DETERMINATION OF ROCK FRACTURE TOUGHNESS WITH HYDRAULIC FRACTURING METHOD
水压致裂法测定岩石的断裂韧性

Fracture toughness is a very important parameter for studying the geometry of hydraulic fractures. In this paper, a simple hydraulic fracturing technique is proposed for determining the fracture toughness of rock, which consists of fracturing prenotched thick wall cylinders with internal hydraulic pressure. A preliminary set of experiments has been performed on sandstone and shale. The mechanism of hydraulic fracturing is discussed by analyzing the fracture surface and acoustic emission activity.