Fracture propagation laws in staged hydraulic fracturing and their effects on fracture conductivities

Hydraulic Fracturing Simulation for Fracture Networks

The term ‘Unconventional Reservoirs’ is used in the oil and gas industry for hydrocarbon reservoirs that have very low permeability in the magnitude of microdarcy (μd) and therefore rely on artificially introducing pathways for fluids and gases, commonly by using hydraulic fracturing techniques, to enable economic production. This approach of using fracturing stimulation campaigns is also incre...

Modeling 3d Hydraulic Fracture Propagation and Thermal Fracturing Using Virtual Multidimensional Internal Bonds

Fracture propagation, especially for fractures emanating from inclined wellbores and closed natural fracture often involves Mode I, Mode II, and at times Mode III fracture pattern simultaneously. In this paper a Virtual Multidimensional Internal Bond (VMIB) model is presented to simulate 3D mixedmode fracture propagation. To represent the contact and friction between fracture surfaces, a threed...

Numerical analysis of fracture propagation during hydraulic fracturing operations in shale gas systems

Hydraulic fracture propagation: analytical solutions versus Lattice simulations

In this work, we used a grain-based numerical model based on the concept of lattice. The modelling was done to simulate the lab experiments carried out on the mortar samples. Also the analytical solutions corresponding to the viscosity-dominated regime were used to estimate the fracture length and width, and the results obtained were compared with the numerical simulations. As the analytical so...

Hydraulic Fracture Propagation near a Natural Discontinuity

The trajectory of a hydraulically driven crack near natural fractures, faults, and inhomogeneities has been studied using the complex variable hypersingular boundary element technique. The crack trajectories are presented for the cases of an oblique and a steeply inclined fault. It has been demonstrated that natural fractures, faults, and other inhomogeneities generate unstable fracture conÞgur...