Mixed-Mode Fracture Behavior and Related Surface Topography Feature of a Typical Sandstone

Abstract

The geo-mechanical properties of reservoirs, especially the morphology of the rock surface and the fracture properties of rocks, are of great importance in the modeling and simulation of hydraulic processes. To better understand these fundamental issues, five groups of mixed-mode fracture tests were conducted on sandstone using edge-cracked semi-circular bend specimens. Accordingly, the fracture loads, growth paths and fracture surfaces for different initial mixities of the mixed-mode loadings from pure mode I to pure mode II were then determined. A surface topography measurement for each rough fracture surface was conducted using a laser profilometer, and the fractal properties of these surfaces were then investigated. The fracture path evolution mechanism was also investigated via optical microscopy. Moreover, the mixed-mode fracture strength envelope and the crack propagation trajectories of sandstone were theoretically modeled using three widely accepted fracture criteria (i.e., the MTS, MSED and MERR criterions). The published test results in Hasanpour and Choupani (World Acad Sci Eng Tech 41:764–769, 2008) for limestone were also theoretically investigated to further examine the effectiveness of the above fracture criteria. However, none of these criteria could accurately predict the fracture envelopes of both sandstone and limestone. To better estimate the fracture strength of mixed-mode fractures, an empirical maximum tensile stress (EMTS) criterion was proposed and found to achieve good agreement with the test results. Finally, a uniformly pressurized fracture model was simulated for low pressurization rates using this criterion.