• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.26-38
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• 2017

In this study, bedding rock permeability was measured using Berea sandstones with three different beddings. The fracture permeability was also measured using tight sandstone with two different fracture regimes considering in-situ stress conditions. The Berea sandstone with vertical, horizontal and non-bedding was used to analyze evolution of permeability upon in-situ stress conditions. In order to describe applied effective stress around rock in underground, the triaxial pressure cell & hydrostatic pressure cell was designed and permeability experiments were performed with controlled axial and confining pressures. The measurement of permeability was conducted by increasing and decreasing effective stress. The permeability of non-bedding rock sample is the most sensitive to applied stress conditions and fracture permeability of tight sandstone increases with fracture treatment with proppant.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.41-51
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• 2021

The hydraulic fracturing developed to improve permeability of tight reservoir is one of key stimulation technologies for developing unconventional resources such as shale gas and deep geothermal energy. The experimental study was conducted to improve disadvantage of hydraulic fracturing which has simple fracture pattern and poor fracturing efficiency. The fracturing experiments was conducted for tight rock using various fracturing fluids, water, N2, and CO2 and the created fracture pattern and fracturing efficiency was analyzed depending on fracturing fluids. The borehole pressure increased rapidly and then made fractures for hydraulic fracturing with constant injection rate, however, gas fracturing shows slowly increased pressure and less fracture pressure. The 3D tomography technic was used to generate images of induced fracture using hydraulic and gas fracturing. The stimulated reservoir volume (SRV) was estimated increment of 5.71% (water), 12.72% (N2), and 43.82% (CO2) respectively compared to initial pore volume. In addition, permeability measurement was carried out before and after fracturing experiments and the enhanced permeability by gas fracturing showed higher than hydraulic fracturing. The fracture conductivity was measured by increasing confining stress to consider newly creating fracture and closing induced fracture right after fracturing. When the confining stress was increased from 2MPa to 10MPa, the initial permeability was decreased by 89% (N2) and 50% (CO2) respectively. This study shows that the gas fracturing makes more permeability enhancement and less reduction of induced fracture conductivity than hydraulic fracturing.