STUDY ON MICROSTRUCTURAL EVOLUTION OF ROCK FRACTURES UNDER MULTI-FIELD INTERACTIONS

Dayu Ye, Guannan Liu, Boming Yu, Zongqing Zhou (), Chenglu Gao and Feng Gao
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Dayu Ye: State Key Laboratory for Geomechanics and Deep Underground Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology Xuzhou, Jiangsu 221116, P. R. China†Key Laboratory of Deep Earth Science and Engineering (Sichuan University), Ministry of Education, Chengdu 610065, Sichuan, P. R. China
Guannan Liu: ��Key Laboratory of Deep Earth Science and Engineering (Sichuan University), Ministry of Education, Chengdu 610065, Sichuan, P. R. China‡Mechanics and Civil Engineering Institute, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, Jiangsu 221116, P. R. China
Boming Yu: �School of Physics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, P. R. China
Zongqing Zhou: �Geotechnical and Structural Engineering Research Center, Shandong University, Jinan 250061, P. R. China
Chenglu Gao: �Geotechnical and Structural Engineering Research Center, Shandong University, Jinan 250061, P. R. China
Feng Gao: State Key Laboratory for Geomechanics and Deep Underground Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology Xuzhou, Jiangsu 221116, P. R. China†Key Laboratory of Deep Earth Science and Engineering (Sichuan University), Ministry of Education, Chengdu 610065, Sichuan, P. R. China

FRACTALS (fractals), 2022, vol. 30, issue 03, 1-16

Abstract: The complex rock fracture structures in reservoirs play an important role during methane extraction. However, there is still a challenge to elucidate the impacts of adsorption–desorption, rock expansion, and thermal conduction on the microstructures under thermal–hydrological–mechanical interactions. In this paper, fractal theory for porous media was applied to characterize the structures of rock fractures, and the fracture fractal dimension (Df) was adopted to analyze the density of fractures and the microstructural evolution. We developed a coupled thermal–hydrological–mechanical model enabling simultaneous analysis of rock fracture microstructures and multi-physical field effects. Furthermore, we analyzed the evolution of the fracture fractal dimension with the reservoir parameter effects, including: (1) methane extraction process; (2) reservoir stress; (3) pore pressure; and (4) reservoir temperature. We also calculated the effects of physical and mechanical factors on the above parameters, including (1) adsorption constant; (2) the in-situ stress; and (3) thermal expansion coefficient. The present results indicate that various characteristic parameters have multiple effects on the microstructures of rock fractures. It was found that the fractal dimension is inversely proportional to the reservoir stress, the gas pressure, and the reservoir temperature.

Keywords: Fractal Dimension; Thermal–Hydrological–Mechanical Interactions; Rock Fractures; Coupled Model; Gas Adsorption (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1142/S0218348X2250058X

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