In situ mining organic-rich shale by heat injection is a complex solid fluid thermochemical coupling process. The stope and wellbore are subjected to shear stress during the orebody pyrolysis. However

the mechanical response of shale after temperature action is completely different from that under real-time high temperature action. In order to study the shear mechanical properties and deformation evolution law of shale under real-time high temperature

a real-time high-temperature rock variable angle shear test system is designed. By combining acoustic emission and digital image correlation technology

the shear strength and deformation field distribution characteristics of shale under different temperatures and shear angles are thoroughly investigated. The results show that: (1) With the increase of temperature

shale shows a transformation from brittle failure to ductile failure

and the shear strength decreases as the shear angle increases. (2) The shear strength of shale changes in a “V” shape with the increase of temperature. The shear strength of shale decreases to the lowest (2.93 MPa) at 400 ℃

which can be regarded as the threshold temperature of shale shear properties. When the temperature exceeds 400 ℃

the shear strength of shale continues to increase due to the transformation of mineral lattice inside. (3) The evolution of the strain field of shale in the shear process at room temperature −600 ℃ can be divided into two stages. At room temperature−400 ℃

the shale will form an obvious strain localization zone along the bedding structure during shear failure and undergo direct shear failure along the localization zone. In the range of 400−600 ℃

the shale shows obvious strain softening characteristics

and mutual “stagger shear” occurs along the bedding

instead of shear failure directly along the bedding structure

it shows progressive shear failure characteristics.