Seismogenic process of fluid injection revealed by in situ dynamic CT scanning

In the process of unconventional energy exploitation, large volumes of fluid are injected into low permeability reservoirs for hydraulic transformation to generate a fracture network conducive to fluid migration. Unfortunately, extensive fluid injection can induce earthquakes, endangering human lives and causing serious economic losses. Understanding the seismogenic process of fluid injection within a reservoir helps to minimize the induced earthquakes. To better monitor the deformation changes in reservoirs, we conducted in situ dynamic X-ray computed tomography (CT) during a series of experiments lasting 3 minutes for real-time identification of the location and geometry of hydraulic fractures and found that the seismogenic process of fluid injection with a wide range of frequencies is triggered by water–rock interactions.

The data we uploaded can be divided into two main parts. The first part is the confining, axial and water injection pressures recorded during the hydraulic fracturing experiment. The second part is the CT scans of the rock sample during the hydraulic fracturing experiment.