Propagation Characteristics of Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Induced Fractures under True Tri-Axial Stresses

Yi Hu, Feng Liu, Yuqiang Hu, Yong Kang, Hao Chen and Jiawei Liu
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Yi Hu: State Key Laboratory of Petroleum Resources and Prospecting, China University of Petroleum, Beijing 102249, China
Feng Liu: Hubei Key Laboratory of Waterjet Theory and New Technology, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China
Yuqiang Hu: Underground Gas Store Management Agency of Huabei Oilfield Company, Renqiu 062550, China
Yong Kang: Hubei Key Laboratory of Waterjet Theory and New Technology, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China
Hao Chen: Hubei Key Laboratory of Waterjet Theory and New Technology, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China
Jiawei Liu: Hubei Key Laboratory of Waterjet Theory and New Technology, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 22, 1-13

Abstract: Supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO 2 ) fracturing is a non-aqueous fracturing technology, which has attracted considerable attention on exploiting shale gas. In this study, shale specimens and artificial sandstone specimens were used to conduct SC-CO 2 fracturing and water fracturing experiments to investigate the characteristics of SC-CO 2 induced fractures. An acoustic emission (AE) monitoring device was employed to monitor the AE energy release rate during the experiment. The experiment results indicate that the breakdown pressure of SC-CO 2 fracturing is lower than that of water fracturing under the same conditions, and the AE energy release rate of SC-CO 2 fracturing is 1–2 orders of magnitude higher than that of water fracturing. In artificial sandstone, which is homogeneous, the main fracture mainly propagates along the directions perpendicular to the minimum principal stress, no matter if using SC-CO 2 or water as the fracturing fluid, but in shale with weak structural planes, the propagation direction of the fracture is controlled by the combined effect of a weak structural plane and in-situ stress.

Keywords: SC-CO 2 fracturing; fracture propagation; acoustic emission; shale (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: 2019
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