Hydraulic fracture propagation under steady state fluid flow

2014 ◽  
pp. 1363-1368
Author(s):  
A Pouya ◽  
V Nguyen ◽  
S Ghabezloo
Keyword(s):  
Fluid Flow ◽  
Steady State ◽  
Hydraulic Fracture ◽  
Fracture Propagation ◽  
Hydraulic Fracture Propagation

Investigation of Rupture and Slip Mechanisms of Hydraulic Fractures in Multiple-Layered Formations

SPE Journal ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (05) ◽  
pp. 2292-2307 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jizhou Tang ◽  
Kan Wu ◽  
Lihua Zuo ◽  
Lizhi Xiao ◽  
Sijie Sun ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fluid Flow ◽  
Hydraulic Fracture ◽  
Fracture Propagation ◽  
Propagation Model ◽  
Rock Deformation ◽  
Hydraulic Fractures ◽  
Fracture Geometry ◽  
Fracture Width ◽  
Hydraulic Fracture Propagation ◽  
Fracture Height

Summary Weak bedding planes (BPs) that exist in many tight oil formations and shale–gas formations might strongly affect fracture–height growth during hydraulic–fracturing treatment. Few of the hydraulic–fracture–propagation models developed for unconventional reservoirs are capable of quantitatively estimating the fracture–height containment or predicting the fracture geometry under the influence of multiple BPs. In this paper, we introduce a coupled 3D hydraulic–fracture–propagation model considering the effects of BPs. In this model, a fully 3D displacement–discontinuity method (3D DDM) is used to model the rock deformation. The advantage of this approach is that it addresses both the mechanical interaction between hydraulic fractures and weak BPs in 3D space and the physical mechanism of slippage along weak BPs. Fluid flow governed by a finite–difference methodology considers the flow in both vertical fractures and opening BPs. An iterative algorithm is used to couple fluid flow and rock deformation. Comparison between the developed model and the Perkins–Kern–Nordgren (PKN) model showed good agreement. I–shaped fracture geometry and crossing–shaped fracture geometry were analyzed in this paper. From numerical investigations, we found that BPs cannot be opened if the difference between overburden stress and minimum horizontal stress is large and only shear displacements exist along the BPs, which damage the planes and thus greatly amplify their hydraulic conductivity. Moreover, sensitivity studies investigate the impact on fracture propagation of parameters such as pumping rate (PR), fluid viscosity, and Young's modulus (YM). We investigated the fracture width near the junction between a vertical fracture and the BPs, the latter including the tensile opening of BPs and shear–displacement discontinuities (SDDs) along them. SDDs along BPs increase at the beginning and then decrease at a distance from the junction. The width near the junctions, the opening of BPs, and SDDs along the planes are directly proportional to PR. Because viscosity increases, the width at a junction increases as do the SDDs. YM greatly influences the opening of BPs at a junction and the SDDs along the BPs. This model estimates the fracture–width distribution and the SDDs along the BPs near junctions between the fracture tip and BPs and enables the assessment of the PR required to ensure that the fracture width at junctions and along intersected BPs is sufficient for proppant transport.

scholarly journals Turbulent flow effects in hydraulic fracture propagation in permeable rock

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evgenii Kanin ◽  
Dmitry Garagash ◽  
Andrei Osiptsov
Keyword(s):  
Fluid Flow ◽  
General Solution ◽  
Turbulent Flow ◽  
Flow Regime ◽  
Hydraulic Fracture ◽  
Fracture Propagation ◽  
Linear Elastic ◽  
Permeable Rock ◽  
Hydraulic Fracture Propagation ◽  
Laminar Model

This chapter considers a model for a radial hydraulic fracture propagation in a permeable, linear elastic rock formation driven by a point source fluid injection. The linear elastic fracture mechanics theory controls the quasi-static propagation. The hydraulic fracturing fluid is slickwater -- pure water solution with polymeric additives which allow reducing the fluid flow friction in the wellbore and fracture in reservoir field applications. We focus on the possible transformation of the fluid flow regime inside the fracture channel from laminar to turbulent with distance from the fracture front. We assume that the turbulent friction of slickwater is described by the maximum drag reduction asymptote, while Carter's law governs the leak-off into the permeable rock. The solution is obtained numerically using the algorithm based on the Gauss-Chebyshev quadrature and Barycentric Lagrange interpolation techniques. We compute solution examples for typical field cases and demonstrate a significant impact of the turbulent flow regime during the initial few minutes of propagation, namely, shorter radius and wider maximum aperture than the laminar model provides. Moreover, we observe higher fluid pressure values at the wellbore within tens of minutes of the start of the injection. This leads to a larger hydraulic pumping power requirement than the laminar model predicts. We also find that the fluid leak-off into the permeable rock enhances the turbulent flow effect in the fracture when compared to the impermeable rock case. In order to analyze the parametric dependence of the general solution, we convert the governing equations into the dimensionless form. We perform an extensive exploration of the normalized solution in space of two non-dimensional parameters, leak-off and characteristic Reynolds numbers, and normalized time. Specifically, we determine the applicability domains of the limiting propagation regimes to frame the general solution, investigate the alterations of the crack characteristics depending on the governing parameters, and identify zones where the turbulent flow is important.

scholarly journals Numerical Study of Elasto-Plastic Hydraulic Fracture Propagation in Deep Reservoirs Using a Hybrid EDFM–XFEM Method

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (9) ◽  
pp. 2610
Author(s):  
Wenzheng Liu ◽  
Qingdong Zeng ◽  
Jun Yao ◽  
Ziyou Liu ◽  
Tianliang Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Plastic Deformation ◽  
Iterative Method ◽  
Hydraulic Fracture ◽  
Iterative Procedure ◽  
Fracture Propagation ◽  
Hydraulic Fractures ◽  
Zone Model ◽  
Dilatancy Angle ◽  
Proposed Model ◽  
Hydraulic Fracture Propagation

Rock yielding may well take place during hydraulic fracturing in deep reservoirs. The prevailing models based on the linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) are incapable of describing the evolution process of hydraulic fractures accurately. In this paper, a hydro-elasto-plastic model is proposed to investigate the hydraulic fracture propagation in deep reservoirs. The Drucker–Prager plasticity model, Darcy’s law, cubic law and cohesive zone model are employed to describe the plastic deformation, matrix flow, fracture flow and evolution of hydraulic fractures, respectively. Combining the embedded discrete fracture model (EDFM), extended finite element method (XFEM) and finite volume method, a hybrid numerical scheme is presented to carry out simulations. A dual-layer iterative procedure is developed based on the fixed-stress split method, Picard iterative method and Newton–Raphson iterative method. The iterative procedure is used to deal with the coupling between nonlinear deformation with fracture extension and fluid flow. The proposed model is verified against analytical solutions and other numerical simulation results. A series of numerical cases are performed to investigate the influences of rock plasticity, internal friction angle, dilatancy angle and permeability on hydraulic fracture propagation. Finally, the proposed model is extended to simulate multiple hydraulic fracture propagation. The result shows that plastic deformation can enhance the stress-shadowing effect.

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