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Experimental and Numerical Characterization of Lower Huron Shale as a Heterogeneous Material

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Abstract

Understanding mechanical properties of organic rich shale is crucial for successful exploration and long-term production of hydrocarbons from unconventional reservoirs. Due to the organic matter and clay minerals interlaced with other silicate minerals, shale can be studied as a heterogeneous material. In this work, the average mineral compositions and elastic mechanical properties were first characterized by scanning electron microscope, energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometer, and atomic force microscopy. Uniaxial compression and triaxial compression tests were then conducted on core-scale Lower Huron Shale samples. Numerical models were constructed to extract mechanical properties from both uniaxial compression and triaxial compression experiments. Next, homogeneous, mineral-based, and Weibull distribution-based numerical models were developed to investigate the influence of the mineral heterogeneity and shale hydration effect on the strength and deformation behavior of shale rocks. The homogeneous models have higher compressive and tensile strengths as well as mechanical properties than heterogeneous models. Compared to homogeneous models, when the shale rock is simulated with heterogeneous models, a transformation from brittle to ductile in stress–strain responses and that from simple modes to complex modes in failure mechanisms are observed. It is also demonstrated that the mineral property distribution and shale hydration effect have a larger influence on the triaxial compression strength. Furthermore, simulation studies suggest that numerical models accounting for the heterogeneity of shale can improve the accuracy of the mechanical property characterization. The outcome of this research will benefit the understanding of the Lower Huron Shale mechanical properties, which has significant implications to the successful development of shale reservoirs.

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Fig. 1

modified from Hua (2014) and Pittenger et al. (2010)

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Abbreviations

a :

Scale parameter of the Weibull distribution

b :

Shape parameter of the Weibull distribution

c :

Cohesive strength

\(E^{ * }\) :

Reduced Young’s modulus or DMT modulus

\(E_{\text{s}}\) :

Young’s modulus of the sample

\(E_\text{tip}\) :

Young’s modulus of the tip

F :

Applied force on the cantilever

\(F_\text{adh}\) :

Adhesion force

\(f_{\text{s}}\) :

Shear-failure criterion

\(f_\text{t}\) :

Tensile-failure criterion

\({g}_{\mathrm{s}}\) :

Shear potential function

\({g}_{\mathrm{t}}\) :

Tensile potential function

R :

Tip end radius

\(t_\text{f}\) :

Shear strength

\(v_{\text{s}}\) :

Poisson’s ratio of the sample

\(v_\text{tip}\) :

Poisson’s ratio of the probe tip

\(\varphi\) :

Friction angle

\(\psi \) :

Dilation angle

\(\delta\) :

Sample indentation depth

\(\sigma_\text{n}\) :

Normal stress

\(\sigma^{t}\) :

Tensile strength

\(\sigma_{1}\) :

Maximum principal stress

\(\sigma_{3}\) :

Minimum principal stress

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Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to the financial support provided by the University Coalition for Fossil Energy Research (UCFER) Program under the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) through the Award Number DE-FE0026825 and Subaward Number S000038-USDOE, as well as the financial support from another DOE-NETL grant through the Award number. DE-FE0031576.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, USA

    Ming Fan, Xinyu Tan, Ellen S. Gilliland, Nino Ripepi & Cheng Chen

  2. Aramco Services Company-Houston, Houston, USA

    Yanhui Han

  3. Washington State University, Pullman, USA

    Liang Fan

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  1. Ming Fan
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Correspondence to Cheng Chen.

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Fan, M., Han, Y., Tan, X. et al. Experimental and Numerical Characterization of Lower Huron Shale as a Heterogeneous Material. Rock Mech Rock Eng 54, 4183–4200 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00603-021-02491-2

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