Effects of spatial heterogeneity and material anisotropy on the fracture pattern and macroscopic effective toughness of Mancos Shale in Brazilian tests

Abstract For assessing energy‐related activities in the subsurface, it is important to investigate the impact of the spatial variability and anisotropy on the geomechanical behavior of shale. The Brazilian test, an indirect tensile‐splitting method, is performed in this work, and the evolution of strain field is obtained using digital image correlation. Experimental results show the significant impact of local heterogeneity and lamination on …