Beixiu Huang

• PhD
• Associate researcher at Chinese Academy of Sciences

As the most important source rock of the Ordos Basin, China, the Chang 6-Chang 9 reservoirs of the Yanchang Formation have developed abundant of joints. Understanding the formation, geometry and distribution is very important for flow modelling and shale gas exploration in the reservoir. To this end, we investigate the development characteristics o...

Natural fractures and laminae are well-developed in continental shale, which greatly affects the fracture propagation and failure mode. Based on the natural fractures and laminae developed in the outcrops of Triassic continental shale from the southern Ordos Basin, China, four different types of shale models are constructed in this research. The CA...

Particle size distribution (PSD) is a key feature of mineral fractions in soils and sediments. It directly affects many physical and mechanical properties that are closely related to the geological origin and evolution of soils and sediments. However, precise PSD measurement is still unrealized, especially for fine and precious samples such as luna...

Welded tuffs have a wide range of welding degrees and show significant variability in mechanical behavior. However, the detailed influence of welding degree on the meso-mechanical behavior of welded tuffs remains unclear. Based on petrographic and pore-structure analysis, we conducted a series of meso-mechanical experiments on weakly to strongly we...

The Sichuan-Tibet transportation corridor is prone to numerous active faults and frequent strong earthquakes. While extensive studies have individually explored the effect of active faults and strong earthquakes on different engineering structures, their combined effect remains unclear. This research employed multiple physical model tests to invest...

Mineralogy-based brittleness index is the simplest and most widely used index in characterizing the brittle property of shale gas/oil reservoirs. Traditionally, mineral compositions are usually determined by laboratory X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis or interpreted from element logging, among which the former is time-consuming and non-continuous w...

The diagenesis of welded tuffs is a process in which volcanic debris undergoes degassing, compaction, and quenching, and vitreous rheologic, which indicates that the welding occurred in a high-temperature, high-pressure diagenetic environment and that different temperatures and pressures result in different degrees of welding in the welded tuffs, w...

Lamina is the smallest megascopic layer in a sedimentary sequence. Different laminae are usually distinguished by various mineral compositions and different thicknesses ranging from tens of micrometers to several millimeters, which significantly affects shale deformation and fracture extension during shale gas/oil exploitation. Nevertheless, due to...

The red beds in Zhejiang province of China host the highest concentration of Dan-xia arched rock shelters in the world, just as the Colorado Plateau in the western USA hosts the world's largest concentration of natural arches and bridges. This study investigated the geological background of the arched rock shelters and compared them to the natural...

Continental shale is abundant with unconventional oil and gas and has considerable prospect for exploitation. However, due to deposited environment differences, continental shale presents unique characteristics in terms of structure and mineralogy compared to marine shale. The mechanical property is elemental parameter for reservoir production, but...

Laminae are well developed in shale and generally influence fracture propagation during hydraulic fracturing. Hence, comprehensively understanding the tension and shear behaviors of shale laminae is crucial. There have been limited systematic studies thus far on the tensile and shear strength as well as fracture morphology of shale laminae. In this...

The mineralogy and chemistry of tuff rocks are variable and heterogeneous due to volcanic activity and hydrothermal alteration, in addition to weathering, which makes it difficult to explain the deterioration mechanisms of the weathered rocks based merely on mineralogical and chemical parameters. Studies of tuff weathering indicate that subtle weat...

Outcrops and core observations show that sandy and tuffaceous laminas and natural fractures are well developed in the continental shale gas reservoir. This study reports the distribution of laminas and natural fracture networks at different scales, in cases of outcrops, wells and cores from Yanchang Formation, southern Ordos Basin. Firstly, based o...

Favorable prospects for the exploration of shale gas have been demonstrated in the Ordos Basin, China. Outcrop and core observations indicate that there are abundant laminas in the shale strata, which exert a great influence on hydro-fracture propagation, gas storage and fluid flow. In this study, the continental shale of the Chang 72 Member, colle...

In June 1992, five large rock caverns were unearthed in a village near Longyou County in Zhejiang Province, south China. The caverns were manually excavated about 2000 years ago in argillaceous siltstone of Cretaceous age. Faults are not well developed, however there are clay interlayers within argillaceous siltstone bedding at each cavern. Field i...