Abstract
The modelling of fracture formation and propagation in geo-materials is a subject of interest in several problems and applications. In this work, finite elements with high aspect ratio are used to study the hydraulic fracture process in the context of conventional continuum constitutive (stress-strain) relationships based on the damage theory. The deformable porous material is solved in a coupled manner by considering a fully hydro-mechanical approach. The adopted approach is explained and validated against analytical and numerical solutions.
Highlights
The formation and propagation of discontinuities in porous media correspond to a relevant and complex phenomena of interest for different engineering applications, some of them discussed as follows
Hydraulic fracturing is the most common enhanced recovery technique used in shale gas fields and consists in injecting engineered fluids at very-high pressures into a reservoir via injection wells [e.g.2,3]
A key component of the proposed approach is a tensile damage constitutive model that incorporates the characteristic length of the problem, allowing the regularization of the numerical solution of geomaterials with softening behaviour
Summary
The formation and propagation of discontinuities in porous media (i.e., in the form of fractures, cracks or fissures) correspond to a relevant and complex phenomena of interest for different engineering applications, some of them discussed as follows. The injection of fluids (e.g. CO2, H2O) at very high pressure is generally necessary to enhance oil production from reservoirs. This technique may trigger the formation of fractures and can reactivate preexisting geological faults [1]. As for the numerical modelling for dealing with this type of problem, several simulations techniques have been developed to investigate the formation of fractures. A key component of the proposed approach is a tensile damage constitutive model that incorporates the characteristic length of the problem, allowing the regularization of the numerical solution of geomaterials with softening behaviour. This paper is organized as follows, first the main aspects of the adopted approach is presented; the main equations of the framework are introduced; afterwards the application case is studied; and the paper closes with main conclusions of this research
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