Experimental Investigation on the Basic Law of Directional Hydraulic Fracturing Controlled by Dense Linear Multi-Hole Drilling

Abstract

Directional rupture is a significant and routine problem for ground control in mines. Directional hydraulic fracturing controlled by dense linear multi-hole drilling was proposed. The physical model experiment, performed by the large-scale true triaxial hydraulic fracturing experimental system, aims to investigate the basic law of directional hydraulic fracturing controlled by dense linear multi-hole drilling, the impact of three different pumping modes on the initiation and propagation of hydraulic fractures among boreholes are particular investigated. The experimental results indicated that there are mutual impacts among different boreholes during crack propagation, which leads to a trend of fracture connection. Furthermore, during propagation, the fractures not only exhibit an overall bias toward the direction in which the boreholes are scattered but also partially offset against the borehole axes and intersect. The directional fracturing effect of equivalent pumping rate in each borehole is better than the other two pumping modes. In practical applications, because of rock mass heterogeneity, there may be differences in terms of filtration rate and effective input volume in different boreholes; thus, water pressure increase and rupture are not simultaneous in different boreholes. Additionally, if the crack initiation directions of different boreholes at different times are not consistent with each other, more lamellar failure planes will occur, and the mutual influences of these lamellar failure planes cause fractures to extend and intersect.