Cross-scale mechanical softening of Marcellus shale induced by CO₂-water-rock interactions using nanoindentation and accurate grain-based modeling

Abstract

Mechanical softening behaviors of shale in CO₂-water-rock interaction are critical for shale gas exploitation and CO₂ sequestration. This work investigated the cross-scale mechanical softening of shale triggered by CO₂-water-rock interaction. Initially, the mechanical softening of shale following 30 d of exposure to CO₂ and water was assessed at the rock-forming mineral scale using nanoindentation. The mechanical alterations of rock-forming minerals, including quartz, muscovite, chlorite, and kaolinite, were analyzed and compared. Subsequently, an accurate grain-based modeling (AGBM) was proposed to upscale the nanoindentation results. Numerical models were generated based on the real microstructure of shale derived from TESCAN integrated minerals analyzer (TIMA) digital images. Mechanical parameters of shale minerals determined by nanoindentation served as input material properties for AGBMs. Finally, numerical simulations of uniaxial compression tests were conducted to investigate the impact of mineral softening on the macroscopic Young’s modulus and uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) of shale. The results present direct evidence of shale mineral softening during CO₂-water-rock interaction and explore its influence on the upscale mechanical properties of shale. This paper offers a microscopic perspective for comprehending CO₂-water-shale interactions and contributes to the development of a cross-scale mechanical model for shale.

Keywords

Shale / Cross-scale modeling / Nanoindentation / CO₂-water-rock interaction / Mechanical softening

Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Yiwei Liu: Writing - original draft, Methodology, Investigation. Quansheng Liu: Writing - review & editing, Funding acquisition. Zhijun Wu: Methodology. Shimin Liu: Conceptualization. Yong Kang: Investigation. Xuhai Tang: Writing - review & editing, Conceptualization.

Declaration of competing interest

Shimin Liu is an editorial board member for Underground Space and was not involved inthe editorial review or the decision to publish this article. All authors declare that there are no competing interests.

Acknowledgement

This work was supported by the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant Nos. 2023TQ0247 and 2023M732715), the Postdoctoral Fellowship Program (Grade B) of China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant No. GZB20230544), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. U21A20153 and 41841018).

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