Abstract: In the aim of predicting the hydrogeological environment changes in mining area caused by in-situ pyrolysis process, we examined the variation rules of elastic modulus of oil shale by controlling the pyrolysis temperature and time. We established a quantitative model of the elastic modulus of oil shale during pyrolysis based on the pyrolysis reaction rate equation. We further compared the test values with calculation values, and results suggest that the calculated elastic modulus values from the quantitative model are in good agreement with the experimental data, with a relatively small error. The proposed quantitative model accurately estimates the elastic modulus of oil shale during pyrolysis, thus is of referential value for the simulation of porosity, permeability, and groundwater pollutant transport in oil shale in-situ pyrolysis mining area.

Key words: oil shale, pyrolysis, elastic modulus, pyrolysis temperature, quantitative model