Experimental Investigation on the Basic Law of Hydraulic Fracturing After Water Pressure Control Blasting

Abstract

Because of the advantages of integrating water pressure blasting and hydraulic fracturing, the use of hydraulic fracturing after water pressure control blasting is a method that is used to fully transform the structure of a coal-rock mass by increasing the number and range of hydraulic cracks. An experiment to study hydraulic fracturing after water pressure blasting on cement mortar samples (300 × 300 × 300 mm3) was conducted using a large-sized true triaxial hydraulic fracturing experimental system. A traditional hydraulic fracturing experiment was also performed for comparison. The experimental results show that water pressure blasting produces many blasting cracks, and follow-up hydraulic fracturing forces blasting cracks to propagate further and to form numerous multidirectional hydraulic cracks. Four macroscopic main hydraulic cracks in total were noted along the borehole axial and radial directions on the sample surfaces. Axial and radial main failure planes induced by macroscopic main hydraulic cracks split the sample into three big parts. Meanwhile, numerous local hydraulic cracks were formed on the main failure planes, in different directions and of different types. Local hydraulic cracks are mainly of three types: local hydraulic crack bands, local branched hydraulic cracks, and axial layered cracks. Because local hydraulic cracks produce multiple local layered failure planes and lamellar ruptures inside the sample, the integrity of the sample decreases greatly. The formation and propagation process of many multidirectional hydraulic cracks is affected by a combination of water pressure blasting, water pressure of fracturing, and the stress field of the surrounding rock. To a certain degree, the stress field of surrounding rock guides the formation and propagation process of the blasting crack and the follow-up hydraulic crack. Following hydraulic fracturing that has been conducted after water pressure blasting, the integrity of the sample is found to be far lower than after traditional hydraulic fracturing; moreover, both the water injection volume and water injection pressure for hydraulic fracturing after water pressure blasting are much higher than they are for traditional hydraulic fracturing.