Shale matrix permeability is one of the most important parameters for characterizing a source rock reservoir and for predicting hydrocarbon production. The low permeability value and the presence of induced fractures during core retrieval and transportation make the accurate measurement of the true permeability values for source rocks a significant challenge for the industry. The steady state flow method and the transient pressure pulse decay method on core plug samples mainly measure the permeability of fractures when fractures are present. While the Gas Research Institute (GRI) method that uses pressure decay on crushed rock samples was designed to overcome this difficulty associated with the induced fractures, its measurement results are reported to be sensitive to the particle size of crushed rock samples and also need correction of Knudsen diffusion effect. Moreover, the GRI method is limited to the unconfined stress condition.

This work develops a practical method to measure the matrix permeability values from fractured source rock samples by extending the commonly used pressure pulse decay method. A source rock sample with fractures can be more accurately described by a dual-continuum system consisting of a fracture continuum and a matrix continuum. During the pulse decay test, the initial flow across the source rock sample is dominated by the fracture continuum because it has much higher permeability values than those for the rock matrix. Thus, the initial gas pressure signals from the test are used to estimate the fracture permeability. During the late-stage of a pulse decay test, the flow process within the rock sample is controlled by the rock matrix. The observed pressure signals at this stage are used for estimating matrix permeability. The method is based on the analytical solution to gas flow in the fractured rock sample and relatively simple to apply in practice. Both fracture and matrix permeability's dependence on the effective stress can be assessed with this method.

页岩基质渗透率是表征烃源岩储层和预测油气产量的最重要参数之一。低渗透率值以及岩心取回和运输过程中引起的裂缝的存在使准确测量烃源岩的真实渗透率值成为该行业的重大挑战。岩心塞样品上的稳态流动法和瞬态压力脉冲衰减法主要测量存在裂缝时的裂缝渗透率。虽然气体研究所（GRI）的方法采用了对碎石样品进行压力衰减的方法，旨在克服与诱导裂缝相关的困难，据报道，其测量结果对碎石样品的粒径敏感，还需要修正努森扩散效应。此外，GRI方法仅限于无限应力条件。

通过扩展常用的压力脉冲衰减方法，这项工作开发了一种实用的方法来测量裂缝性烃源岩样品的基质渗透率值。包含裂缝的源岩样品可以通过由裂缝连续体和基质连续体组成的双连续体系统更准确地描述。在脉冲衰减测试过程中，穿过烃源岩样品的初始流量受裂缝连续体的支配，因为它的渗透率值远高于岩石基质的渗透率值。因此，来自测试的初始气压信号用于估计裂缝渗透率。在脉冲衰减测试的后期，岩石样品内的流动过程受岩石基质控制。在此阶段观察到的压力信号用于估计基质渗透率。该方法基于对裂缝岩石样品中气体流动的解析解，在实践中相对简单。裂缝和基体渗透率对有效应力的依赖性都可以用这种方法来评估。