Prepulse combined hydraulic fracturing facilitates the development of fracture networks by integrating prepulse hydraulic loading with conventional hydraulic fracturing. The formation mechanisms of fracture networks between hydraulic and pre-existing fractures under different prepulse loading parameters remain unclear. This research investigates the impact of prepulse loading parameters, including the prepulse loading number ratio (C), prepulse loading stress ratio (S), and prepulse loading frequency (f), on the formation of fracture networks between hydraulic and pre-existing fractures, using both experimental and numerical methods. The results suggest that low prepulse loading stress ratios and high prepulse loading number ratios are advantageous loading modes. Multiple hydraulic fractures are generated in the specimen under the advantageous loading modes, facilitating the development of a complex fracture network. Fatigue damage occurs in the specimen at the prepulse loading stage. The high water pressure at the secondary conventional hydraulic fracturing promotes the growth of hydraulic fractures along the damage zones. This allows the hydraulic fractures to propagate deeply and interact with pre-existing fractures. Under advantageous loading conditions, multiple hydraulic fractures can extend to pre-existing fractures, and these hydraulic fractures penetrate or propagate along pre-existing fractures. Especially when the approach angle is large, the damage range in the specimen during the prepulse loading stage increases, resulting in the formation of more hydraulic fractures. (c) 2025 Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/ 4.0/).

Reservoir fracturing stimulation is the key to constructing an enhanced geothermal system (EGS) for geothermal development in hot dry rock (HDR) reservoir. To clarify the crack propagation law of HDR fracturing, a 3D thermo-hydro-mechanical coupling simulation model of fracture propagation is produced based on the continuum-discontinuum element method (CDEM-THM3D). The correctness of the CDEM-THM3D model is validated by the theoretical solution of the nonisothermal soil consolidation model and Penny fracture model. Then, hydraulic fracturing numerical simulations are performed to analyse the influence of controlling variables on fracture propagation. The results indicate that the thermal tensile stress induced by injecting cold water can decrease reservoir fracture pressure and fracture extension pressure, causing an increasement in fracture width and a reduction in fracture length. Increasing thermal expansion coefficient and temperature difference enhances the effect of thermal stresses and even creates new branch fractures. A large elastic modulus favours an increase in fracture length, while large rock tensile strength and minimum horizontal stress lead to a decrease in fracture length. With increasing injection flow rate and fracturing fluid viscosity, the reservoir fracture pressure and the fracture width rise significantly, and the fracture easily breaks through the barrier of the high-stress compartment.

Geological exploration cores obtained from shale gas wells several kilometers deep often show different height-diameter ratios (H/D) because of complex geological conditions (core disking or developed fractures), which makes further standard specimen preparation for mechanical evaluation of reservoirs difficult. In multi-cluster hydraulic fracturing, shale reservoirs between planes of hydraulic fractures with different lengths could be simplified to have different H/D ratios. Discovering the effect of H/D on the mechanical characteristics of shale specimens with different bedding orientations will support mechanical evaluation tests of reservoirs based on disked geological cores and help to optimize multicluster fracturing programs. In this study, we performed uniaxial compression tests and acoustic emission (AE) monitoring on cylindrical Longmaxi shale specimens under five bedding orientations and four H/D ratios. The experimental results showed that both the H/D-dependent mechanical properties and AE parameters demonstrated significant anisotropy. Increasing H/D did not change the uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) evolution versus bedding orientation, demonstrating a V-shaped relationship, but enhanced the curve shape. The stress level of crack damage for the specimens significantly increased with increasing H/D, excluding the specimens with a bedding orientation of 0 degrees. With increasing H/D, the cumulative AE counts of the specimens with each bedding orientation tended to exhibit a stepped jump against the loading time. The proportion of low-average-frequency AE signals (below 100 kHz) in specimens with bedding orientations of 45 degrees and 60 degrees increased to over 70% by increasing H/D, but it only increased to 40% in specimens with bedding orientations of 0 degrees, 30 degrees, and 90 degrees. Finally, an empirical model that can reveal the effect of H/D on anisotropic UCS of shale reservoir was proposed, the anisotropic proportion of tensile and shear failure cracks in specimens under four H/D ratios was classified based on the AE data, and the effect of H/D on the anisotropic crack growth of specimens was discussed. (c) 2024 Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).