An Experimental Investigation of Hydraulic Fracturing in Shale Considering Anisotropy and Using Freshwater and Supercritical CO 2

Jianming He, Lekan Olatayo Afolagboye, Chong Lin and Xiaole Wan
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Jianming He: Key Laboratory of Shale Gas and Geoengineering, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China
Lekan Olatayo Afolagboye: Key Laboratory of Shale Gas and Geoengineering, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China
Chong Lin: Key Laboratory of Shale Gas and Geoengineering, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China
Xiaole Wan: Key Laboratory of Shale Gas and Geoengineering, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China

Energies, 2018, vol. 11, issue 3, 1-13

Abstract: The process of hydraulic fracturing makes use of a liquid to fracture reservoir rocks for the exploitation of unconventional resources. Hence, it is vital to understand the processes that produce the fracture networks that occur during hydraulic fracturing. A shale reservoir is one of the largest unconventional resources and it displays obvious anisotropic characteristics due to its inherent sedimentary structures. The viscosity and flow ability of the fracturing fluid plays an important role in this process. We conducted a series of hydraulic fracturing tests on shale cores (from the southern Sichuan Basin) using freshwater and supercritical CO 2 (SCO 2 ) as fracturing fluids to investigate the different modes of fracture propagation. The pump pressure curves that we obtained during the fracturing experiment show how the shale responded to each of the fracturing fluids. We examined the influence of the anisotropic characteristics on the propagation of hydraulic fractures by conducting a series of hydraulic fracturing experiments on the shale cores using different bedding orientations. The bedding orientation of the shale had a profound influence on the fracture propagation when using either freshwater or a SCO 2 fluid. The breakdown pressure of the shale core was affected not only by the bedding orientation but also by the fracturing fluid. A macroscopic observation of the fractures revealed different fracture geometries and propagation patterns. The results demonstrated that the anisotropic structures and the fracturing fluids could influence the path of the hydraulic fracture.

Keywords: shale; anisotropy; bedding orientation; fracture propagation; supercritical CO 2 (SCO 2 ) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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