Visualization and characterization of experimental hydraulic fractures interacting with karst fracture-cavity distributions

Karst fracture-cavity carbonate reservoirs,in which natural cavities are connected by natural fractures to form cavity clusters in many circumstances,have become significant fields of oil and gas exploration and exploitation.Proppant fracturing is considered as the best method for exploiting carbonate reservoirs;however,previous studies primarily focused on the effects of individual types of geological formations,such as natural fractures or cavities,on fracture propagation.In this study,true-triaxial physical simulation experiments were systematically performed under four types of stress difference conditions after the accurate prefabrication of four types of different fracture-cavity distributions in artificial samples.Subsequently,the interaction mechanism between the hydraulic fractures and fracture-cavity structures was systematically analyzed in combination with the stress distribution,cross-sectional morphology of the main propagation path,and three-dimensional visualization of the overall fracture network.It was found that the propagation of hydraulic fractures near the cavity was inhibited by the stress concentration surrounding the cavity.In contrast,a natural fracture with a smaller approach angle(0°and 30°)around the cavity can alleviate the stress concentration and significantly facilitate the connection with the cavity.In addition,the hydraulic fracture crossed the natural fracture at the 45°approach angle and bypassed the cavity under higher stress difference conditions.A new stimulation effectiveness evaluation index was established based on the stimulated reservoir area(SRA),tortuosity of the hydraulic fractures(T),and connectivity index(CI)of the cavities.These findings provide new insights into the fracturing design of carbonate reservoirs.

Image Analysis in the Experimental Fracture Healing under Cyclic Loading

This experimental study was designed to evaluate the ef-fects of cyclic loading on the strength of healing fractures

The law of fracture propagation and intersection in zipper fracturing of deep shale gas wells

In response to the unclear understanding of fracture propagation and intersection interference in zipper fracturing under the factory development model of deep shale gas wells,a coupled hydro-mechanical model for zipper fracturing considering the influence of natural fracture zones was established based on the finite element–discrete element method.The reliability of the model was verified using experimental data and field monitoring pressure increase data.Taking the deep shale gas reservoir in southern Sichuan as an example,the propagation and interference laws of fracturing fractures under the influence of natural fracture zones with different characteristics were studied.The results show that the large approaching angle fracture zone has a blocking effect on the forward propagation of fracturing fractures and the intersection of inter well fractures.During pump shutdown,hydraulic fractures exhibit continued expansion behavior under net pressure driving.Under high stress difference,as the approaching angle of the fracture zone increases,the response well pressure increase and the total length of the fractured fracture show a trend of first decreasing and then increasing,and first increasing and then decreasing,respectively.Compared to small approach angle fracture zones,natural fracture zones with large approach angles require longer time and have greater difficulty to intersect.The width of fractures and the length of natural fractures are negatively and positively correlated with the response well pressure increase,respectively,and positively and negatively correlated with the time required for intersection,the total length of hydraulic fractures,and fracturing efficiency,respectively.As the displacement distance of the well increases,the probability of fracture intersection decreases,but the regularity between displacement distance and the response well pressure increase and the total length of fractures is not obvious.

Experimental observation of rat's early-stage fracture healing with different kinds of nerve injuries

To investigate the impact of different kinds of nerve injuries of early-stage fracture healing.Methods Three groups of rats were included in the experiment among which group 1 was inflicted with femoral fracture and T10 spinal cord transsection (SCI),group 2 was inflicted with femoral and peripheral nerve resection (PNR),and group 3 with simple femoral fracture as control group.Two weeks after operation the femoral bones were collected for X-ray checking and 2 more weeks later X-ray checking was performed again followed by pathomorphologic exams.Results X-ray result showed no massive calluses in the bones in the 2nd week postoperatively,while in the 4th week,callus appeared with larger size in group 3 than that of group 1 and with smaller size than that of group 2.It was the same with the result of pathomorphologic examining.Cortical bone bridges between fracture point and osteiod were also found in group 2 and there were less normal blood vessels and worse bone remodeling than that of group 3.There were relatively immature calluses with more fibroblast-like cells and disordered bone structure in group 2.Group 3 showed normal healing process and callus structure.Conclusion Early-stage bone fracture healing can be influenced significantly by different kinds of nerve injuries.6 refs,6 figs.

Ultrasonic vibrations and coal permeability: Laboratory experimental investigations and numerical simulations

Ultrasonic vibrations in coal lead to cavitation bubble oscillation, growth, shrinkage, and collapse, and the strong vibration of cavitation bubbles not only makes coal pores break and cracks propagate, but plays an important role in enhancing the permeability of coal. In this paper, the influence of ultrasonic cavitation on coal and the effects of the sonic waves on crack generation, propagation, connection, as well as the effect of cracks on the coal permeability, are studied. The experimental results show that cracks in coal are generated even connected rapidly after ultrasonic cavitation. Under the effect of ultrasonic cavitation,the permeability increases between 30% and 60%, and the number of cracks in coal also significantly increased. Numerical experiments show that the effective sound pressure is beneficial to fracture propagation and connection, and it is closely related to the permeability. Moreover, the numerical simulations and physical experiments provide a guide for the coal permeability improvement.

Experimental Research on Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Fracturing of Sedimentary Rock:A Critical Review

Supercritical carbon dioxide(ScCO_(2))fracturing has great advantages and prospects in both shale gas exploitation and CO_(2)storage.This paper reviews current laboratory experimental methods and results for sedimentary rocks fractured by ScCO_(2).The breakdown pressure,fracture parameters,mineral composition,bedding plane angle and permeability are discussed.We also compare the differences between sedimentary rock and granite fractured by ScCO_(2),ultimately noting problems and suggesting solutions and strategies for the future.The analysis found that the breakdown pressure of ScCO_(2)was reduced 6.52%–52.31%compared with that of using water.ScCO_(2)tends to produce a complex fracture morphology with significantly higher permeability.When compared with water,the fracture aperture of ScCO_(2)was decreased by 4.10%–72.33%,the tortuosity of ScCO_(2)was increased by 5.41%–70.98%and the fractal dimension of ScCO_(2)was increased by 4.55%–8.41%.The breakdown pressure of sandstone is more sensitive to the nature of the fracturing fluid,but fracture aperture is less sensitive to fracturing fluid than for shale and coal.Compared with granite,the tortuosity of sedimentary rock is more sensitive to the fracturing fluid and the fracture fractal dimension is less sensitive to the fracturing fluid.Existing research shows that ScCO_(2)has the advantages of low breakdown pressure,good fracture creation and environmental protection.It is recommended that research be conducted in terms of sample terms,experimental conditions,effectiveness evaluation and theoretical derivation in order to promote the application of ScCO_(2)reformed reservoirs in the future.

Some results of modeling D-D seismogenic pattern by the fracture model experiment of large-scale rock samples(I)

sing the natural limestone samples taken from the field with dimension of 500 mm×500 mm×1 000 mm, the D-D (dilatancy-diffusion) seismogeny pattern was modeled under the condition of water injection, which observes the time-space evolutionary features about the relative physics fields of the loaded samples from deformation, formation of microcracks to the occurrence of main rupture. The results of observed apparent resistivity show: ① The process of the deformation from microcrack to main rupture on the loaded rock sample could be characterized by the precursory spatial-temporal changes in the observation of apparent resistivity; ② The precursory temporal changes of observation in apparent resistivity could be divided into several stages, and its spatial distribution shows the difference in different parts of the rock sample; ③ Before the main rupture of the rock sample the obvious ″tendency anomaly′ and ′short-term anomaly″ were observed, and some of them could be likely considered as the ″impending earthquake ″anomaly precursor of apparent resistivity. The changes and distribution features of apparent resistivity show that they are intrinsically related to the dilatancy phenomenon of the loaded rock sample. Finally, this paper discusses the mechanism of resistivity change of loaded rock sample theoretically.

Study on the physical meaning of seismic inhomogeneous degree by rock fracture experiments

It is observed that the parameter of seismic inhomogeneous degree (GL value) calculated from the earthquake catalog shows obvious abnormal changes prior to strong earthquakes, indicating the state change of local seismic activity. This paper focuses on the mechanism for the abnormal changes of the GL values based on the sequences of acoustic emission for three types of rock samples containing macro-asperity fracture; compressional en-echelon fracture and model-III shear fracture. The results show that for the three types of rock samples, there are continuous abnormal changes of GL value (>1) just before the non-elastic deformation occurs or during the process of nucleation prior to the instability. Based on the experimental results, it seems that the process of creep sliding and resistance-uniformization along fault zone is the possible mechanism for the abnormal changes of GL value before rock fractures.

Mutual impact of true triaxial stress, borehole orientation and bedding inclination on laboratory hydraulic fracturing of Lushan shale

Unconventional resources like shale gas has been the focus of intense research and development for two decades. Apart from intrinsic geologic factors that control the gas shale productivity (e.g. organic matter content, bedding planes, natural fractures, porosity and stress regime among others), external factors like wellbore orientation and stimulation design play a role. In this study, we present a series of true triaxial hydraulic fracturing experiments conducted on Lushan shale to investigate the interplay of internal factors (bedding, natural fractures and in situ stress) and external factors (wellbore orientation) on the growth process of fracture networks in cubic specimens of 200 mm in length. We observe relatively low breakdown pressure and fracture propagation pressure as the wellbore orientation and/or the maximum in situ stress is subparallel to the shale bedding plane. The wellbore orientation has a more prominent effect on the breakdown pressure, but its effect is tapered with increasing angle of bedding inclination. The shale breakdown is followed by an abrupt response in sample displacement, which reflects the stimulated fracture volume. Based on fluid tracer analysis, the morphology of hydraulic fractures (HF) is divided into four categories. Among the categories, activation of bedding planes (bedding failure, BF) and natural fractures (NF) significantly increase bifurcation and fractured areas. Under the same stress regime, a horizontal wellbore is more favorable to enhance the complexity of hydraulic fracture networks. This is attributed to the relatively large surface area in contact with the bedding plane for the horizontal borehole compared to the case with a vertical wellbore. These findings provide important references for hydraulic fracturing design in shale reservoirs.

The Precursory Meanings of the Deviation of the Magnitude-Frequency Distribution of Earthquakes from the Gutenberg-Richter Law

The Gutenberg-Richter law (G-R law) of the magnitude-frequency distribution of earthquakes has been an important base in seismology for a long time. However, the actual magnitude-frequency distribution usually deviates from the G-R law. Based on the experimental results of three different rock samples, which contain macro-asperity, compressional en-echelon fault and model-Ⅲ shear fault, the correlative coefficient (r) was calculated by fitting the sequences of the acoustic emissions with the G-R law in every scanning time window. We investigated the changes of the correlative coefficient, which describes the actual deviation of magnitude-frequency distribution of earthquakes from the G-R law within the specific scanning time window. According to the results of the rock samples containing macro-asperity and compressional en-echelon fault respectively, the value decreases prior to the rock fracture, meaning that the deviation of magnitude-frequency distribution from the G-R law tends to be larger. The result of the model-Ⅲ shear fault didn’t show obvious decrease before the final rock fracture. Actually, the studies of some earthquakes also show deviation before the occurrence of moderate earthquakes. The results obtained in this paper will provide us with some useful clues for studying precursors before the occurrence of moderate earthquakes with the data of regional earthquake activities.

Fluid-driven fault nucleation, rupture processes, and permeability evolutionin oshima granite — Preliminary results and acoustic emission datasets

This study investigated the fault nucleation and rupture processes driven by stress and fluid pressure in finegrained granite by monitoring acoustic emissions (AEs). Through detailed analysis of the spatiotemporal distribution of the AE hypocenter, P-wave velocity, stress-strain, and other experimental observation data underdifferent confining pressures for stress-driven fractures and under different water injection conditions for fluiddriven fractures, it was found that fluid has the following effects: 1) complicating the fault nucleation process,2) exhibiting episodic AE activity corresponding to fault branching and the formation of multiple faults, 3)extending the spatiotemporal scale of nucleation processes and pre-slip, and 4) reducing the dynamic rupturevelocity and stress drop. The experiments also show that 1) during the fault nucleation process, the b-value for AEschanges from 1 to 1.3 to 0.5 before dynamic rupture, and then rapidly recovers to around 1–1.2 during aftershockactivity and 2) the hydraulic diffusivity gradually increases from an initial pre-rupture order of 0.1 m2/s to10–100 m2/s after dynamic rupture. These results provide a reasonable fault pre-slip model, indicating thathydraulic fracturing promotes shear slip before dynamic rupture, as well as laboratory-scale insights into ensuringthe safety and effectiveness of hydraulic fracturing operations related to activities such as geothermal development, evaluating the seismic risk induced by water injection, and further researching the precursory preparationprocess for deep fluid-driven or fluid-involved natural earthquakes. The publicly available dataset is expected tobe used for various purposes, including 1) as training data for artificial intelligence related to microseismic dataprocessing and analysis, 2) predicting the remaining time before rock fractures, and 3) establishing models andassessment methods for the relationship between microseismic characteristics and rock hydraulic properties,which will deepen our understanding of the interaction mechanisms between fluid migration and rock deformation and fracture.

Study on anisotropy of Longmaxi shale using hydraulic fracturing experiment

Hydraulic fracturing reservoir reconstruction technology is crucial in the development of shale gas exploitation techniques.Large quantities of high-pressure fluids injected into shale reservoirs significantly alter compressional(P)and shear(S)wave velocities,rock mechanical parameters,and anisotropic characteristics.In this study,differentiated hydraulic fracturing petrophysical experiments were carried out on Longmaxi Formation shale under pseudo-triaxial stress loading conditions.The effects of stress loading methods,and water-rock physical and chemical reactions on P-and S-wave velocities and rock mechanical parameters were compared.The experimental results showed that isotropic stress loading may increase the P-and Swave velocities and Young’s modulus of dry shale kldnsample.Furthermore,it may lead to a weakening of the corresponding anisotropy.In contrast,differential stress loading was able to improve the anisotropy of Young’s modulus and accelerate the decrease in the compressive strength of shale in the vertical bedding direction.The water-rock physical and chemical reactions prompted by hydraulic fracturing was found to"soften"shale samples and reduce Young’s modulus.The influence of this"soften"effect on the compressional and shear wave velocities of shale was negligible,whilst there was a significant decrease in the anisotropy characteristics of Thomsen parameters,Young’s modulus,and Poisson’s ratio.The negative linear relationship between the Poisson’s ratios of the shale samples was also observed to lose sensitivity to stress loading,as a result of the"soften"effect of fracturing fluid on shale.The results of this study provide a reliable reference point and data support for future research on the mechanical properties of Longmaxi shale rocks.