Effect of natural fractures on mechanical properties and fracture patterns of shale at microscopic scale: an example from the Lower Cambrian Niutitang formation in Qianbei region

Abstract In order to explore the influence of natural fractures on the mechanical properties and failure modes of shale at the micro scale, uniaxial compression numerical experiments were conducted on the shale of the Niutang Formation in northern Guizhou with different natural fracture angles using a rock failure process system and digital image processing technology. It is shown that the compressive strength of shale increases with the increase of natural crack inclination, and the growth rate of shale compressive strength also increases. Shale's microscopic fractures can generally be classified into four categories. The first category is to sprout along the natural cracks to the outside of the shale, and eventually form a crack similar to the "X" type (0°); the second category is to sprout along the natural cracks to the middle and outside of the shale, and eventually form an inverted "Y" type crack (15°, 30°); the third category is to sprout along the natural cracks to the middle and outside of the shale, and eventually form an inverted "Y" type crack (15°, 30°); the second type sprouts along the natural fractures toward the middle and outside of the shale, forming inverted "Y"-type fractures (15°, 30°); the third type cracks along the sides of the natural fractures, forming "Y"-type fractures (45°); and the fourth type does not crack along the natural fractures, forming "S"-type fractures (60°, 75°, and 90°). In the low natural fracture dip shale model, tensile damage mainly occurs, accompanied by a small amount of compressive shear damage; in the high natural fracture dip shale model, tensile damage and compressive shear damage account for a larger proportion in the fracture process.This suggests that the presence of natural cracks in shale has a significant impact on stress distribution. There are two main types of acoustic emission signal distribution and evolutionary features, the evolutionary features of acoustic emission signal distribution are of two types, 0°-45° test and 60°-90° test, and the difference is mainly reflected in the damage stage, the damage of shale with high natural fracture inclination is more intense, which is manifested by the decrease in the number of acoustic emission events, but the level of acoustic emission events in the damage stage is higher, which can reach 61788, 46605 and 94315, the shale with high natural fracture inclination is more brittle.