The invention discloses a low-permeability rock breakthrough pressure testing method based on schlieren imaging. The method comprises the following steps: putting a test
rock sample into a confining pressure cavity of a
rock sample holder; the injection end of the
rock sample holder is connected with the
fluid injection module, the outlet end of the rock sample holder is connected with the schlieren cavity, and the confining pressure cavity is connected with the confining
pressure injection module; vacuumizing a pipeline of the testing device, injecting a degassed
purified water medium into the schlieren cavity, and then carrying out
optical path debugging until a clear schlieren image is acquired; loading confining
pressure stress on the test rock sample, injecting water until the test rock sample is saturated, injecting
carbon dioxide, observing a schlieren imaging
system, recording a schlieren image of
carbon dioxide breakthrough by a high-precision camera when the
carbon dioxide breaks through the saturated rock sample, recording the breakthrough moment of the carbon dioxide, and recording the upstream and downstream
pressure difference value at the moment; the breakthrough pressure is the breakthrough pressure of the carbon dioxide of the tested
rock core sample. According to the invention, a trace concentration of carbon dioxide can be visually observed to break through the rock sample, so that the breakthrough pressure of the low-permeability rock can be accurately detected.