Hydrothermal brecciation:

particle modeling.

A. Ord,1,2,3 B. E. Hobbs,1,2,3 & S. Mikula1

1 CSIRO Exploration
E l
ti & Mining,
Mi i
P th WA,
Perth,
WA Australia
A t li
2 predictive mineral discovery Cooperative Research Centre,
3 School of Earth and Geographical Sciences, University of Western
Australia, Perth, WA, Australia

1st International FLAC/DEM Symposium 25 August 2008

Purpose
To test the hypothesis that brecciation could
be driven by
y a strong
g initial p
pressure gradient.
g
To find conditions under which rock will
behave in ways that resemble or could lead to
brecciation.
To explore the collective motion of particles
in fluidised beds in order to determine
whether weak rock masses exhibit a sequence
of behaviours when a fluid flux is applied to
them.
1st International FLAC/DEM Symposium 25 August 2008

A breccia
is a rock
composed
p
of
angular fragments
cemented in a
matrix.

The formational processes

are not well understood
understood.
1st International FLAC/DEM Symposium 25 August 2008

Current
hypotheses
yp
for
the formation of
breccias suggest
the involvement
of fluids under
high pressure
gradients
underground.

1st International FLAC/DEM Symposium 25 August 2008

Brecciation
Simulations are carried out to explore what
conditions may produce breccias
resembling those observed.
Fracturing behaviour of rock is investigated
with
ith reference
f
tto a fl
fluidised
idi d bed
b d to
t
determine whether a process like fracturing
and fluidisation of a rock could produce
such formations.
A particle code is used because it allows
for the development of microstructures
forming significant cracks in particle
assemblies.
bli
1st International FLAC/DEM Symposium 25 August 2008

Rock is modelled as a collection of particles

bonded together
g
with a finite cohesion.

1st International FLAC/DEM Symposium 25 August 2008

The p
particle flow code PFC2D from
ITASCA incorporates a Fixed Coarse-Grid
Fluid Scheme that couples fluid flow and
deformation, and allows for large material
displacements.
(Stop Press: Is this also a suitable problem for the
computational fluid dynamics scheme now coupled in
with PFC4.0? Cao & Satoh, speaking now!
Consider also the stress blasting work.)

1st International FLAC/DEM Symposium 25 August 2008

Fluidised bed
15cm x 60cm; 2400 cohesionless particles
particles.

Shimizu, Y., 2004

Fluidised Bed
Flow regime maps have been
prepared for unfocused and focused
flow situations
that detail relationships between
strength,
fluid flow rates, and fracturing behaviors
and patterns.

1st International FLAC/DEM Symposium 25 August 2008

Parameters of Interest
Cohesive rock strength (parallel bond
normal and shear strengths).
Fluid flow rate.
Fluid mechanism: introduced uniformly or
from a point source.

1st International FLAC/DEM Symposium 25 August 2008

Lift

Fracture & Lift

Disintegrate & Lift

Stationary

Streng
gth (Pa)

Solid

Disintegrate

Fluid velocity (m/s)

Generic flow regime map showing the different behavior types

according to strength (Pa) and applied fluid velocity (m/s).

Unfocused Flow
The effect of varying fluid velocity
through 0.1m/s, 0.2m/s, 0.4m/s at
constant
t t bond
b d strength
t
th off 430Pa.
430P

Streng
gth (Pa)

xxxxxxxxx
xSolid
x
Fracture & Lift
x
xDisintegrate &
Lift
x
xDisintegrate
Di i t
t
x
xxxxxxxx

Flow regime map

Unfocused Flow - Behavioural types

Solid rock remains
unbroken.
Fracturing and lifting

Strength
h (Pa)

xxxxxxxxx

Unfocused Flow - Behavioural types

Lateral
L
l
fracturing
Disintegration
Di i t
ti

Sttrength (Pa)

xxxxxxxxx

Fracturing

Lateral
fracturing

Solid

Strength
h (Pa)

Disintegrates

Fluid velocity (m/s)

Flow regime map for unfocused flow

Focused flow

Flow
regime
i
map for
focused
flow.

Strength ((Pa)
S

Example of varying
fluid velocity, from
1 5 tto 5
1.5
5.5
5 m/s,
/ att
constant bond
strength of 4.3kPa.

Behavioural types
Solid
Fracturing
F
t i
and lifting

Behavioural types
Fracturing
leading to
fluidisation
Instant
fluidisation

1st International FLAC/DEM Symposium 25 August 2008

Fracture & lift

Fracture & disintegrate

Disintegrate
Stren
ngth (Pa)

Solid

Fluid velocity (m/s)

Flow regime map for focused flow

Heterogeneous bonds
Bond strengths applied according to a Gaussian distribution about the
mean value of 3.4e6 N, with standard deviation equal to a given
percentage of this mean.
Little change is
observed in the 1, 5
and 10 % deviation
models, with only
the 25% model
showing any
significant
i ifi
t
differences in initial
fracture patterning.

Heterogeneous bonds
Prolonged
g observation of
the model shows that
there is no
enhancement of
fracturing throughout
the heterogeneous
y compared
p
to
assembly
the homogeneous. This
modification to bond
strengths
g
is ineffective
at providing a
particularly easy path
p
for the fluid to exploit.
1st International FLAC/DEM Symposium 25 August 2008

Ob
Observe
a
cohesive strengthfluid flow rate
relationship where
rock has the
capacity to break
into brecciaresembling pieces
i terms
in
t
off size
i
and/or shape.

Fractures
Disintegrates Lifts &
disintegrates & lifts
Lifts
Lifts
Lifts
solidl
solidl
solidl

Lifts
solidly
Lifts
solidl

Method of fluid
introduction affects
migration patterns,
with unfocused flow
(left) resulting in
sheet-like uniform
motion,
& focused flow
(right) encouraging
turbulence and
migration of
fragments to the
bottom of the box.

Stren
ngth (Pa)

VE N
VEINS

BRECCIAS

Figure demonstrates the consequences of the fluid flow

g less than (veins)
(
) or greater
g
than (breccias)
(
) the fluid
being
flow predicted through Darcys Law for a given
permeability and fluid pressure gradient.

Veins versus Breccias

It appears feasible to consider
evolutionary paths for RVEs
(representative volume elements) as
the rock strength changes with damage
as a function of fluid velocity and put
deformation (strain? strain-rate?) as a
3rd axis.
axis

1st International FLAC/DEM Symposium 25 August 2008

Evolutionary paths
Ro
ock streng
gth + dam
mage

VEINS

BRECCIAS
unsaturated
No
Fluid

With
Fluid

saturated

1st International FLAC/DEM Symposium 25 August 2008

Conclusions
The purpose of the study was to find conditions
that would cause fracturing into breccia-resembling
pieces,, & result in transport/reorientation
p
p
of these
pieces.
What is gained from these unconstrained models
is an illustration of the distribution of fracture
patterns of the assembly for a given range of flow
rates and cohesive strengths
strengths. Mechanisms for
completely fracturing a rock using introduced fluid
are not revealed.
Some mixing and reorientation of fragments was
observed with the use of fluid from a point source;
this could be relevant to breccias that show
evidence of transport.

Further Conclusions
The preparation of flow regime maps is
fundamental to the interpretation of
breccia textures in the field since one
position a particular
p
texture within
can p
a rock strength/fluid velocity/porosity
field on the map.
The geological applications are
considerable; development of this area
would benefit mineral formation
predictions and understanding of
fracture formation.
formation
1st International FLAC/DEM Symposium 25 August 2008

Thank you

1st International FLAC/DEM Symposium 25 August 2008