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Effect of Thermal Treatment on the Physical and Mechanical Properties of Sandstone: Insights from Experiments and Simulations

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Abstract

During oil and gas exploitation in tight sandstone reservoirs, the influence of temperature on the physical and mechanical properties of sandstone cannot be ignored, which is of great significance to the formulation of oil and gas exploitation techniques and the accurate evaluation of recovery. In this article, the physical and mechanical properties of sandstone after thermal treatment from 25 to 800 °C are investigated by laboratory tests. The experimental results indicate that 400 °C is a threshold, and the temperatures of less than 400 °C have little effect on the physical and mechanical properties of sandstone. Poisson's ratio has a sudden change between 400 and 600 °C, and this change can be attributed to the phase transition of quartz at 573 °C. As the temperature increases, the failure behavior of sandstone transforms from brittle to ductile. Subsequently, a Knuth–Durstenfeld shuffle algorithm is introduced to characterize the heterogeneity of rocks considering mineral composition, and this algorithm is verified to better reveal the thermal damage of rocks. The uniaxial compression test of sandstone after thermal treatment is a two-stage damage process, and this process is completely simulated in COMSOL. In addition, a fully coupled thermal–mechanical-damage constitutive model is established to predict the failure process of rocks. The ultimate failure modes of sandstone in the simulation are in good agreement with the experimental results, indicating the reliability of the proposed model.

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Abbreviations

\(T\) :

Temperature

\(\delta (T)\) :

Physical properties of sandstone after heat treatment at \(T\)

\(\delta_{0}\) :

Physical properties of sandstone at room temperature

\(w\) :

Rate of change of physical properties

\(\alpha_{{\text{T}}}\) :

Linear thermal expansion coefficient

\(c\) :

Cohesion

\(\varphi\) :

Internal friction angle

\(\sigma_{1} ,\;\sigma_{3}\) :

First principal stress and third principal stress

\(\sigma_{ij}\) :

Cauchy stress tensor component

\(F_{i}\) :

Body force in the i direction

\(\varepsilon_{ij}\) :

Cauchy strain tensor component

\(u_{i}\) :

Displacement in the i direction

\(\delta_{ij}\) :

Kronecker delta

\(E\) :

Young's modulus

\(K\) :

Bulk modulus

\(\nu\) :

Poisson's ratio

\(\lambda ,\;G\) :

Lame constant

\(\rho\) :

Bulk density

\(C_{{\text{v}}}\) :

Specific heat capacity

\(k\) :

Thermal conductivity

\(Q\) :

Source term

\(t\) :

Time

\(F_{1} ,\;F_{2}\) :

Functions of tensile and shear stress state

\(f_{t0} ,\;f_{c0}\) :

Uniaxial tensile strength and uniaxial compressive strength

\(\varepsilon_{1} ,\;\varepsilon_{3}\) :

First and third principal strain

\(\varepsilon_{t0} ,\;\varepsilon_{c0}\) :

Maximum elastic tensile strain and maximum elastic compressive strain

\(D\) :

Damage variable

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Acknowledgements

The research is financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China No. 51779021 and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities No. 2020CDCGJ021.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Civil Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400045, China

    Man Li & Xianshan Liu

  2. National Joint Engineering Research Center of Geohazards Prevention in the Reservoir Areas, Chongqing, 400045, China

    Man Li & Xianshan Liu

  3. Key Laboratory of New Technology for Construction of Cities in Mountain Area, Ministry of Education, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400045, China

    Man Li & Xianshan Liu

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  1. Man Li
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Correspondence to Xianshan Liu.

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Li, M., Liu, X. Effect of Thermal Treatment on the Physical and Mechanical Properties of Sandstone: Insights from Experiments and Simulations. Rock Mech Rock Eng 55, 3171–3194 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00603-022-02791-1

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