Relationship between Rock Fracture Toughness and Physical Properties

The relationship between shale toughness and its mechanical parameters is of significance for predicting the shale toughness at a great depth based on the geophysical logging data. A large amount of experiments is performed for toughness measurement of the artificial shale specimens of thick-wall cylinder, with internal pressures applied. Moreover, the finite element method is used to interpret the toughness. The acoustic speeds of the specimens are measured and the relationships between shale toughness and the mechanical parameters, which are almost linear, are established.