LAPSE:2023.36570
Published Article

LAPSE:2023.36570
Cryogenic Fracture Proliferation from Boreholes under Stresses
August 3, 2023
Cryogenic fracturing has been explored in recent years as a waterless fracturing method for well stimulation to avoid issues encountered in water-based hydraulic fracturing. Cryogenic stimulation using liquid nitrogen applies large thermal gradients on reservoir rocks to induce fractures. This study investigates the initiation and proliferation of cryogenic fractures from boreholes under external stress on specimens. We flowed liquid nitrogen through boreholes drilled through the center of transparent PMMA cylinders under uniaxial stress and monitored fracture proliferation, temperatures, and borehole pressures. Our results show that the effect of stress resembles that of hydraulic fractures such that fractures propagate more in the direction of the stress. Under loading perpendicular to the borehole axis, a cloud of annular and longitudinal fractures extends more in the direction of loading. Under loading parallel to the borehole axis, longitudinal fractures dominate, and annular fractures become more suppressed and more sparsely distributed than those of unconfined specimens. Even if fractures are driven to initiate against the influence of stress, such as those from a boundary edge of a high stress concentration, they gradually deflect in the direction of stress, similar to hydraulic fractures from perforation holes that curve toward a direction perpendicular to the minimum stress direction.
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Keywords
cryogenic fracturing, enhanced geothermal system, fracture propagation, hot dry rock, hydraulic fracturing, liquid nitrogen, thermal fracture, thermal shock, thermal stress, unconventional reservoir, well stimulation
Subject
Suggested Citation
Cha M, Alqahtani NB, Wang L. Cryogenic Fracture Proliferation from Boreholes under Stresses. (2023). LAPSE:2023.36570
Author Affiliations
Cha M: Department of Civil Engineering, Jeju National University, Jeju-si 63243, Republic of Korea [ORCID]
Alqahtani NB: Carbon Management Technologies Institute, King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), Riyadh 11442, Saudi Arabia [ORCID]
Wang L: Petroleum Engineering Department, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu 610059, China [ORCID]
Alqahtani NB: Carbon Management Technologies Institute, King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), Riyadh 11442, Saudi Arabia [ORCID]
Wang L: Petroleum Engineering Department, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu 610059, China [ORCID]
Journal Name
Processes
Volume
11
Issue
7
First Page
2028
Year
2023
Publication Date
2023-07-06
ISSN
2227-9717
Version Comments
Original Submission
Other Meta
PII: pr11072028, Publication Type: Journal Article
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Published Article

LAPSE:2023.36570
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https://doi.org/10.3390/pr11072028
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[v1] (Original Submission)
Aug 3, 2023
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Aug 3, 2023
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https://psecommunity.org/LAPSE:2023.36570
Record Owner
Calvin Tsay
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