The Journal of Engineering Geology ISSN:1226-5268(Print) 2287-7169(Online) 지질공학

Observations on the influence of the fluid infiltration on the breakdown pressure during laboratory hydraulic fracturing tests, along with an analysis of the applicability of the breakdown pressure prediction for cylindrical samples using Quasi-static and Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics approaches were carried out. These approaches consider fluid infiltration through the so-called radius of fluid infiltration or crack radius, a parameter that is not a material property. Two sets of tests under pressurization rate controlled and injection rate controlled tests were used to evaluate the applicability of these methods. The difficulty of the estimation of the radius of fluid infiltration was solved by back calculating this parameter from an initial set of tests, and later, the obtained relationships were used to predict breakdown pressures for a second set of tests. The results showed better predictions for the injection rate than for the pressurization rate tests, with average errors of 3.4% and 18.6%, respectively. The larger error was attributed to differences in the testing conditions for the pressurization rate tests, which had different applied vertical pressures. On the other hand, for the tests carried out under constant injection rate, the Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics solution reported lower errors compared to the Quasi-static solution, with values of 3% and 3.8%, respectively. Moreover, a sensitivity analysis illustrated the influence of the radius of fluid penetration or crack radius and the tensile strength on the breakdown pressure, suggesting a need for a careful estimation of these values. Then, the calculation of breakdown pressure considering fluid infiltration in cylindrical samples under triaxial conditions is possible, although larger data sets are desirable to validate and derive better relations.