Experimental Study on the Time‑Dependent Gas Permeability of Fractures in Shales

Abstract The gas permeabilities of shale fractures provide a critical basis for deeply understanding the subsurface fluid flow processes. Experiments were designed to find out the time-dependent behavior of shale permeability under formation stress, which has been rarely reported. Two artificially fractured shale cores were used to experimentally investigate the time dependence of the fracture gas permeability and underlying mechanisms. Daily measurements of permeabilities were conducted at various gas pressures under multilevel confining stresses, where the confining stress was incrementally changed from 10 to 25 MPa and then reverted to 10 MPa. Numerical calculations were performed to determine the fracture apertures.

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