Abstract
The time-dependent deformation of shale under shear load is a crucial factor affecting reservoir fracture closure. This study performed systematic conventional direct shear tests and step-load direct shear creep tests on shale samples. The results showed that the shale’s creep and transient strain increased approximately linearly with the addition of shear stress; the steady-state creep rate showed a trend of power law—exponential function with the increase of shear stress level. The accelerated creep stage occurs when the shear stress reaches the level of the crack damage stress, which can be regarded as the long-term direct shear strength. The damage development and microcrack propagation during shear creep can be adequately described by the apparent principal strain field obtained with the DIC test system. Finally, a new nonlinear viscoelastic-plastic direct shear creep model was constructed with considering the time-scale effect and the evolutionary law of cohesion. This model can predicted the creep deformation of shale under various shear stress levels. It also revealed the coexisting and competing internal mechanism of the hardening and damage effects in the process of shale shear creep.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Dr. Yang Liu and Dr. Zhaopeng Zhang from the Key Laboratory of Deep Earth Science and Engineering (Ministry of Education) at Sichuan University for their useful discussions and experiment assistance in this work.
Funding
This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 12172230, U22A20166, U2013603, 51804203), the Department of Science and Technology of Guangdong Province (No. 2019ZT08G315) and the Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (2023A1515012654).
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Ye, C., Xie, H., Wu, F. et al. Study on the nonlinear time-dependent deformation characteristics and viscoelastic-plastic model of shale under direct shear loading path. Bull Eng Geol Environ 82, 189 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-023-03170-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-023-03170-y