Abstract
Pore fluid significantly affects the mechanical property of rocks. To understand the effect of heterogeneous distribution of pore water with high pressure, two partly saturated specimens of lower Shaximiao sandstone, which is a typical reservoir rock in Sichuan Basin, China, were performed under triaxial compression. The distribution of pore water was first derived from the ultrasonic mapping due to the obvious sensitivity of P-wave velocity to water infiltration. Owing to the direct measurements of multichannel P-wave velocity and injected fluid volume, the specimens along the axial direction could be divided into three sections: saturated (Sw ~ 100%), partially saturated (Sw < 100%), and dry regions (Sw ~ 0%), enabling us to investigate the fracturing behaviors around dry/wet boundary and examine the possibility of developing an interactive wet/dry mixed fracturing technology. The microcrack activity and fracturing process was captured by acoustic emission monitoring, and finally verified by X-ray computed tomography images after the experiments. Our results indicate that flooding region with higher pore pressure benefits earlier fracturing. Fracture initiated in the saturated region and migrated toward to the partially saturated and dry regions. As a result, heterogeneous distribution of pore water and pore pressure benefits the formation of complex microcrack network around the wet/dry boundary (partially saturated region) and induced seismicity with higher b-value. Thus, it seems to be promising to develop an interactive wet/dry mixed fracturing technology, which facilitates the formation of complex fracture networks and reduces the risk of induced earthquakes. These results may provide interesting references for applications related to hydraulic fracturing of tight sandstone.
Highlights
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Partly saturated tight sandstone was compressed to failure under triaxial compression.
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Fracture initiated in the saturated region and migrated toward to the partially saturated and dry regions.
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Heterogeneous distribution of pore water with high pressure benefits the formation of complex microcrack network.
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An interactive wet/dry mixed fracturing technology may be effective for tight formation.
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Acknowledgements
This work was partially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41902297), the Knowledge Innovation Program of Wuhan - Basic Research (Grant No. 2022010801010159), and the Major Project of Inner Mongolia Science and Technology (Grant No. 2021ZD0034).
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Li, X., Lei, X., Shen, H. et al. Fracturing Around Dry/Wet Boundary in Tight Sandstones Monitored by Micro-seismicity in Laboratory. Rock Mech Rock Eng 56, 3693–3708 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00603-023-03241-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00603-023-03241-2