Petroleum Research 6 (2021) 392e407

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Petroleum Research
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Controls of fault geometry and thermal stress on fault slip modes:

Implications for permeability enhancement and injection-induced
seismicity
Dorcas S. Eyinla a, b, c, *, Michael A. Oladunjoye a
a
Department of Geology, Pan African University, Life and Earth Sciences Institute (PAULESI), University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
b
Department of Earth Sciences, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko, Nigeria
c
Department of Geology and Petroleum Geology, School of Geosciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, Scotland, United Kingdom

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Fluid pressurization within the fault zone generates increasing pore pressure and stress change which is
Received 5 April 2021 liable to create shear and/or brittle fractures within the reservoir volumes and subsequently generating
Received in revised form earthquakes of varying magnitudes. Here, we explored time-dependent fault weakening processes in the
6 May 2021
fault zone which are dependent on several factors, including the rate of cold-water injection, modes of
Accepted 6 May 2021
Available online 11 May 2021
injection (hydromechanical (HM) and thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) interactions), and changing fault
spatial configurations using data from Niger Delta Basin. The variation in the stability of different fault
models in withstanding stresses induced by HM and THM fluid interactions is evident. Fault permeability
Keywords:
Fault spatial arrangement
enhancement and the behaviour of slip event under isothermal and non-isothermal conditions revealed
Thermal stress that stress and pore pressure perturbations have a first order control on the rate of fault dilation and
Cold injection compression. It is observed that the progressive cooling of the reservoir induced thermal stress which
Injection-induced seismicity induced the timing of slip by unloading the fault to earlier seismic rupture in the non-isothermal case,
Stress variation and accelerates the magnitude of the fault reactivation and the accompanied induced seismicity. Owing
Slip delay to increased tendency of shear failure during injection, fracture opening through shear dilation is more
enhanced in THM simulation as the fracture permeability is significantly higher than in HM. This effect
becomes increasingly more dominant with intermediate fault angle and joint orientation. Certain fault/
joint configurations which were resistant to shear failure under isothermal injection had their frictional
resistance broken by thermal stress. The results also indicate that there is higher pore pressure build-up
in THM than in HM as the injection rate increases and reservoir temperature drops during cold in-
jections.. This study has demonstrated the importance of fully characterizing the fracture geometries and
configurations of normal faulting regime in addition to fluid injection conditions when developing
fractured reservoirs to mitigate seismic risks and hazards that could result from early fault reactivation.
© 2021 Chinese Petroleum Society. Publishing services provided by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi
Communication Co. Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

1. Introduction
An essential factor which determines the production optimi-
zation in tight reservoirs is the property and distribution of frac-
tured controlled permeability resulting from fluid injection. This
could be attributed to several factors such as the pattern of asso-
ciated joints and the sensitivity of the fault plane to change in stress
* Corresponding author. Department of Geology, Pan African University, Life and
Earth Sciences Institute (PAULESI), University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria.
E-mail address: dorcas.eyinla@aaua.edu.ng (D.S. Eyinla).
(Eshiet and Sheng, 2017). Faults and fractures are the main targets
in field development that enable production in naturally fractured
reservoirs or induce hydraulic fractures in tight reservoirs. This
practically makes fault permeability evolution study a crucial
investigation for production optimization (Nelson, 2001). However,
such study becomes more valid when variations in fault orientation
and the direction of associated joints are considered in the simu-
lation process, as this factor would strongly influence permeability
anisotropy in fractured reservoirs (Watkins et al., 2018).
Field developments practically involve the adoption of
improved static reservoir characterization method, which in-
corporates essentially the geomechanical properties of the field and

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ptlrs.2021.05.002
2096-2495/© 2021 Chinese Petroleum Society. Publishing services provided by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi Communication Co. Ltd. This is an open access article under the
CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
D.S. Eyinla and M.A. Oladunjoye
the initial stress distribution on the reservoir, including the nu-
merical reservoir modelling which examines the dynamic evolu-
tion of stress state during fault injection. Previous reports (e.g.,
Ghassemi et al., 2007; Ghassemi and Zhou, 2011; Jeanne et al.,
2014, Chang and Yoon, 2018) have shown that fluid injection into
the subsurface, either directly into the reservoir or into the fault
zone, often triggers fault reactivation and consequently injection-
induced seismicity. The knowledge of the effects of the variations
in fault/joint geometry and spatial distribution would afford better
reservoir stimulation, and the extent of rock failures which could
generate engineering problems and large-scale earthquake would
be predicted beforehand (Men et al., 2018). Shear stimulation in-
volves a process where fluids are injected into a network of pre-
existing natural fractures at a pressure less than the minimum
principal stress with the aim to reduce the effective normal stress
acting on the fault plane, and consequently, reducing the joint's
resistance to shear failure (Norbeck et al., 2016).
Studies have indicated that reactivation potential of a fault de-
pends on its geometry and attitude relative to the stress field,
because the orientation of the principal stresses with respect to the
fault plane has a first order control on the fault stability (e.g., Zhang
et al., 2018; Dempsey et al., 2014; Jeanne et al., 2015). Analysis of the
thermal effects on the injection-induced seismicity by coupled
thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) processes have been presented
for enhanced geothermal systems (Ghassemi et al., 2007; Ghassemi
and Zhou, 2011; De Simone et al., 2017; Gan and Lei, 2020), and in
improved oil recovery, IOR (e.g., Rutqvist et al., 2002, 2015;
Zareidarmiyan et al., 2018). However, most of these studies have
not considered the effect of changing joints direction as one of the
prominent factors in the resulting fault failure processes. An
important key contribution of joints in fault models is that they
influence the frictional resistance of fault and serves as a drive to
improving permeability enhancement. This joint frictional property
is not only limited to the strength of rock formations, but it also
produces effects on the fracturing processes. The behaviour of
joints in a rock mass is highly influenced by the characteristics of
the joint, which to a larger extent is dominated by the shear
strength of joints. Thus, a significant determinant of the shear
strength is the cohesive strength and frictional angle, which in the
case of joints, is controlled by the joint roughness stress (Eshiet and
Sheng, 2017). An important property which vary as the joint
pattern changes is the stress-dependent formation properties, such
as permeability. However, it is observed that the stress-dependent
permeability of natural fractures may have a significant impact on
the well performance and hydromechanical response of the frac-
tured reservoir (Zhang et al., 2018).
The work of Gan and Lei (2020) has identified that the induced
thermal drawdown by direct fluid injection in the fault zone has a
great likelihood in triggering fault reactivation. They reported that
the evolution of fault permeability is dependent on the processes of
aseismic slip enhancement, and it is noticeably influenced by the
induced thermal stress. Additionally, the findings from Akande
et al. (2021) revealed that the magnitudes of seismicity produced
in the process of modelling seismovolcanic unrests are largely
dependent on thermal variations between the matrix temperature
and the injection fluid, among other factors. The correlation be-
tween fault strength, induced seismicity and permeability evolu-
tion allows a sufficient study of fault behaviour when fluid pressure
is induced (Eyinla et al., 2020). Thus, fault permeability behaviour
and mechanical failures could be investigated through response to
localized pressurization influenced by fault spatial arrangement
and modes of injection.
A first simulation study which produced the consequences of
different potential of fault reactivation when injecting under
varying fault/joint model configurations at constant injection
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Petroleum Research 6 (2021) 392e407
temperature (isothermal) was presented in Eyinla et al. (2021b).
This present study seeks to further verify the frictional potential of
the various fault/joint models when injection conditions change,
and then answer the following research questions: (1) Do fault
geometry determine the timing and magnitude of fault slip, and
what is the situation when the injection conditions change in the
field of study? (2) How do the simulation conditions (isothermal
versus non-isothermal) with varying fault and joint configurations
affect the resulting permeability evolution and the magnitude of
corresponding injection-induced seismicity? (3) Is the induced
thermal stress able to reactivate faults/joint model possessing very
high frictional resistance originally incapable of shear deformation
by sole pressure elevation?
We explore the roles of fault geometry and its associated joints
using data from Akas field of the Niger Delta Basin. The model is
designed as a finite medium with a hydraulically induced normal
fault with a core and damage zone. We then proceed to investigate
how this seemingly complex relationship could modify the
poroelastic and thermoelastic responses of the fault under un-
drained simulation conditions. In overall, the study seeks to un-
derstand the response of fault slip behaviour during injection as
orientational properties change. The application of which would
enable a more accurate well placement, where maximum produc-
tion can be achieved during recovery process in the field of study.
The knowledge would also help to improve the reservoir perfor-
mance and production optimization, noting the possible effect of
thermal stress.
2. Methodology
A distinct peculiarity of numerical studies involving fluid in-
jection is the ability to describe the permeability evolution of the
fault in terms of its frictional resistance (that is, resistance to slip).
In order to estimate slip tendency along a pre-existing fault plane, it
is essential that we know the fault geometry in terms of dip angle
and dip azimuth, because the shear and effective stresses acting on
the fault plane vary with dip (Kinoshita et al., 2019). The instability
of fault is controlled by the orientations of the principal stress
relative to the natural fault planes (Streit and Hillis, 2004). It is thus
assumed that failure may occur on the most critically oriented
plane (Gan and Elsworth, 2014) However, the state of maximum
and minimum compressive principal effective stresses allows the
fault to be initially stable but near a state of failure. Thus, using the
approach by Cappa and Rutqvist (2011), and Gan and Elsworth
(2014), the magnitude of normal stress and shear stress acting on
a fault plane is obtained as:
s3 þ s1 s3  s1
s0n ¼ þ cos2q þ txz sin2q  P (1)
2 2
s1  s3
t¼ sin2q þ txz cos2q (2)
2
where, s0n represents the effective normal stress, P is pore fluid
pressure, s1 is the maximum principal stress, s3 is the minimum
principal stress, and the angle between the fault plane and the
maximum principal stress is given as q, t is the shear stress along
the fault plane, txz is the shear stress component along the x-z
plane.
The instability of the fault plane was evaluated by quantifying
the evolution of Coulomb stress ratio using the relationship be-
tween the shear stress and effective normal stress (Biot, 1941) as:
h ¼ t=sn (3)
D.S. Eyinla and M.A. Oladunjoye
with the fault plane dipped in the vertical direction, an approach to
distinctly determine the fault stability has been presented by
Rutqvist and Oldenburg (2007); and Jaeger et al. (2009). This is
evaluated by comparing the ratio of the maximum to minimum
principal effective stresses against the frictional resistance as:
s1 0 s1  ap
¼ q (4)
s3 0 s3  ap
In equation (1), q represents the effective stress limiting ratio
(Biot 1941), and is defined using the static friction coefficient ms
(Jaeger et al., 2009) as:
h 1=2 i2
q¼ ms2 þ 1 þ ms (5)
The static friction coefficient, ms ; is defined by Biot (1941) and
Byerlee (1978) as:
ms ¼ tan4 (6)
where 4 represents the internal peak friction angle, set as 28 , and
ms ¼ tan 28 ¼ 0:53, (from Eqn. (5)). The value of q ¼ 2:76 (from
Eqn. (4)). In the initial setting of the model, a is the Biot coefficient
sets at 1.0, s1 ¼ 45.5 MPa, s3 ¼ 27.3 MPa and P ¼ 13.8 MPa,
therefore, s1 =s3 ¼ 2:3. Accordingly, whenever Eqn. (3) is less than
the constant q (Eqn. (4)) under pressurization, the fault attains an
initial metastable status. That is, the initial of the fault is stable
since 2.3 < q ¼ 2.76.
2.1. Fault permeability growth
Our model demonstrates the sensitivity of fault permeability to
hydromechanical behaviour, and changes in normal stress or
volumetric strain will influence a change in fault normal displace-
ment, and as a result, permeability enhancement is expected at the
onset of slip. For a fractured medium, models for permeability
change as governed by the input involves the growth in the fracture
aperture, which may be defined by an empirical function of
nonlinear fracture stiffness a and applied effective stress s (Bandis
et al., 1983; Gan and Lei, 2020; Rutqvist et al., 2002) as:
b ¼ br þ ðbmax  br Þeðaðs s0 ÞÞ
1 1
(7)
where b is the current hydraulic aperture due to current effective
normal stress, sn1 , br is the residual aperture, bmax is the maximum
aperture without mechanical stress effect, s01 is the effective stress at
which zero deformation occurs (usually 0), a is the non-linear fracture
stiffness. The fault initial permeability is expected to be greater than
the host rock permeability, and the transmissivity of fluid pressure
within the fault zone is related to the hydraulic aperture of the frac-
ture (Norbeck and Horne, 2015). Therefore, to satisfy the requirement
for representing a coupled non-linear elastic behaviour of fault, the
permeability of fractures in the fault zone has been modelled using
existing approach (Warren and Root, 1963) as it connects the fracture
aperture and fracture spacing through the relation:
b3
k¼ (8)
12s
where, k is the fault permeability (m2), b is the fracture aperture
(m), and s is the fracture spacing (m).
Thus, the reactivation of a pre-existing fault is likely to occur
during fluid injections, depending on the maximum sustainable
pressure limit and principal stress resolution (Kim and Hosseini,
2014).
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Petroleum Research 6 (2021) 392e407
2.2. Model description
The same model set up and material properties adopted for this
study has been applied for numerical studies in the previously
published work to underscore the response of the fault under
different injection position and flow rates (Eyinla et al., 2020). Also,
from the same field, geomechanical studies have been presented
emphasizing in particular the reservoir pressure regime (Eyinla and
Oladunjoye, 2019; and Eyinla et al., 2021). In this study, we con-
ducted a three-dimensional coupled fluid-flow and geomechanical
modelling of fractured reservoir with low permeability as fully
described in Eyinla et al. (2020). The numerical simulation involved
two cases: one with thermal influence from the injection fluid
(thermo-hydro-mechanical interactions) and another case with
constant reservoir temperature (that is, only hydro-mechanical
interaction is considered with no thermal influence from the in-
jection fluid). The coupled thermal-hydrologic-mechanical simu-
lator TOUGHREACT-FLAC3D used for the simulation considers
analysis of mass and energy transport in fractured media (Itasca,
2009; Pruess et al., 1999; Taron and Elsworth, 2009). The me-
chanical behaviour of fault can be represented in FLAC3D either by
special zero-thickness mechanical interfaces, by an equivalent
continuum representation using solid elements, or by a combina-
tion of solid elements and ubiquitous-joints oriented as weak
planes (Cappa and Rutqvist, 2011). A specific advantage of using
solid elements for the modelling of faults is the ability to account
for cross fault heterogeneity, as well as mechanical interactions
between weak planes and intermediate matrix. The fault is
modelled as a ubiquitous fractured media, which accounts for the
presence of an orientation of weak plane in a MohreCoulomb
model (Cappa and Rutqvist, 2011). In the Mohr-Coulomb model
employed, the criterion for failure on the fault plane adopts a
tension cut-off and the slip tendency of the fault is known (Rutqvist
et al., 2015). This study intends to fully discuss the influence of the
weak planes on the simulation process.
Normal faulting stress regime was imposed on a finite reservoir
geometry with spatial dimensions 600 m  15 m  600 m (x, y, z),
and a single hydraulically induced normal fault was integrated in
the model at interval 150e450 m (z-direction) as shown in Fig. 1a.
The fracture spacing was kept constant at 0.5 m for all simulation
scenarios while we created three distinct fault orientations, dipping
at NE 45 , NE 60 and NW 20 denoted as angle 110 for clarity
(Fig. 1bed). Fig. 3a is a schematic representation of 45 fault angle,
showing the assumed associated joints and their orientations. In
this study, the specific joint direction assigned to each fault
orientation are 145 , 135 , 70 , 50 and 30 (Table 2). The injection
well is located at the centre of the fault and extends laterally to-
wards the y-axis (15 m), because report from previous study (Eyinla
et al., 2020) using the same reservoir model set up revealed that the
best position for injection where hydraulic diffusivity would be
most enhanced is at the fault midpoint. The initial temperature of
the reservoir is assumed uniform at 70  C, with an initial pressure of
13.6 MPa. Our model under normal fault kinematics indicates that
the vertical stress is greater than the horizontal stress; the
maximum principal stress is set at 45.5 MPa (z-direction) while the
minimum is 27.3 MPa (x-direction). The model boundaries are set
at no flow boundaries, and the y-direction is set at roller condition
with no normal displacement as constant stresses are applied as
adopted by Gan and Lei (2020). The fault architecture is designed
with finer mesh than the other part of the reservoir as shown in
Fig. 1bed. The mesh size in the faulted area and the matrix to the
left and right of the fault zone contains uniform and smaller sizes
than those in the other upper and lower regions of the matrix to
ensure accurate and efficient simulation of the zone of interest.
The model geometry constructed for this study consists of 1320
D.S. Eyinla and M.A. Oladunjoye Petroleum Research 6 (2021) 392e407

FLAC3D adopted in this work has been verified in earlier studies by

(White et al., 2016). The behaviour of the model promotes
permeability enhancement at the onset of fault slip as a result of the
dilation angle of the fault. For slip measurement, Fig. 1e serves as a
schematic representation of the fault plane (45 ) where points A to
G are the monitoring points of the slip displacement after a possible
fault slip might have occurred. In the normal circumstance, the
fault slip decays towards the lateral tips, implying that the two
edges of the fault plane (A and G) would have the least slip distance.

2.3. Scenarios analysis

In this study, modelling was done using three injection sce-

narios according to our research problems. In Scenario A, there are
three basic fault configurations (45 , 60 and 110 ) and they are
allocated the same joint orientation, given as 135 (Table 2). Here
we examined the sensitivity of each of the fault angles to HM and
THM coupled processes induced by injecting fluids at a constant
flow rate of 0.3 kg/s. Having observed that among the three fault
angles, 45 yielded a more significant permeability and slip
displacement variations between isothermal and non-isothermal
injections, we then further explored the effects of changing joint
directions on the HM and THM response of the 45 fault angle
under the 5 chosen joint directions (30 , 50 , 70 , 135 and 145 )
with increasing injection rate. This is Scenario B as shown in
Table 2. Among these fault/joint models, 45 jdip 135 provided the
most interesting variations in terms of HM versus HTM effects on
permeability enhancement and slip displacement. Thus, under
Scenario C, the effect of injection rate was investigated with the 45
jdip 135 model. The same material properties are adopted for all
injection scenarios and the associated joint directions for fault
angles are referred to as jdip for short. Notably, for the non-
isothermal injection cases, the temperature of the cold water is
50  C.

3. Results
Fig. 1. (a) A schematic representation of 45 fault model and orientation of associated
joints (bed) Model geometry for the three fault orientations at initial condition (e) Slip With a chosen injection rate of 0.3 kg/s, the results of the three
monitoring points on the fault plane for angle 45 . fault angles 45 , 60 and 110 in Scenario A (as shown in Table 2)
revealed that angle 60 has the highest permeability enhancement
under both isothermal and non-isothermal injection (Fig. 2). The
elements: 1080 elements for the matrix, and 240 elements for the
timing for the fault slip is earlier under non-isothermal simulation
fault zone. These zones were populated with material properties
for fault angles 45 and 60 , whereas in angle 110 , isothermal in-
which include hydraulic properties (e.g., porosity, permeability),
jection had earlier slip (Figs. 2, 4, 7e9). The order of fault failure
elastic moduli (e.g., shear modulus, bulk modulus), material
timing with changing fault angle being 45 < 60 <110 (Fig. 2). The
strength properties (e.g., tensile strength, friction angle, cohesion),
effect of temperature (THM) on permeability enhancement is more
thermal properties (e.g., coefficient of thermal expansion), amongst
efficient with fault angle 45 (Fig. 2e). Additionally, effective stress
others. Table 1 shows the assumed material properties for the fault
and shear stress magnitudes are greater at lower fault orientations
zone and host rock, derived from laboratory measurements and
as 45 > 60 >110 (Fig. 3), and stress drop was highest at fault angle
previously published data from the study area and Niger Delta re-
of 45 . In Fig. 3, the non-isothermal injection condition resulted
gion (Chukwu, 2017; Emudianughe and Ogagarue, 2019; Ichenwo
generally in larger stress and stress drop, and this may have im-
and Olatunji, 2018; Eyinla and Oladunjoye, 2019; Eyinla et al.,
plications for injection-induced seismicity. For non-isothermal in-
2020, 2021a). The material properties used for the simulation in
jection, the shear stress built up in fault angle 45 (z6.7 MPa) is
previous study (Eyinla et al., 2021b) are also adopted in this study,
higher than the experience in than 60 (z5.8 MPa). Nevertheless,
and the constitutive mechanical properties experimented are the
the shear stress reduction during fault slip in 45 reduced to about
same as derived from Gan and Lei (2020).
2.75 MPa, while it only dropped to about 3.5 MPa in 60 . Meanwhile
An interesting component of our model is the ability of the fault
in fault angle 110 , the shear stress increased to about 4.3 MPa
permeability to evolve through time. However, the permeability
before dropping to around 2.3 MPa when slip occurred. Overall,
evolution is highly dependent on the local stress state in the
fault angle 45 produced the highest shear stress drop the from
reservoir, the fault's criticality to failure and the injection condi-
initial first increase, followed by fault angle 110 . This trend in shear
tions (Eyinla et al., 2020). These factors would undoubtedly deter-
stress build up and shear reduction during slip in non-isothermal
mine the fault's slip tendency which induces the permeability
scenario is comparable to the isothermal case. Fig. 3eeg showed
enhancement during shear failure. Here, the fault is set to be crit-
the comparison plot of each fault angle under isothermal and non-
ically stressed, dipping towards the direction of the maximum
isothermal injections. However, the slip profiles for both angles
principal stress (Fig. 1a). The permeability evolution model in
under isothermal and non-isothermal injection illustrate the
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D.S. Eyinla and M.A. Oladunjoye Petroleum Research 6 (2021) 392e407

Table 1
Material properties used for the simulation.

Parameter [symbol (unit)] Host rock Fault damage zone Fault core

Bulk modulus (GPa) 15 1.5 1.5

Poisson's ratio 0.304 0.304 0.304
Joint tensile strength (MPa) e 0.04 0.04
Initial permeability [km (m2 )] 1  1016 1  1014 1  1015
Thermal expansion coefficient of solid (K 1
)] 12  106 12  106 12  106
Rock density (kg/m3 ) 2700 2700 2700
Heat capacity of fluid [cw (J/kg K)] 4:26  105 4:26  105 4:26  105
Joint friction angle, dilation angle ( ) e 28 28
Cohesion (MPa) 3 0 0
Dilation angle ( ) 0 5 5
Non-linear stiffness e 0.218 0.218
Maximum aperture, (m) e 1:52  104 1:47  104
Residual aperture, (m) e 3:03  105 2:95  105
Joint cohesion, MPa e 0 0
Matrix friction angle, ( ) 45 45 45
Joint friction angle ( ) e 28 28
Porosity (∅m ) 0.01 0.30 0.30

Table 2
Description of scenarios considered in this study for various fault/joint configurations.

Scenario Fault angle ( ) Joint orientation ( ) Injection rate (kg/s) Injection condition

A 45, 60, 110 135 0.3 Isothermal

45, 60, 110 135 0.3 Non-isothermal
45 135 0.3 Isothermal
60 135 0.3 Isothermal
110 135 0.3 Isothermal
45 135 0.3 Non-isothermal
60 135 0.3 Non-isothermal
110 135 0.3 Non-isothermal
B 45 30, 50, 70, 135, 145 0.1 Isothermal
45 30, 50, 70, 135, 145 0.2 Isothermal
45 30, 50, 70, 135, 145 0.3 Isothermal
45 30, 50, 70, 135, 145 0.1 Non-isothermal
45 30, 50, 70, 135, 145 0.2 Non-isothermal
45 30, 50, 70, 135, 145 0.3 Non-isothermal
45 30 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 Isothermal and Non-isothermal
45 50 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 Isothermal and Non-isothermal
45 70 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 Isothermal and Non-isothermal
45 135 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 Isothermal and Non-isothermal
45 145 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 Isothermal and Non-isothermal
C 45 135 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 Isothermal
45 135 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 Non-isothermal

resulting effect much better in Fig. 4b, d and f. The pressure plot in
Fig. 4a, c and e showed how the pressure distribution vary slightly
as injection progresses, while the slip plots indicate that the slip
displacements are generally more enhanced under non-isothermal
condition (Fig. 4b, d, f).
Scenario B revealed the effects of changing the joint orientations
on the fault plane already dipping at angle 45 . The effect of
increasing the injection rates from 0.1 kg/s to 0.3 kg/s under both
isothermal and non-isothermal simulation conditions is also
evident. Fig. 5a shows that at lower injection rate of 0.1 kg/s there
was shear induced permeability enhancement only for fault angles
45 jdip 70 and 45 jdip 50 under isothermal injection. However,
in non-isothermal simulation with injection rate 0.1 kg/s, there was
shear failure in all the fault/joint configurations except in angle 45
jdip 30 (Fig. 5b). The two joint orientations 50 and 135 have very
high and closely comparable permeability enhancement at higher
injection rates of 0.2 kg/s and 0.3 kg/s (Fig. 5cef). Nevertheless, at
0.3 kg/s flow rate, jdip 135 gave a much distinct permeability
difference under isothermal and non-isothermal injection among
all the fault/joint models (Figs. 6e10). For the 45 jdip 135 , fault
permeability after slip in isothermal case is 6  1013 m2 and non-
isothermal case is 5  1012 m2.
396
Additionally, Scenario C showed that the timing of fault slip
onset reduces at higher injection rates (Fig. 11aeh), implying that
fault plane would slip faster under higher fluid flow rates. However,
the sole pressurization effect was unable to cause a shear failure at
0.1 kg/s injection rate, but thermal stress influence from the cold
injection allowed a shear failure to occur at this injection rate.. The
magnitudes of slip displacement increase under both simulation
conditions as injection rate rises (Fig. 12a and b). Fig. 13 shows
comparison of pressure and temperature distribution along the
four specific profiles in Fig. 13f and the results in Fig. 13aee revealed
how diffusion of fluid vary with distance away from injector.
4. Discussion
It is observed that a slight difference in stress drop can result in a
highly significant difference in shear slip magnitude. The sudden
steep pressure surge observed when slip occurs is possibly caused
by the compression of one side of the fault while the other side is
dilated resulting in undrained pore pressure which is of opposite
sign. The pore pressure is enhanced due to the created permeable
channel. However, with dilation and increased volumetric strain,
the already built pressure diffuses to surrounding matrix to
D.S. Eyinla and M.A. Oladunjoye Petroleum Research 6 (2021) 392e407

Fig. 2. (a) Permeability evolution at the centre of the fault under different fault configuration with isothermal injection, and (b) non-isothermal injection (c) pressure distribution
within the fault zone with the three fault configuration under isothermal injection, and (d) non-isothermal injection (e) comparison of fault permeability under isothermal and non-
isothermal injection conditions for angle 45 , (f) fault angle 60 , and (g) fault angle 110 .

equilibrate and maintain continuity of pore pressure level (Dunham
and Rice, 2006). This process of pressure diffusion is apparently the
same for both isothermal and non-isothermal simulation cases;
nevertheless, the difference is that in this study, non-isothermal
injection responds to the mechanism faster than isothermal case.
this faster response also leads to increased seismicity, such that a
substantial increase in slip displacement is observed when cold
injection induces thermal stress on the faulted rock.
4.1. Effect of fault geometry and joint direction
The results indicate a continuous pressure build-up along the
fault plane, however, the variation in this hydraulic response is a
function of the aperture and the fault initial stability, which is also
dependent on the fault angle. This angle geometrically determines
the angle between the fault plane and the direction of maximum
principal stress (Streit and Hillis, 2004). In this study, fault

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Fig. 3. (aeb) Comparison of effective normal stress and shear stress for fault angle 45 , 60 and 110 under isothermal, and (ced) non-isothermal injection. Shear stress evolution
comparison under isothermal and non-isothermal injection for fault angle (e) 45 (f) 60 (g) 110 .

orientation has a first order control on the model's response to fluid
injections, as pore pressure diffusion is highly sensitive to fracture
network and fault spatial arrangement. This also agrees with earlier
report (Prabhakaran et al., 2017; and Eyinla et al., 2021b). The rate
of pressure diffusion can be extended or delayed due to the thermal
reduction of rock matrix when injected with cold water. There is a
drop in pore pressure at the point of slip as observed for fault angles
110 and 60 , due to the significant void space creation through
shear dilation. Conversely, there was a sudden rise in the pressure
at the onset of shear failure in the case of fault angle 45 , which is
likely due to the compaction effect of the pressure build-up in
undrain conditions. Additionally, there is a higher shear stress

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D.S. Eyinla and M.A. Oladunjoye
Fig. 4. Comparison of isothermal and non-isothermal injection (a) Pore pressure for fault angle 45 , and (b) the resulting Slip distance profile (c) Pressure distribution at angle 60 ,
and (d) the slip distance distribution comparison in both cases (e) Evolution of pressure at angle 110 , and (f) the slip distance distribution comparison in both cases.
accumulation in fault angle 45 than the other two fault angles, and
this effect is also evident in the stress elevation and shear stress
drop (Fig. 3aed).
The observation here suggests that the shear accumulation in-
creases with decreasing fault angle, and the fault angle (45 jdip
135 ) with more shear stress produces earlier onset of slip, larger
shear drops and larger slip zone (Fig. 3b and d, 4b), agreeing with
earlier reports (Rutqvist et al., 2015; Guglielmi et al., 2015; and
Eyinla et al., 2021b). This trend is the same for isothermal and non-
isothermal injections, although the slip distance in fault angle 60 is
highest among the three cases (Fig. 5d). The overall slip area in
angle 45 is the largest with 5 slip points (Fig. 4b), and this is a
direct reflection of the magnitude of shear stress drop in Fig. 4b. The
stress reduction during unloading is mostly due to the interparticle
force decrease and continuous particle contact breakage (Gan and
Lei, 2020), and an increased normal stress unloading rate induces
higher strain energy and higher slip displacement. Therefore, the
fault angle with higher effective stress during unloading is consis-
tent with developing higher shear stress, as seen in the case of
angle 45 (Fig. 3aed).
An investigation into the effects of the frictional property and
compaction dominating behaviour of the fault in this study has
shown that HM and THM interactions in the fault zone change with
different joint orientations. Also, the variation in shear failure
tendency and eventual slip timing is different, as the slip potential
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is highly dependent on the joint direction with respect to the
existing fault plane. This implies that with a change in the joint
direction, there is an increasing possibility to have a different levels
of fault criticality to failure. A slip will probably not occur even
when the assumption about fault angle relationship with the di-
rection of maximum stress is fulfilled if the angle between the joint
and the principal stress is very large. Just as it is in the case of 145
and 30 joint orientations, where the fault tends to be relatively
stable throughout the isothermal injection process.. No shear slip
resulted from the injection for these fault/joint models even at
increased injection rates (Figs. 6 and 10). The effect of joint direc-
tion in this case promotes very high fault compaction and
increasing frictional resistance which influences the fault plane to
resist shear deformation regardless of the magnitude of fluid flow
rate. However, with the influence of thermal stress under non-
isothermal injection, the frictional stability in 45 jdip 145 was
broken, and fault reactivation occurred with all the injection rates
considered.. As a result of the extremely high stability of the fault
plane in angle 45 jdip 30 , even with the influence of thermal
stress, no amount of fluid pressurization is sufficient to overcome
the frictional strength and the resistance to slip within the limit of
our experiments. Meanwhile, joint orientation 50 (that is, 45 jdip
50 ) produced the highest permeability enhancement among the
five joint directions. This joint direction also resulted in the earliest
onset of slip under isothermal injection, whereas 45 jdip 135 had
D.S. Eyinla and M.A. Oladunjoye
Fig. 5. Evolution of fault permeability of 45 fault angle at various joint orientations 30 , 50 , 70 , 135 and 145 under (a) THM at injection rate 0.1 kg/s (b) HM at 0.1 kg/s (c) THM
at 0.2 kg/s (d) HM at 0.2 kg/s (e) THM at 0.3 kg/s (f) HM at injection rate 0.3 kg/s.
the earliest slip under non-isothermal injection (Fig. 5bef). Thus,
slip tendency increases with change in joint orientation, and this is
revealed in the timing of slip onset. Here, slip timing increases with
intermediate joint orientations in this order: 50 > 70 >135 for
isothermal 130 > 70 >50 non-isothermal injection.
Furthermore, there is a gradual pressure diffusion from the fault
injection point into the surrounding matrix as revealed in the slope
of the pressure profile in Fig. 13e. The uneven distribution of fluid
pressure in the matrix above and beneath the fault showed that
pressure diffused more to the lower matrix than to the upper region
of the injection point. The variation observed in the hydraulic
response is created by the different lateral diffusivity potential of
the fluid pressure whose impact is most when the pressurized zone
lies above the targeted zone. In this case, fluid pressure can diffuse
more to the lower region (downwards) to create a better and effi-
cient hydraulic diffusivity. The matrix rock surrounding the fault
injection source laterally would enjoy almost uniform pressure
state, as a result of the ability of fluid pressure to diffuse laterally
with uniform energy. This result is evident in Fig. 13a, where both
limbs of the pressure profile (to the left and right) have almost
uniform pressure distribution on both sides of the matrix
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surrounding the fault. Another significant effect of lowered pres-
sure at the top of the injection well was revealed in Fig. 12d. Here,
profile CC’ showed a very low-pressure profile at both matrix region
and fault zone. This implies that the part of the fault zone above the
injector suffers low pressure diffusion because of the low hydraulic
diffusivity of upward fluid movement.
4.2. Thermal effect of cold-water injection
To understand reservoir temperature change during injection,
the temperature of the injection fluid and the initial temperature of
the medium must be different. In this study, temperature effect on
fault behaviour during injection depends on this temperature dif-
ference, the fault configuration and injection flow rate. This sug-
gests that with changing fault geometry and fault/joint spatial
relations, the influence of thermal stress varies. With the different
fault configurations examined, thermal effect is higher in fault
angle 45 jdip 135 and injection rate 0.3 kg/s, as this produced a
distinct permeability variation between isothermal and non-
isothermal scenarios (Figs. 2e and 9). While isothermal injection
only experienced hydromechanical effect, liable to induce shear
D.S. Eyinla and M.A. Oladunjoye Petroleum Research 6 (2021) 392e407

Fig. 6. Isothermal and non-isothermal fault permeability evolution comparison of fault Fig. 7. Isothermal and non-isothermal fault permeability evolution comparison of fault
angle 45 at joint orientation 30 at rate (a) 0.1 kg/s, (b) 0.2 kg/s, and (c) 0.3 kg/s. angle 45 at joint orientation 50 at rate (a) 0.1 kg/s, (b) 0.2 kg/s, and (c) 0.3 kg/s.

cooling front advances slower than the pressure front as a result of

failure, rock instability in cold injection is likely to result from the
an attempt to reach thermal equilibrium within the fractures while
superposition of both hydromechanical interactions and thermal
still cooling down the surrounding rock matrix (Zareidarmiyan
effects (De Simone et al., 2013).
et al., 2018). The thermal effects induced a significant perturba-
Practically, the injected fluid with low temperature moves
tion on the stress state in the rock as the thermal equilibrium
further away from the point of injection through the fracture sys-
within the fracture splits to cool down the peripheral matrix rock.
tem, and progressively cools down the hotter reservoir. Despite that
This stress perturbation is liable to promote fault rupture when the
the cooling effect takes place much rapidly within the fractures, the
fault is critically oriented and has some tendency for failure. In

401
D.S. Eyinla and M.A. Oladunjoye
Fig. 8. Isothermal and non-isothermal fault permeability evolution comparison of fault
angle 45 at joint orientation 70 at rate (a) 0.1 kg/s, (b) 0.2 kg/s, and (c) 0.3 kg/s.
Fig. 13a, as the injection is locally induced, the reduction of fault
strength is more pronounced at the pressurized zone than in the
immediate vicinity. However, near the injection point, where fluid
pore pressure is most elevated, the temperature is mostly reduced
because the aseismic slip is predominantly driven by effective
stress reduction, although fault reactivation may propagate further
from the injection point. Seemingly, the HM effect is more efficient
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Fig. 9. Isothermal and non-isothermal fault permeability evolution comparison of fault
angle 45 at joint orientation 135 at rate (a) 0.1 kg/s, (b) 0.2 kg/s, and (c) 0.3 kg/s.
compared to the THM effect since pressure diffusion is usually
faster than heat energy transportation strain (Rathnaweera et al.,
2020).
The moment THM coupling is activated, the thermomechanical
effect can be isolated from the hydraulic effect, enabling a clearer
understanding of how pure thermal behaviour result from both
conduction and advection processes. The diffusion of overpressure
D.S. Eyinla and M.A. Oladunjoye
Fig. 10. Isothermal and non-isothermal fault permeability evolution comparison of
fault angle 45 at joint orientation 145 at rate (a) 0.1 kg/s, (b) 0.2 kg/s, and (c) 0.3 kg/s.
propagates gradually into the matrix by decreasing laterally away
from the injector location; meanwhile, the response of temperature
is of a reverse order, because temperature is lowest around the
injector point than the surrounding matrix (Fig. 13a). In agreement
with earlier report (Ghassemi, 2012), advection plays a major role
in the transportation of heat within the fault zone, while the heat
transport within rock matrix through conduction contributes little
to the thermal diffusion in the medium. This effect is established
from the temperature profile along the fault zone in Fig. 13aec. The
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path of the cooling front changes with distance from injector po-
sition as shown in Fig. 13b, therefore, with increasing distance from
the fault downward, the cooling front rises.
Additionally, just as pressure diffusion is lower at the upper part
of the reservoir (above the injector point), we also observed that
the cooling at the upper part is lower than the lower part (Fig. 13c).
Hence, reservoir temperature is higher at the upper part of the
matrix where fluid pressure diffusion is lower, whereas tempera-
ture reduces downwards with distance away from the injector
(Fig. 13b). The implication of these results is that the thermal strain
propagates normal to the fault, especially when the displacement is
restrained. Consequently, the total stress acting parallel to the fault
shows more alteration than the total stress acting normal to the
fault (Rathnaweera et al., 2020). The point where the cooling effect
is predominantly active is at the fault mid-point where the injector
is located as revealed on the profiles. The effect of progressive
cooling of the reservoir by cold injection (non-isothermal) pro-
duced continuous contraction of the fault, thereby reducing the
volume of fluid pressure diffusion being released to the surround-
ing rock. Thus, the energy of accumulated fluid pressure eventually
produces a larger rupture and longer slip displacement than the
decoupled thermal case (isothermal) which has experienced more
fluid exchange with the matrix.
4.3. THM-induced seismicity
Seismic source parameters such as the seismic moment (M0)
and moment magnitude (Mw) are commonly employed to describe
the seismic energy released during fault rupture, and in the eval-
uation of the magnitude and intensity of seismicity induced. The
seismic moment, from which the moment magnitude is usually
derived, is a function of the slip displacement (Ds) along the
ruptured area (A) of the fault. In this study, we calculated the ab-
solute amount of the slip distance in all scenarios considered by
taking the difference between the first and last occurrence of dis-
tance recorded from our output data at the exact time of fault slip.
We then computed the moment magnitude using the non-
saturating earthquake magnitude relationship by Pruess et al.
(1999), and Kanamori and Brodsky (2001) thus:
Mw ¼ ð2 = 3Þ  ðlog 10 M0  9:1Þ (9a)
where, M0 is the seismic moment (Nm) which is determined from
the equation:
M0 ¼ G  Ds  A (9b)
where, G is the shear modulus (Pa), Ds is the slip distance (m), and A
is the cross-sectional area of the fault, which is also a function of the
fault's geometry.
The slip distance measurement along the fault plane revealed
that fault displacements vary from millimetres to some few centi-
metres (Fig. 4b, d, f, 12a, b).
The tendency and magnitude of seismicity during injection has
been ascribed to the injection fluid conditions and the fault initial
stability with respect to the orientation and the frictional stability
of the joints. The poromechanical and thermomechanical processes
accompanying injection can occur at different timings, depending
on the properties of the formation matrix and rocks involved,
including the variation between fault properties and matrix pa-
rameters, and the initial fault conditions (Akande et al., 2021). Also,
thermally induced stress is not only a resulting effect of tempera-
ture changes, but it represents the combination of a temperature
change and the mechanical restraint which holds back free
expansion or contraction of the rock (Jaeger et al., 2009; and Jeanne
D.S. Eyinla and M.A. Oladunjoye Petroleum Research 6 (2021) 392e407

Fig. 11. Comparison of the response of fault configuration 45 jdip 135 to different injection rates 0.1 kg/s, 0.2 kg/s and 0.3 kg/s (a) Coulomb stress ratio evolution under isothermal,
and (b) non-isothermal injection (c) fault permeability evolution under isothermal, and (d) non-isothermal injection (e) evolution of pore pressure under isothermal, and (f) non-
isothermal injection (g) evolution of effective normal stress under isothermal, and (h) non-isothermal injection.

et al., 2015). Hence, fluid pressure diffusion promotes earlier slip in
HM case for fault angle 110 jdip 135 , with a late onset of slip in
THM mode, whereas it is reversed for 45 and 60 . Also, pore
pressure often influences deformations in fault zone more rapidly
than temperature (Read, 2004; and Ghassemi and Zhang, 2006),
consequently, seismicity arising from the injection activity is
attributed to shear slip on the pre-existing fractures propelled by a
reduction of the normal stress across the fault as a response to an
increasing rate of pore pressure. Here, the pressure build-up in the
cold injection scenario is slightly higher compared to the pressure
distribution in isothermal case, therefore, it is ideal for seismicity to
occur earlier with a higher pressure. Meanwhile, we observed that
pore pressure elevation is not the only the cause of induced seis-
micity, although it is the primary cause of shear failure. Thermal

404
D.S. Eyinla and M.A. Oladunjoye
Fig. 12. Comparison of slip displacement profile of the three injection rates under (a)
isothermal, and (b) non-isothermal injection.
stress has been verified as the cause of the enhanced slip in THM
case (Gan and Lei, 2020; and Akande et al., 2021).
Why is the fault slip in non-isothermal injection earlier than in
isothermal case? We have observed that this is likely due to the
contraction of the fault by thermal contrast as injection fluid of
lower temperature meets the matrix at higher temperature. Thus, a
thermoelastically induced slip would then occur after the fluid
temperature has diffused from the fault to the matrix to reach a
state of temperature equilibrium. The interaction between the hot
reservoir rock and the injection fluid with lower temperature could
cause a contraction of adjacent rock by producing a thermoelastic
strain 41. This thermal contraction induces strain which has the
capacity to enlarge fracture aperture, resulting in friction loss and
fracture slip. However, the temporal evolution of the induced
thermal stresses implies that the deformation of rock mass will not
discontinue upon injection termination, the forced circulation of
cold fluid and the effect of the induced shrinkage stress would
produce high energy during thermal-induced seismicity in non-
isothermal injection (Ghassemi et al., 2007). Hence, this mecha-
nism is believed to be the cause of larger magnitude seismic activity
(max Mw ¼ 2.05) in the cold injection, with the combined influence
of pressurization effect and thermal stress. This comparison is
evident on the slip displacement profiles for all injection scenarios
(e.g., Fig. 4b, d, f, 12). It is assumed that the intact rock has a greater
stiffness than the fault, and thermal stress changes may indeed be
large in the matrix, consequently, the effect of thermal stress
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Petroleum Research 6 (2021) 392e407
developed in the cooled part of the surrounding matrix is proposed
to be an essential contributor in triggering induced seismicity in
non-isothermal injection. Thus, the combination of fluid pressuri-
zation, poroelastic effect from fluid leakoff into the matrix, and the
thermoelastic effect from thermal stress contributed to the
increased seismicity in cold injection.
Although the chemical reactive transport processes are not
considered in this study because the aim is to explore the influence
of thermal stress and heat transfer on plastic deformation of rocks
under different fault/joint orientation, yet, we admit that the
chemical dissolution-precipitation and enhanced pressure solution
would have an effect on the rock behaviour. For instance, it could
permit the healing processes of fault when the shear strength is
recovered after the slip event (Yasuhara et al., 2003; Niemeijer
et al., 2010). And from various reports (e.g., Marone, 1998; Li
et al., 1998; Berthoud et al., 1999; Kay et al., 2006; Gratier, 2011;
McLaskey et al., 2012; Cappa et al., 2019) fault healing is an essential
part of fault injection processes as it is often encountered after
seismic events during earthquakes.
5. Conclusions
In this study, we have described how different fault orientations
and associated joint directions and their spatial relations may
interact with the stress distribution during direct cold-water in-
jection in the fault zone. Fault reactivation and injection-induced
seismicity, in terms of timing and slip displacement magnitude,
have been found to depend on different fracture configurations.
The comparisons of results for our isothermal and non-
isothermal simulation scenarios in this work have revealed that
fault reactivations occurred when the accumulated shear stress
acting on the surface of the fracture practically exceeds its shear
resistance, however, the failure induced by shear deformation
occurred earlier in non-isothermal injection case while fault slips
are delayed in isothermal case. This is common to all fault config-
urations investigated except in angle 110 . Also, lower fault angles
generally favour early onset of fault slips, but the absolute effect of
fault configurations is further modulated by the directions of
associated joints on their planes. For example, joint directions of
145 and 30 confer special frictional stability on the fault plane
even at higher injection rates for isothermal injection. Meanwhile,
thermal influence brought fault angle 45 jdip 145 to slip even at
the lowest injection rate considered. Thus, although fault reac-
tivation is delayed under THM simulation conditions in fault angle
110 , the thermal stress enhanced the magnitude of the slip.
Consequently, thermo-hydro-mechanical interaction causes frac-
tured rock to be more critically stressed for shear failure than when
only hydro-mechanical interaction is involved.
Thus, fluid pressure diffusion is lower at the upper part of the
matrix whereas downward migration is higher. This also affects the
cooling effect of the cold fluid, as more cold fluid is transported to
the matrix beneath the injection zone through conduction. Notably,
the earthquake behaviour and injection-induced seismicity mag-
nitudes depend on the injection flow rate, injection/host rock
thermal contrasts, and the fault/joint configurations, and the spatial
arrangement of the pre-existing fractures. Although the effect of
the specific reservoir's elastic properties could influence the
sensitivity of the fault plane to slip, this variation in fault's sensi-
tivity to fluid injection with changing geometries and configura-
tions would further enable a more accurate well placement, where
maximum production can be achieved during enhanced recovery.
The knowledge would also help to improve reservoir performance
and could potentially create awareness of impending seismic risks
and other related hazards that may result from early fault reac-
tivation especially at higher fluid injection rates and when
D.S. Eyinla and M.A. Oladunjoye
Fig. 13. (a) comparison of pressure distribution with temperature along profile BB’ (b) temperature variation along three different profiles across fault zone (c) temperature profile
vertically with depth cutting through the injection zone (d) Pressure profile along the three profiles across fault zone (e) pressure profile along vertical depth cutting through the
injector point (f) the fault-matrix model with the positions of the profile analysis.
exploiting low-angle normal faults.
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to acknowledge the African Union Commis-
sion for providing the financial support for this study, and the
University of Aberdeen for providing the facilities and enabling
environment for the research. We also appreciate Dr. Quan Gan for
providing the research software and contributing through technical
suggestions. Waheed Gbenga Akande is also acknowledged for his
professional contributions and insightful discussions.
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