Given that the confining tension boosts, the increase in resistance to longitudinal crack propagation leads to a gradual changeover of shale failure method from longitudinal to inclined shear failure that demonstrates an escalation in rock plasticity. When the confining pressure reaches 30 MPa, there are still regional shear microcracks https://johnathanrzgrw.salesmanwiki.com/10495394/what_does_shale_wellbore_stability_mean