Abstract
We carried out hydraulic fracturing tests in hollow cylinders of Tablerock sandstone subjected to vertical (σ ν ), confining (σ h ) and pore (P o ) pressures. Borehole fluid was injected at a constant flow rate until a peak pressure was reached, and vertical fracture was observed. Based on the analysis of pressure-time records, we submit that breakdown occurs before peak pressureP p in the first cycle. In a series of tests in which σ h , σ ν , andP 0 were kept constant throughout, breakdown pressureP c increased significantly with wellbore pressurization rate, and appeared to asymptotically approach to an upper and lower bound corresponding to fast and slow rates, respectively as expected by Detournay and Cheng (1992). Another series of tests conducted at a preset pressurization rate in unjacketed specimens (σ h =P o ) revealed that (P c -P o ) increased with confining/pore pressure, contrary to the constant (P c -P o ) based on the Terzaghi’s effective stress law. We modified the Detournay-Cheng criterion by replacing the Terzaghi’s effective stress with a general effective stress. More series of hydraulic fracturing tests in jacketed specimens reinforced the applicability of the modified Detournay-Cheng criterion to Tablerock sandstone in terms of correctly estimating the relationship between the unknown far-field stress and the typically known test parameters: breakdown pressure, initial pore pressure and pressurization rate.
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Song, I., Suh, M., Won, K.S. et al. A laboratory study of hydraulic fracturing breakdown pressure in tablerock sandstone. Geosci J 5, 263–271 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02910309
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02910309