Hydraulic fracturing for in situ stress measurement

Abstract

It is experimentally found that shut-in pressure conforms with the fracture initiation pressure if the fracture surfaces are uniformly loaded by fluid. The article shows that equaling minimal stress and shut-in pressure in local fractures results in overestimates. The error depends on the length of a hydrofracturing facility and is high under low compression in rocks (5–10 MPa). The authors put forward decisions aimed at improvement of accuracy and enhancement of information content of hydraulic fracturing in the in situ stress measurement.