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Nano-Scale Characterization of Organic-Rich Shale via Indentation Methods

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New Frontiers in Oil and Gas Exploration

Abstract

Gas shale or organic-rich shale is a porous multi-scale material that consists essentially of clay, silt inclusions, air voids, and kerogen, which is gaseous organic matter. Assessing the mechanical behavior of gas shale across several length scales is a challenging task due to the complex nature of the material. Therefore, the aim of this investigation is to introduce a novel framework based on nano-mechanics to characterize the elastic and plastic properties of gas shale using advanced techniques such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), statistical nano-indentation, and micromechanical modeling. An indentation consists in pressing a diamond stylus against a soft material and measuring both the Young’s modulus and hardness from the force and penetration depth measurements. Meanwhile, the grid indentation technique consists in carrying out a large array of indentation tests and applying statistical analysis so as to represent the overall behavior as the convolute response of several individual mechanical phases. The specimens analyzed in this study were extracted from major gas shale plays in the USA—Antrim shale from the Michigan Basin in Michigan State and Barnett shale from the Bend Arch-Fort Worth Basin in Texas—and in France—Toarcian shale from the Paris Basin. SEM reveals a heterogeneous granular microstructure with the grain size ranging from 30 to 100 μm; meanwhile, statistical indentation enables to identify the basic micro-constituents. Finally, micromechanics theory makes it possible to bridge the nanometer and macroscopic length scales. The field of applications is vast including major energy-related schemes such as hydrocarbon recovery for oil and gas wells, carbon dioxide geological sequestration, or nuclear waste store in depleted wells.

The original version of this chapter was revised. An erratum to this chapter can be found at DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-40124-9_17

An erratum to this chapter can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40124-9_17

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Total S. A., Paris, France, for providing the gas shale specimens tested and analyzed in this investigation. The research was funded by Prof. Akono Start-up funds account which was provided by the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering as well as the College of Engineering at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In addition, we acknowledge the Distinguished Structural Engineering Fellowship that supported Pooyan Kabir during his Ph.D. studies. The work was carried out in part in the Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory Central Research Facilities, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA

    Ange-Therese Akono & Pooyan Kabir

  2. Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA

    Ange-Therese Akono

Authors
  1. Ange-Therese Akono
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  2. Pooyan Kabir
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Correspondence to Ange-Therese Akono .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, State University of New York at Binghamton Department of Mechanical Engineering, Binghamton, New York, USA

    Congrui Jin

  2. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA

    Gianluca Cusatis

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Akono, AT., Kabir, P. (2016). Nano-Scale Characterization of Organic-Rich Shale via Indentation Methods. In: Jin, C., Cusatis, G. (eds) New Frontiers in Oil and Gas Exploration. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40124-9_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40124-9_6

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-40124-9

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