Numerical modeling of non-planar hydraulic fracture propagation in brittle and ductile rocks using XFEM with cohesive zone method

Hanyi Wang (1)

1 Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering [Austin]

In this study, we present a fully coupled non-planar hydraulic fracture propagation model in permeable medium based on the Extended Finite Element Method (XFEM), and the arbitrary solution-dependent fracture path cam be determined by solving a set of discontinuity equations. The Cohesive Zone Method (CZM), which is able to model crack initiation and growth by considering process zone effects, is implemented at the crack tip to enable the modeling of fracture propagation in both brittle and ductile formations. The method represents a useful step towards the prediction of non-planar, complex hydraulic fractures and can provide us a better guidance of design wells and hydraulic fractures that will better drain reservoir volume in formation with complex stress conditions and heterogeneous properties.

Mots clés: hydraulic fracturing; XFEM; cohesive zone method; Non-planar; complex fracture; brittle; ductile

Domaines: Analyse numérique [cs.NA]; Mécanique [physics.med-ph]; Mécanique des fluides [physics.class-ph]; Géophysique [physics.geo-ph]

Hanyi Wang. Numerical modeling of non-planar hydraulic fracture propagation in brittle and ductile rocks using XFEM with cohesive zone method. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, 2015, 135, pp.127-140. ⟨10.1016/j.petrol.2015.08.010⟩. ⟨hal-01626428⟩