Fully coupled hydraulic fracture simulation using the improved element partition method

Abstract

Summary The improved element partition method (IEPM) is a newly developed fracture simulation approach. IEPM allows a fracture to run across an element without introducing extra degrees of freedom. It can also simulate any number of fractures in a prescribed mesh without remeshing. In this study, the IEPM is extended to hydraulic fracture simulation. First, the seepage and volumetric storage matrix of a cracked element are derived using virtual nodes (the intersection points of a crack with element edges). Subsequently, the fully coupled hydromechanical equation is derived for this cracked element. To eliminate the extra degrees of freedom (virtual nodal quantities), the water pressure and displacement of the virtual nodes are associated with their adjacent nodes through least squares interpolation. Finally, the fully coupled equation in terms of nodal quantities is obtained. The verification cases validate the method. By using this method, the field‐scale hydraulic fracturing process is well simulated. The proposed approach is simple and efficient for field‐scale hydraulic fracture simulation.

Numerical simulation of particle plugging in hydraulic fracture by element partition method

“…Recently, the EPM has been extended to model HF. [15][16][17] In this study, we used the EPM to model the fractured rock formation of a reservoir.…”

A macroelement stabilization for multiphase poromechanics

“…In a variety of applications, it is useful to model the hydromechanical behavior of porous media infiltrated by one or more fluids-e.g. in geotechnical engineering [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17], hydrocarbon recovery [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27], and geologic carbon storage [28][29][30]. Precise models should account for the tight interaction between solid deformation and fluid flow.…”