Fracturing mechanism and pore size distributions of rock subjected to water jets under in-situ stress: Breakage characteristics investigation

Abstract

Water jet drilling is considered a possible method used during the development of underground unconventional natural gas. Meanwhile, the fracture mechanisms of rock subjected to various in-situ stresses may differ significantly. Thus, laboratory experiments are conducted in this paper using the new jet testing system for the deep reservoir to simulate the drilling process of a water jet in the deep reservoir. The breakage mechanisms of rock are examined using the three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction visualization models of damage distributions, surface morphology, and micro-structural analysis on the influenced zone. The results revealed the dependence of two typical breakage characteristics on the stress state of the tested rock. When the samples were subjected to stress in the triaxial cell, the range of the hole was considerably reduced. Besides, as the horizontal stress difference was increased by 6 MPa, the diameter and depth of the erosion holes increase by 60% and 38.6% respectively. Moreover, the results of the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed that the fracturing of the hole wall was mostly caused by tensile failure generated by a water wedge that was easily controlled by high in-situ stress. The in-situ stress state of the reservoir significantly affected the pore size distribution and porosity. The increase of stress inhibited the increase of porosity around the hole. The porosity reaches 6.1% when the stress difference is 6 MPa, which increases by 135%. These results were anticipated to be used as a guide for the utilization of unconventional natural gas in deep reservoirs with complex stress.