THERMAL SCIENCE
International Scientific Journal
Find this paper on
INVESTIGATION ON THE FRACTURING CHARACTERISTICS OF COAL AND SANDSTONE BASED ON LIQUID NITROGEN FREEZING WITH WATER ABSORBING POLYMER RESINON
ABSTRACT
The reservoir permeability enhancement technology carrying low-temperature fracturing effect has become a hot research topic. In order to maximize the fracturing effect of ice-water phase transition during low-temperature fracturing, this paper innovatively proposes using degradable polymer water absorbent resin as the water carrier and utilizing the extremely low temperature characteristics of liquid nitrogen (LN2) to achieve frost heave fracturing of the target reservoir. in this work, coal and sandstone were token as research objects and conducts frost-heave fracturing experiments based on polymer water absorbent resin. The results showed that compared with the hydraulic fracturing samples, the main cracks of the coal and sandstone samples after frost-heave fracturing had active turning characteristics, with a net increase of 94.4% and 128.2% in the length of the end cracks, respectively. In addition, the maximum increase in the roughness index of the fracture surface was 88.7% and 62.7%, respectively. The overall fracture area of the matrix increased significantly, and the fracture degree of the samples increased significantly, especially for coal. This law is expected to provide new ideas for enhancing the permeability of oil and gas reservoirs.
KEYWORDS
PAPER SUBMITTED: 2025-07-27
PAPER REVISED: 2025-09-12
PAPER ACCEPTED: 2025-10-31
PUBLISHED ONLINE: 2026-07-25
DOI REFERENCE: https://doi.org/10.2298/TSCI250725129S
[1] Su, S. J., et al., Investigate on Mechanical Properties and Fracture Characteristics of Sandstone under Different Liquid Nitrogen Treatment States, Geoenergy Science and Engineering, 250(2025), Article ID 213836
[2] Liu, J., et al., Triple-Phase-Field Modeling and Simulation for Mixed-Mode Fracture of Bedded Shale, Engineering Fracture Mechanics, 300(2024), Article ID 109993
[3] Su, S. J., et al., Pre-Treatment Influence of Liquid Nitrogen and Microwave on the Mode I Fracture Characteristics of Granite, Thermal Science, 28(2024), 2A, pp. 1045-1051
[4] Qin, L., et al., Changes in the Pore Structure of Lignite after Repeated Cycles of Liquid Nitrogen Freezing as Determined by Nitrogen Adsorption and Mercury Intrusion, Fuel, 267(2020), Article ID 117214
[5] Wang, S. C., et al., Mechanical Degradation Characteristics and Permeability Evolution Law of Coal under Liquid Nitrogen Freeze-Thaw Cycles, Physics of Fluids, 37(2025), 2, Article ID 027134
[6] Su, S. J., et al., Effectof Liquid Nitrogen Pre-Treatment on the Fracture Behaviourof Shale, Thermal Science, 29(2025), 2B, pp. 1389-1394
[7] Su, S. J., et al., Influenceof Liquid Nitrogen Cooling on Brazilian Splitting Characteristic of Coal and Sandstone, Thermal Science, 28(2024), 2A, pp.1141-1147
[8] Hou, P., et al., Influence of Liquid Nitrogen Cooling State on Mechanical Properties and Fracture Characteristics of Coal, Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering, 557 (2022), 3, pp.3817-3836
[9] Niu, S., et al., Frost-Heaving Pressure Distribution and Evolution in Cracked Rock under Unidirectional Freezing Condition, Cold Regions Science and Technology, 240(2025), Article ID 104629
[10] Hao, Y., et al., Synthesis and Property of Superabsorbent Polymer Based on Cellulose Grafted 2-Acrylamido-2-Methyl-1-Propanesulfonic Acid, International Journal of Biological Macromolecules, 233(2023), Article ID 123643
[11] Song, Y., et al., Novel Semi-IPN Nanocomposites with Functions of both Nutrient Slow-Release and Water Retention. 1. Microscopic Structure, Water Absorbency, and Degradation Performance, Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 67(2019), 27, pp. 7587-7597
[12] Liang, X., et al., A Fractal Perspective on Fracture Initiation and Propagation of Reservoir Rocks under Water and Nitrogen Fracturing, Fractals-Complex Geometry Patterns and Scaling in Nature and Society, 29(2021), 7, Article ID 2150189
© 2026 Society of Thermal Engineers of Serbia. Published by the Vinča Institute of Nuclear Sciences, National Institute of the Republic of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence


