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Experimental measurement on the hydraulic conductivity of deep low-permeability rock

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Abstract

Hydraulic conductivity is an important hydrogeological parameter and is difficultly measured by laboratory experiments. In order to obtain the effective hydraulic conductivity of deep low-permeability rock and to study the water flow behavior within the rocks, in situ water injection experiments were employed in a deep underground tunnel. The applicability of Darcy’s law is discussed as well. The study results show that Darcy’s law may still be applicable for the initial determination of hydraulic conductivity for a partial transitional flow of water injection experiments, which retains linear relationship between pressure and flow rate. Water flow behavior in the rock experiences the initial stable phase, the increase phase, and the late stable phase in general but also has distinct flow properties due to the different characters of rocks. Hydraulic conductivity change with differential injection pressure can be divided into two phases, i.e., approximated constant hydraulic conductivity values which can be considered as the hydraulic conductivity of the rock in the initial flow phase and its effective value jump in the flow mutation phase caused by hydraulic fracturing.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to gratefully acknowledge the support by the State Basic Research and Development Program of China (No. 2013CB036003), the Construction Technology Project of Ministry of Transport of the People’s Republic of China (No. 2013318J12330), the PAPD (a project funded by the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions), and the outstanding innovation PhD student scholarship of China University of Mining and Technology.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Resources and Earth Science, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, 221116, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China

    Zhen Huang, Zhenquan Jiang & Jiaju Fu

  2. Yanzhou Coal Mine Co., Yanzhou Coal Mining Company, Zoucheng, 273500, Shandong, People’s Republic of China

    Dingtao Cao

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  1. Zhen Huang
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  2. Zhenquan Jiang
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  3. Jiaju Fu
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  4. Dingtao Cao
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Correspondence to Zhen Huang.

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Huang, Z., Jiang, Z., Fu, J. et al. Experimental measurement on the hydraulic conductivity of deep low-permeability rock. Arab J Geosci 8, 5389–5396 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-014-1586-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-014-1586-5

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