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An experimental study of the effect of fillings on hydraulic properties of single fractures

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Abstract

Fluid flow in single rock fractures considering the influences of fracture surface roughness, shearing process, normal loading, and so on has been extensively studied for several decades, yet the significant influence of fillings has not been systematically investigated due to the numerous difficulties such as determination of the physical parameters of fillings. The present study aims to estimate the hydraulic properties of single fractures filled with different graded and gap-graded fillings, based on a series of flow tests on rock-like samples using the MTS815.02 material testing system. With the increment of fracture aperture, the pressure drops before and after fillings are flowed away decrease, whereas the permeabilities before and after fillings are flowed away increase. When the ratio of mechanical aperture of fractures to maximum diameter of fillings decreases from 4 to 1.33, both pressure drop and permeability change significantly before the fillings are flowed away and then hold constant values after the fillings are flowed away. Due to the effects of fraction force and interlocking force between particles, the ratio of mechanical aperture to maximum diameter of fillings that equals to 2.67 is the inflection point, where the pressure drop has the maximum value and permeability has the minimum value. When the fractures are filled with gap-graded fillings, in which the ratio of mechanical aperture of fractures to mean diameter of fillings decreases from 5.76 to 1.45, the variations of both pressure drop and permeability before fillings are flowed away change more significantly than those after fillings are flowed away. The hydraulic aperture of fractures with fillings is approximately 2–3 orders of magnitude smaller than the mechanical aperture.

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Acknowledgements

This study has been partially funded by National Basic Research 973 Program of China, China (Grant No. 2013CB036003), and National Natural Science Foundation of China, China (Grant Nos. 51579239, 51374198, 51323004). These supports are gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory for Geomechanics and Deep Underground Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, 221116, People’s Republic of China

    Richeng Liu, Hongwen Jing, Lixin He, Tantan Zhu, Liyuan Yu & Haijian Su

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  1. Richeng Liu
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  2. Hongwen Jing
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  3. Lixin He
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  4. Tantan Zhu
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  5. Liyuan Yu
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  6. Haijian Su
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Correspondence to Hongwen Jing.

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Liu, R., Jing, H., He, L. et al. An experimental study of the effect of fillings on hydraulic properties of single fractures. Environ Earth Sci 76, 684 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-017-7024-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-017-7024-8

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