The Mechanical Properties and Fracture Characteristics of Shale Layered Samples from the Lucaogou Formation Considering Natural Crack and Mineral Distribution.

Shale oil is one of the most promising alternative unconventional energies in the world, and recently the Lucaogou Formation showed significant exploration potential, becoming the primary target in northwestern China. This paper focuses on the mechanical properties and fracture characteristics of shale layered samples from the Lucaogou Formation, conducting uniaxial compressive tests with real-time micro-CT scanning, as well as mineral analysis after failure. It has been found that the mechanical and fracture features are both related to the composition, distribution, content and particle size of minerals, as well as natural fractures. The main crack tends to form in the weak mineral band, for example, calcite or clay band. Since the discontinuous stress usually forms at the interfaces of different minerals, the sample with several major minerals of close content is easier to break into a fractured zone, causing lower uniaxial compressive strength and elastic modulus, compared with the composition of only one dominant mineral. Also, the region will be more fractured after failure if the mineral particles there become smaller. Additionally, although natural cracks have a certain influence on the development of new fractures, not all of the natural ones will propagate into the final fracture network, some of them are just compacted and closed.

An investigation of airflow distribution and dynamics at a longwall mine face through field survey and its implication on oxygen depletion.

The airflow exchange between the mine ventilation system and the surface atmosphere can influence ventilation effectiveness and emit more greenhouse gas from the mine for shallow cover mines. This airflow exchange also changes the airflow dynamics at the ventilation system, specially at the tailgate corner of the longwall. In this study, the fix-point traverse technique was employed to conduct a comprehensive survey at a coal mine longwall face and tailgate region. The air velocity, oxygen and carbon monoxide concentrations, barometric pressure, and temperature were measured and surveyed. Based on the survey data, the airflow pattern and gas concentration were analyzed at return air corner on the tailgate side. Based on the measurement and analyses, it was found that the airflow at the face can be broken into two compartments by the hydraulic cylinder. These two compartments can periodically exchange the air at the face. This can influence the abnormal gas concentration for the release of carbon monoxide from the gob attributed from coal spontaneous combustion. Also, our study provided detailed information for more understanding of airflow in working face and gob by simulation method in the future work.

Numerical Evaluation of Gas Hydrate Production Performance of the Depressurization and Backfilling with an In Situ Supplemental Heat Method.

The depressurization and backfilling with an in situ supplemental heat method had been proposed to enhance the gas production of methane hydrate reservoir. This novel method is evaluated by a numerical simulator based on the finite volume method in this work. Based on the typical marine low-permeability hydrate-bearing sediments (HBS), a reservoir model with gas fracturing and CaO powder injection is constructed. The simulation results show that the stimulated fractures could effectively enhance the pressure drop effect. Moreover, the CaO injection could provide in situ heat simultaneously. Based on the sensitivity analysis of the equivalent permeability of fractures and the mass of CaO injection, it is found that a threshold fracture permeability exists for the increasing of gas production. The gas production increases with the equivalent permeability only when the permeability is smaller than the threshold value. Meanwhile, the more CaO are injected into reservoir, the larger volume of gas production. In general, this work theoretically quantifies the potential value of the depressurization and backfilling with an in situ supplemental heat method for marine gas hydrate recovery.

Failure Behavior of Granite Affected by Confinement and Water Pressure and Its Influence on the Seepage Behavior by Laboratory Experiments.

Failure behavior of granite material is paramount for host rock stability of geological repositories for high-level waste (HLW) disposal. Failure behavior also affects the seepage behavior related to transportation of radionuclide. Few of the published studies gave a consistent analysis on how confinement and water pressure affect the failure behavior, which in turn influences the seepage behavior of the rock during the damage process. Based on a series of laboratory experiments on NRG01 granite samples cored from Alxa area, a candidate area for China's HLW disposal, this paper presents some detailed observations and analyses for a better understanding on the failure mechanism and seepage behavior of the samples under different confinements and water pressure. The main findings of this study are as follows: (1) Strength reduction properties were found for the granite under water pressure. Besides, the complete axial stress-strain curves show more obvious yielding process in the pre-peak region and a more gradual stress drop in the post-peak region; (2) Shear fracturing pattern is more likely to form in the granite samples with the effect of water pressure, even under much lower confinements, than the predictions from the conventional triaxial compressive results; (3) Four stages of inflow rate curves are divided and the seepage behaviors are found to depend on the failure behavior affected by the confinement and water pressure.

Zero-Strain Na2FeSiO4 as Novel Cathode Material for Sodium-Ion Batteries.

A new cubic polymorph of sodium iron silicate, Na2FeSiO4, is reported for the first time as a cathode material for Na-ion batteries. It adopts an unprecedented cubic rigid tetrahedral open framework structure, i.e., F4̅3m, leading to a polyanion cathode material without apparent cell volume change during the charge/discharge processes. This cathode shows a reversible capacity of 106 mAh g(-1) and a capacity retention of 96% at 5 mA g(-1) after 20 cycles.