Developing an Empirical Relationship to Predict the Fracture Length in Hydro Fracturing Process

When mechanically induced progressive failure of rock and the associated changes in hydro fracturing process, it is difficult to track the dynamic evolution of fractures beneath the earth. To overcome this, recent developments in hydro-fracturing technique have tended to follow hybrid approaches. An attempt was made to develop an empirical relationship to predict the Fracture length in millimeters of Hydro fracturing process using RSM technique. Three factors and a central composite design were used to minimize the number of experimental conditions. Response surface method was used to develop their relationship. The developed relationship can be effectively used to predict the Fracture length as a mechanical property in Hydro fracturing process at 95% confidence level whereby the most pertinent aspects of each of the continuum and discrete approaches are combined.