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Impact of Effective Stress and Surface Roughness on Nonlinear Gas Flow in Shale Fractures

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Abstract

The behavior of gas flow in fractures is crucial for evaluating shale gas production. This study focused on the coupling relationships between effective stress, surface roughness, and gas flow behavior in shale fractures. Three fractured shale specimens were generated using Brazilian splitting tests. The fracture surfaces were then scanned using a 3D profilometer to quantify surface roughness in two and three dimensions. Gas flow tests were conducted on the fractured shale specimens under varying effective stresses (1–15 MPa). The results showed that the Spc (arithmetic mean curvature of crest points) had little effect on nonlinear flow at low effective stress (1–5 MPa) but it became more pronounced at high effective stress (10–15 MPa) due to fracture channel narrowing. Then, the inertial force effect regulated by effective stress and roughness was enhanced as the Reynolds number increased. A friction coefficient model based on the nonlinear effect factor and Reynolds number is proposed and it fits the experimental data well. Furthermore, that effective stress plays a dominant role in permeability loss compared to fracture surface roughness and fluid properties, and exponential function better describes fractured shale permeability under effective stress than power function. Finally, during fracture closure under effective stress, Ra (arithmetic mean roughness) correlated positively with the self-supporting effect of fracture surfaces. As Spc increased, fracture surface peaks became sharper and more easily damaged due to excessive extrusion between contact surfaces.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2020YFA0711800), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51774278), the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (51925404).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Coal Methane and Fire Control, Ministry of Education, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, 221116, Jiangsu, China

    Ting Huang, Cheng Zhai, Ting Liu, Jizhao Xu, Yangfeng Zheng & Xinyu Zhu

  2. School of Safety Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, 221116, Jiangsu, China

    Ting Huang, Cheng Zhai, Ting Liu, Jizhao Xu, Yangfeng Zheng & Xinyu Zhu

  3. National Engineering Research Center for Coal Gas Control, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, 221116, Jiangsu, China

    Ting Huang, Cheng Zhai, Ting Liu, Jizhao Xu, Yangfeng Zheng & Xinyu Zhu

  4. School of Low-Carbon Energy and Power Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, 221116, Jiangsu, China

    Yong Sun

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  1. Ting Huang
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Huang, T., Zhai, C., Liu, T. et al. Impact of Effective Stress and Surface Roughness on Nonlinear Gas Flow in Shale Fractures. Nat Resour Res 32, 2637–2654 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11053-023-10243-y

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