On the hydraulic fracturing in naturally-layered porous media using the phase field method

verfasst von: Xiaoying Zhuang, Shuwei Zhou, Mao Sheng, Gengsheng Li
Abstract: In the hydraulic fracturing of natural rocks, understanding and predicting crack penetrations into the neighboring layers is crucial and relevant in terms of cost-efficiency in engineering and environmental protection. This study constitutes a phase field framework to examine hydraulic fracture propagation in naturally-layered porous media. Biot's poroelasticity theory is used to couple the displacement and flow field, while a phase field method helps characterize fracture growth behavior. Additional fracture criteria are not required and fracture propagation is governed by the equation of phase field evolution. Thus, penetration criteria are not required when hydraulic fractures reach the material interfaces. The phase field method is implemented within a staggered scheme that sequentially solves the displacement, phase field, and fluid pressure. We consider the soft-to-stiff and the stiff-to-soft configurations, where the layer interface exhibits different inclination angles θ. Penetration, singly-deflected, and doubly-deflected fracture scenarios can be predicted by our simulations. In the soft-to-stiff configuration, θ=0° exhibits penetration or symmetrical doubly-deflected scenarios, and θ=15° exhibits singly-deflected or asymmetric doubly-deflected scenarios. Only the singly-deflected scenario is obtained for θ=30°. In the stiff-to-soft configuration, only the penetration scenario is obtained with widening fractures when hydraulic fractures penetrate into the soft layer.
Organisationseinheit(en): Institut für Kontinuumsmechanik
Externe Organisation(en): Tongji University
China Univeristy of Petroleum - Beijing
Typ: Artikel
Journal: Engineering Geology
Band: 266
ISSN: 0013-7952
Publikationsdatum: 05.03.2020
Publikationsstatus: Veröffentlicht
Peer-reviewed: Ja
ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete: Geotechnik und Ingenieurgeologie, Geologie
Elektronische Version(en): https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enggeo.2019.105306 (Zugang: Geschlossen)
: Details im Forschungsportal „Research@Leibniz University“

BibTeX

@article{2692b6ada6ee4eee8c18b9d3720a9b2f,
title = "On the hydraulic fracturing in naturally-layered porous media using the phase field method",
abstract = "In the hydraulic fracturing of natural rocks, understanding and predicting crack penetrations into the neighboring layers is crucial and relevant in terms of cost-efficiency in engineering and environmental protection. This study constitutes a phase field framework to examine hydraulic fracture propagation in naturally-layered porous media. Biot's poroelasticity theory is used to couple the displacement and flow field, while a phase field method helps characterize fracture growth behavior. Additional fracture criteria are not required and fracture propagation is governed by the equation of phase field evolution. Thus, penetration criteria are not required when hydraulic fractures reach the material interfaces. The phase field method is implemented within a staggered scheme that sequentially solves the displacement, phase field, and fluid pressure. We consider the soft-to-stiff and the stiff-to-soft configurations, where the layer interface exhibits different inclination angles θ. Penetration, singly-deflected, and doubly-deflected fracture scenarios can be predicted by our simulations. In the soft-to-stiff configuration, θ=0° exhibits penetration or symmetrical doubly-deflected scenarios, and θ=15° exhibits singly-deflected or asymmetric doubly-deflected scenarios. Only the singly-deflected scenario is obtained for θ=30°. In the stiff-to-soft configuration, only the penetration scenario is obtained with widening fractures when hydraulic fractures penetrate into the soft layer.",
keywords = "Cap layer, Hydraulic fracturing, Numerical simulation, Phase field, Reservoir layer, Staggered scheme",
author = "Xiaoying Zhuang and Shuwei Zhou and Mao Sheng and Gengsheng Li",
note = "Funding Information: The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided by the Natural Science Foundation of China (51474157), and the RISE-project BESTOFRAC (734370). ",
year = "2020",
month = mar,
day = "5",
doi = "10.1016/j.enggeo.2019.105306",
language = "English",
volume = "266",
journal = "Engineering Geology",
issn = "0013-7952",
publisher = "Elsevier",
}