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Simulation of rock failure modes in thermal spallation drilling

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Abstract

Thermal spallation drilling is a contact-less means of borehole excavation that works by exposing a rock surface to a high-temperature jet flame. In this study, we investigate crucial factors for the success of such thermal drilling operations using numerical simulations of the thermomechanical processes leading to rock failure at the borehole surface. To that end, we integrate a model developed for spalling failure with our thermomechanical simulations. In particular, we consider the role of material heterogeneities, maximum jet-flame temperature and maximum jet-flame temperature rise time on the onset of inelastic deformation and subsequent damage. We further investigate differences in energy consumption for the studied system configurations. The simulations highlight the importance of material composition, as thermal spallation is favored in fine-grained material with strong material heterogeneity. The model is used to test the relationship between the jet-flame temperature and the onset of thermal spallation.

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Acknowledgements

The Swiss Federal Office of Energy (Bundesamt für Energie—BFE) has supported this work under Grant Nr. SI/501658-01. MOS further thanks the Werner Siemens Foundation (Werner Siemens-Stiftung—WSS) for their endowment of the Geothermal Energy and Geofluids (GEG.ethz.ch) group at ETH Zurich (ETHZ), Switzerland. The authors want to thank Philipp Schädle, Andrew Wilkins, Daniel Schwen, Andrew E. Slaughter, Cody Permann and members of the MOOSE team for constructive discussions. Any opinions, findings, conclusions and/or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the BFE, WSS, ETHZ or the MOOSE team. The authors also thank the two anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestions that improved the paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geothermal Energy and Geofluids, Institute of Geophysics, ETH Zurich, Sonneggstr. 5, 8092, Zurich, Switzerland

    Daniel Vogler & Martin O. Saar

  2. Transport Processes and Reactions Laboratory, Institute of Process Engineering, ETH Zurich, Sonneggstr. 3, 8092, Zurich, Switzerland

    Daniel Vogler & Philipp Rudolf von Rohr

  3. Department of Civil Engineering, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

    Stuart D. C. Walsh

  4. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA

    Martin O. Saar

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  1. Daniel Vogler
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Correspondence to Daniel Vogler.

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Vogler, D., Walsh, S.D.C., von Rohr, P.R. et al. Simulation of rock failure modes in thermal spallation drilling. Acta Geotech. 15, 2327–2340 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11440-020-00927-7

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