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Study on the effect of injection rate on the fracture initiation and extension in cement-sand slurry specimens

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Abstract

This paper investigates the influence of different fracturing fluid injection rates on various fracturing parameters of cement-sand slurry specimens, besides the fracture shapes and extension patterns produced by the specimens under this condition. The experimental study was carried out by configuring square cement-sand slurry specimens with the same cement and sand ratio, combined with ISCO injection pump, acoustic emission equipment, and CT scanning equipment. The test results showed that the fracture initiation time and initiation duration of specimens gradually decreased; in addition, the fracture initiation pressure gradually increased as the injection rate increased. In addition, the shape of fractures produced by fracturing changes from irregular to regular with increasing injection rate; the complexity of the fracture network changes from complex to simple with increasing injection rate. In this paper, acoustic emission and CT technology are combined with the test, so as to more scientifically and intuitively explore the influence mechanism of injection rate on hydraulic fracturing of specimens and fracture expansion research. In addition, adjusting the injection volume of fracturing fluid plays an important role in improving mining efficiency and economic cost. This is an important reference for the use of hydraulic fracturing in a large number of rock projects such as deep coal resource extraction as well as coalbed methane development.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (52074171, 51934004), Taishan scholar project special funding (TS20190935), and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation. (2018M642681).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Mining Disaster Prevention and Control Co-Founded By Shandong Province and the Ministry of Science and Technology, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266590, China

    Shanwei Hu, Yanbin Yu, Weimin Cheng & Tong Lv

  2. College of Energy and Mining Engineering, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266590, China

    Shanwei Hu

  3. College of Safety and Environmental Engineering, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266590, China

    Yanbin Yu, Weimin Cheng & Tong Lv

  4. China Coal Technology Engineering Group Chongqing Research Institute, Chongqing, 400039, China

    Lei Zheng

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  1. Shanwei Hu
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  2. Yanbin Yu
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  3. Weimin Cheng
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  4. Lei Zheng
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  5. Tong Lv
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Correspondence to Yanbin Yu.

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Hu, S., Yu, Y., Cheng, W. et al. Study on the effect of injection rate on the fracture initiation and extension in cement-sand slurry specimens. Bull Eng Geol Environ 81, 150 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-022-02645-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-022-02645-8

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