Study on Breakdown Pressure in Hydraulic Fracturing Process of Hard Rock Based on Numerical Simulation

Pre-conditioning by hydraulic fracturing is a vital work in block caving mining of hard-rock metal mine, and breakdown pressure is one of the important parameters in rock hydraulic fracturing process, which determines the equipment selection and job-parameter control. Based on numerical simulation method, a pre-holed cylindrical hard rock sample was built for simulation of hydraulic fracturing process to investigate the effect of stress condition, rock properties and water injection rate on breakdown pressure. The results show that the breakdown pressure is increased with the confining stress, and the breakdown pressure is 2.28 times confining stress based on rock tension strength. The variation of rock tension strength affects the breakdown pressure and a positive linear relation exists. Pre-formed notch could obviously reduce the breakdown pressure and control the orientation of hydraulic fracture. And the borehole diameter has a reverse influence on rock breakdown pressure.