Work

SC-CO2 fracturing in shale gas reservoirs considering in-situ temperature and mechanical heterogeneity

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) fracturing, compared to water-based fracturing fluids, is a promising technology for developing shale gas because it can effectively solve problems related to shale swelling and increasing the fracturing complexity of rock matrix. However, the adaptability of this technology is unclear due to the influence of in-situ mechanics and environment for the shale gas reservoir. Then, a ’microscopic-macroscopic’ cross-scale mechanical parameters transfer framework was established and the macroscopic mechanical heterogeneity model was obtained through nanoindentation testing and SEM mineral scanning, as well as comprehensively utilising a deep convolutional generative adversarial network and Mori-Tanaka method. On this basis, a multi-physics coupled model of SC-CO2 fracturing, integrating thermal, hydraulic, mechanical, and damage(THMD) effects was developed to study in-situ mechanical heterogeneity and in-situ reservoir environment.The research results systematically explain the influence of in-situ reservoir temperature, reservoir mechanical heterogeneity, and injection construction conditions on the initiation pressure and transformation effect of supercritical carbon dioxide fracturing. This has important theoretical guidance significance for reservoir adaptability evaluation and optimization of fracturing transformation effects.

Source: Case Studies in Thermal Engineering

DOI: 10.1016/j.csite.2026.108680