Simulating fully 3D non-planar evolution of hydraulic fractures

Abstract

Three-dimensional model of fracture propagation is proposed. The model simultaneously accounts rock deformation in the vicinity of a fracture and a cavity, fluid flow inside the fracture and its propagation in the direction that is selected by a growth criterion. The results of the sensitivity analysis of model solution to the variation of model parameters are presented.

Numerical methods for hydraulic fracture propagation: A review of recent trends

“…The SGBEM formulation with dis-placement discontinuities as the main variables for the discretization of the fracture have been used to solve for the elastic deformation in some 3D hydraulic fracture simulators (Rungamornrat et al, 2005;Xu and Wong, 2013). Recently, a domain modification BEM technique has been proposed in order to reduce the size of the elastic problem compared to a DDM or dual BEM discretization of the elastic problem (Cherny et al, 2016).…”

On the undrained and drained hydraulic fracture splits

“…2 The first trend focuses on improving the computational aspects of the models by employing state-of-the-art numerical techniques to develop models that overcome the limitations of their existing counterparts. Examples are studies that employed different variations of the boundary integrals method, [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] finite element method, [12][13][14][15][16] extended/generalized finite elements, [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30] phase field methods, [31][32][33][34][35][36] and hybrid finite element/eXtended finite element-distinct element techniques (FEM-DEM or XFEM-DEM) [37][38][39][40] to develop 2D and 3D HF models. Additionally, some recent studies have coupled boundary integral or extended finite element methods with fracture tip asymptotes and presented efficient multiscale models of HFs under different propagation regimes.…”

Redirection of a crack driven by viscous fluid taking into account plastic effects in the process zone

“…It has been recognized that the applicability of the known criteria is not well justified when accounting for the impact of severe Mode III [11]. Recently, an attempt has been made to tackle such case [4,5]. Note that the MMCS introduced in this paper, provides meaningful results even for a mixed mode with a severe Mode III component.…”