Effect of confining pressure on fracture characteristics and mineralogical behavior of tight sandstone specimens after hydraulic fracturing

Abstract

This study focuses on hydraulic fracturing experiments conducted under triaxial conditions on tight sandstone specimens from Shivpuri district, Madhya Pradesh, India. The experiments assessed the effect of confining pressure on specimens with 10 and 12 mm borehole diameters. Breakdown pressure observations indicates that increasing confining pressure results in higher breakdown pressures for both borehole sizes, with slightly higher breakdown pressures for the 10 specimens. Using BSE-SEM (backscattered electron-scanning electron microscope) imaging, the fracture was obtained, and four distributions that are Weibull, Lognormal, normal, and exponential, Anderson Darling coefficient were calculated to determine their goodness of fit corresponding to measured fracture width data from BSE-SEM images. On the basis of the Anderson Darling coefficient, lognormal distribution fitted best for both 10 and 12 mm fracture widths. Further, the Probability density function corresponding to fracture widths for both 10 and 12 mm borehole samples was determined by the maximum likelihood approach through Minitab software to reflect the variability and standard deviation of fractures. The research findings demonstrate that increasing confining pressure leads to decreased values of maximum fracture width, eventual fracture width, process zone width, and fractal dimension. In contrast, closure fracture width and tortuosity values were increased with increased confining pressures. Additionally, photomicrographs were utilized to study micro-crack propagation through quartz and feldspar minerals, highlighting the influence of confining pressures and quartz cementation and the absence of clay inclusions on micro-crack development. These findings contribute to the current understanding of hydraulic fracturing in tight sandstone and open up potential future research directions, such as investigating the influence of sandstone minerals and their fracture characteristics or studying the long-term effects of hydraulic fracturing on tight sandstone specimens.

Keywords

breakdown pressure / BSE-SEM / micro-cracks / photomicrographs / tight sandstone

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