment in one of the faults accessible from the Tournemire underground research laboratory in Southern France. A heating system will be installed around the injection and enable a precise and controlled incremental increase the thermal load. In addition, an important monitoring system will be installed to measure the seismic and aseismic events as well as temperature evolution. A series of laboratory experiments will be conducted to understand the chemical and structural evolution occurring within fault zones during thermal and hydraulic loading.
DFG Programme
Research Grants
International Connection
France
