Lab Testing (Polyaxial cell)

Using a true triaxial cell (polyaxial cell), we can apply stresses on rock samples up to 400 mm x 400 mm x 400mm in three directions.

The cell has been used for many years including pioneering closely spaced hydraulic fractures, determining hydraulic fracture crossing criterion and used to verify results from numerical and analytical models and physics simulators.

Publications:

  • Movassagh, A., Haghighi, M., Kasperczyk, D., Sayyafzadeh, M. and Zhang, X., 2018. An experimental investigation into surface roughness of a hydraulic fracture. The APPEA Journal, 58(2), pp.728-732.
  • Movassagh, A., Haghighi, M., Zhang, X., Kasperczyk, D. and Sayyafzadeh, M., 2021. A fractal approach for surface roughness analysis of laboratory hydraulic fracture. Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering, 85, p.103703.
  • Kear, J., Kasperczyk, D., Zhang, X., Jeffrey, R.G., Chuprakov, D. and Prioul, R., 2017, June. 2D experimental and numerical results for hydraulic fractures interacting with orthogonal and inclined discontinuities. In 51st US Rock mechanics/geomechanics symposium.
  • Jeffrey, R.G., Kear, J., Kasperczyk, D., Zhang, X., Chuprakov, D., Prioul, R. and Schouten, J., 2015, June. A 2D experimental method with results for hydraulic fractures crossing discontinuities. In 49th US Rock Mechanics/Geomechanics Symposium.
  • Kear, J., White, J., Bunger, A.P., Jeffrey, R. and Hessami, M.A., 2013, May. Three dimensional forms of closely-spaced hydraulic fractures. In ISRM International Conference for Effective and Sustainable Hydraulic Fracturing.
  • Kasperczyk, D., Jeffrey, R.G., Kear, J. and Scientific, C., Experimental Two-Dimensional Hydraulic Fracture Growth and Opening Measured Using a Grid-Based Optical Method.
  • Bunger, A.P., Kear, J., Jeffrey, R.G., Prioul, R. and Chuprakov, D., 2015, May. Laboratory investigation of hydraulic fracture growth through weak discontinuities with active ultrasound monitoring. In 13th ISRM international congress of rock mechanics.
  • Kovalyshen, Y., Bunger, A.P., Kear, J. and Kasperczyk, D., 2014. Comparison between ultrasonic and photometric methods for hydraulic fracture laboratory monitoring. International journal of rock mechanics and mining sciences, 70, pp.368-374.
  • Bunger, A.P., Jeffrey, R.G., Kear, J., Zhang, X. and Morgan, M., 2011, June. Experimental investigation of the interaction among closely spaced hydraulic fractures. In 45th US Rock Mechanics/Geomechanics Symposium.

Datasets:

  • Kasperczyk, Dane; Kear, James (2018): Experiment observations of hydraulic fractures crossing or blunting at natural boundaries. v3. CSIRO. Data Collection. https://doi.org/10.4225/08/5af8dd6b7e393

Sample tested with 4 fractures placed sequentially

Loading PolyAxial Cell