• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.128-137
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• 2011

The shut-in pressure calculated in common hydrofracturing test for vertical borehole equals generally to the minimum horizontal principal stress, so it should be considered as an essential parameter for determining the in-situ stress regime around the rock mass. It shows usually an ambiguous value in pressure-time history curves, however, because of the relationship between the behavior of hydraulic fractures and the condition of remote stress regime. In this study, a series of numerical analyses have been carried out to compare several methods for determining the shut-in pressure during hydrofracturing. The hydraulic-mechanical coupling has been applied to numerical analysis for simulating the fracture propagation by hydraulic pressure, and the different discontinuity geometry has been considered in numerical models to examine the effect of numerical element shape on fracture propagation pattern. From the numerical simulations with the four different discontinuity geometries, it was revealed that the shut-in pressure obtained from graphical methods rather than statistical method was relatively small. Consequently a care should be taken in selecting a method for determining the shut-in pressure when a stress anomaly around borehole and a fracture propagation with complicate mechanism are considered.

• 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.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.529-540
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• 2020

Water inrush is a major hazard for mining and excavation in deep coal seams or rock masses. It can be attributed to the coalescence of rock fractures in rock mass due to the interaction of fractures, hydraulic flow and stress field. One of the key technical challenges is to understand the course and mechanism of fluid flows in rock joint networks and fracture propagation and hence to take measures to prevent the formation of water inrush channels caused by possible rock fracturing. Several case observations of fluid flowing in rock joint networks and coupled fracture propagation in underground coal roadways are shown in this paper. A number of numerical simulations were done using the recently developed flow coupling function in FRACOD which simulates explicitly the fracture initiation and propagation process. The study has demonstrated that the shortest path between the inlet and outlet in joint networks will become a larger fluid flow channel and those fractures nearest to the water source and the working faces become the main channel of water inrush. The fractures deeper into the rib are mostly caused by shearing, and slipping fractures coalesce with the joint, which connects the water source and eventually forming a water inrush channel.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Rock Mechanics Conference
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• 2000.09a
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• pp.201-210
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• 2000

Rock bridge in rock masses can be considered as one of several types of opening-mode fractures, and also it has been known to have a great influence on the stability of structures in rock mats. In the beginning of researching a rock bridge it used to be studied only in characteristics of its behavior, as considering resistance of material itself. However the distribution pattern of rock bridges, which can affect the stability of rock structures, is currently researched with a fracture mechanical approach in numerical studies. For investigating the effect of rock bridges on the development pattern of hydraulic fractures, the author analyzed numerically the stress state transition in rock bridges and their phenomena with a different pattern of the rock bridge distributons. From the numerical studies, a two-crack configuration could be defined to be representative of the most critical conditions for rock bridges, only when cracks are systematic and same in their length and angle. Moreover, coalescence stresses and onset of propagation stresses could be known to increase with decreasing s/L ratio or increasing d/L ratio. The effect of pre-existing crack on hydraulic fracturing was studied also in numerical models. Different to the simple hydraulic fracturing modeling in which the fractures propagated exactly parallel to the maximum remote stress, the hydraulic fractures with pre-existing cracks dial not propagate parallel to the maximum remote stress direction. These are representative of the tendency to change the hydraulic fractures direction because of the existence of pre-existing crack. Therefore s/L, d/L ratios will be identical as a function effective on hydraulic fractures propagation, that is, the $K_{I}$ vague increase with decreasing s/L ratio or increasing d/L ratio and its magnification from onset to propagation increases with decreasing s/L ratio. The scanline is a commonly used method to estimate the fracture distribution on outcrops. The data obtained from the scanline method can be applied to the evaluation of stress field in rock mass.s.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.447-456
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• 2000

Rock bridge in rock masses can be considered as one of several types of opening-mode fractures, and also it has been known to have a great influence on the stability of structures in rock mass. In the beginning of researching a rock bridge it used to be studied only in characteristics of its behavior, as considering resistance of material itself. However the distribution pattern of rock bridges, which can affect the stability of rock structures, is currently researched with a fracture mechanical approach in numerical studies. For investigating the effect of rock bridges on the development pattern of hydraulic fractures, the author analyzed numerically the stress state transition in rock bridges and their phenomena with a different pattern of the rock bridge distributions. From the numerical studies, a two-crack configuration could be defined to be representative of the most critical conditions for rock bridges, only when cracks are systematic and same in their length and angle. Moreover, coalescence stresses and onset of propagation stresses could be known to increase with decreasing s/L ratio or increasing d/L ratio. The effect of pre-existing crack on hydraulic fracturing was studied also in numerical models. Different to the simple hydraulic fracturing modeling in which the fractures propagated exactly parallel to the maximum remote stress, the hydraulic fractures with pre-existing cracks did not propagate parallel to the maximum remote stress direction. These are representative of the tendency to change the hydraulic fractures direction because of the existence of pre-existing crack. Therefore s/L, d/L ratios will be identical as a function effective on hydraulic fractures propagation, that is, the K$_1$ value increase with decreasing s/L ratio or increasing d/L ratio and its magnification from onset to propagation increases with decreasing s/L ratio. The scanline is a commonly used method to estimate the fracture distribution on outcrops. The data obtained from the scanline method can be applied to the evaluation of stress field in rock mass.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.20-29
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• 2021

During multi-stage fracturing in a low permeable shale formation, stress interference occurs between the stages which is called the "stress shadow effect(SSE)". The effect may alter the fracture propagation direction and induce ununiform geometry. In this study, the stress shadow effect on the hydraulic fracture geometry and the well productivity were investigated by the commercial full-3D fracture model, GOHFER. In a homogeneous reservoir model, a multi-stage fracturing process was performed with or without the SSE. In addition, the fracturing was performed on two shale reservoirs with different geomechanical properties(Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio) to analyze the stress shadow effect. In the simulation results, the stress change caused by the fracture created in the previous stage switched the maximum/minimum horizontal stress and the lower productivity L-direction fracture was more dominating over the T-direction fracture. Since the Marcellus shale is more brittle than more dominating over the T-direction fracture. Since the Marcellus shale is more brittle than the relatively ductile Eagle Ford shale, the fracture width in the former was developed thicker, resulting in the larger fracture volume. And the Marcellus shale's Young's modulus is low, the stress effect is less significant than the Eagle Ford shale in the stage 2. The stress shadow effect strongly depends on not only the spacing between fractures but also the geomechanical properties. Therefore, the stress shadow effect needs to be taken into account for more accurate analysis of the fracture geometry and for more reliable prediction of the well productivity.

• Journal of Korea Foundry Society
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.16-22
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• 2005

This study aims to investigate the effects of the microstructures and nodule type on the fatigue characteristics of cast iron. Fatigue tests were carried out in tension-tension mode using a servo-hydraulic testing machine with load control mode operating at a frequency of 15 Hz. The tests were conducted at stress ratio R=Kmin/Kmax, of 0.1. Initial crack ${\Dalta}K$ values were highly performed with increase in tensile strength of DCI fatigue specimens. ${\Dalta}K_{th}$ region, fatigue crack propagation was primarily advanced through cell boundary and in periphery of near nodule. Fatigue crack propagation rate of D2 consisted with 2Phase(Ferrite+Pearlite) was slow due to crack closure enhanced by crack deflection and occurred crack branching. The generation of crack branch was occurred due to interaction of crack-nodule. At Threshold and Paris zone, the fractographs of the fatigue fracture surface for DCI show typical striations of a ductile fracture and isolated cleavage planes near graphite. The effect of microstructure on fatigue crack propagation of GC strongly depends on the type of flake. The generation of crack branch occurred due to interaction of crack-nodule. The fractographs of the fatigue fracture surface for GC show cleavage plane along the flake graphite.

• 유체기계공업학회:학술대회논문집
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• 1998.02a
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• pp.11-28
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• 1998

Crack initiation and propagation of blades is a serious matter in turbomachinery. Outages are common due to these problems that occur during the service of the machine resulting in a huge loss of revenue. Once in a while, the problems become serious and cause major shutdowns which can in some cases result in the loss of the whole machine in a catastrophic manner. In this presentation, we will discuss the crack initiation studies of a hydraulic machine runner blade by local stress strain approach and crack propagation at the root of a low pressure stage steam turbine blade by means of stress intensity factor approach. In both the cases, we will show how the present day technologies can predict actual field observations.

• 한국지구물리탐사학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.272-280
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• 2003

A definite shut-in pressure in hydraulic fracturing techniques is needed for obtaining the correct information on the in-situ stress regimes in rock masses. The relation between the behaviour of hydraulically induced fractures and the condition of remote stress is considered to be major reasons of an ambiguous shut-in pressure in hydraulic fracturing pressure-time history curves. This paper describes the results of a series of numerical analyses carried out using UDEC(Universal Distinct Element Code, Itasca), which is based on the discrete element method, to compare several methods for determining the shut-in pressure during hydraulic fracturing. The fully coupling of hydraulic and mechanical analysis was applied, and the effects of four different discontinuity geometries in numerical modelling have been investigated for this purpose. The effects of different remote stress regimes and different physical properties on hydraulic fracture propagation have been also analyzed. Several methods for obtaining shut-in pressure from the ambiguous shut-in curves have been applied to all the numerical models. The graphical intersection methods, such as (P vs. t) method, (P vs. log(t)) method, (log(P) vs. log(t)) method, give smaller values of the shut-in pressure than the statistical method, (dP/dt vs. P). Care should be taken in selecting a method for shut-in pressure, because there can be existed a stress anomaly around the wellbore and fracturing from the wellbore by a constant flow rate may have a more complicate mechanism.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.315-327
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• 1999

Rock fracture mechanics has been widely applied to blasting, hydraulic fracturing, rock slope and many other practical problems in rock engineering. But a measuring method for the fracture toughness of rock, one of the mort important parameters in fracture mechanics as an intrinsic property of rock, has not been yet well established. To obtain mode I rock fracture toughness, the more favorable disc-typed specimens such as CCNBD, SCB, chevron-notched SCB and BDT were used in this study. Rock fracture toughness under mixed-mode and mode II conditions was measured by using the STCA applied to the CCNBD specimen. Size effects such as specimen thickness, diameter and notch length on fracture toughness were investigated. From the mixed-mode results, fracture envelops were obtained by applying various regression curves. The mixed-mode results were also compared with three mixed-mode failure criteria. In each fracture toughness test, acoustic emission was measured to get the data for determining the load levels of different crack propagation patterns.