Hydration characteristics and mechanism study of artificial fracture surface in illite rich shale gas reservoir: A case study of Longmaxi formation shale in Yongchuan District

Abstract

With high clay content in shale gas reservoir, the hydration is easy during hydraulic fracturing, which will affect the fracture conductivity and productivity of gas wells. The illite content of the Longmaxi formation shale in Yongchuan District is high (more than 80% of clay mineral content), and gas wells have a high productivity after fracturing and shut-in. However, the hydration effect mechanism of fracturing fluid on illite rich shale is not clear. Therefore, in this paper, core hydration experiments are performed for the illite rich shale reservoir. The water imbibition characteristic of near-fracture shale is obtained, and the micro-morphology and microfracture development characteristics of hydration are studied. Moreover, the hydration mechanism of near-fracture shale is then explored from the aspects of ion diffusion and mineral interlayer spacing variation. It is deduced that the fracturing fluid is spontaneously imbibed into small pores preferentially during well shut-in after fracturing. After the near-fracture shale is touched by water, some clay minerals peel and fall off from the fracture surface after hydration, accompanied by the development of microfractures. The interlayer spacing of clay minerals expands (smectite expands by 8.8% and illite 1.5%) after water immersion, and the ion diffusion occurs. The first 15 h is the rapid diffusion stage (surface effect), while the second 15 h is the stable rising stage (internal effect). This study systematically analyzes the hydration characteristics of near-fracture illite rich shale and reveals its hydration mechanism, which are crucial for the optimization of well shut-in time and exploitation system of shale gas reservoir after fracturing.