Numerical Modeling and Lattice Method for Characterizing Hydraulic Fracture Propagation: A Review of the Numerical, Experimental, and Field Studies

Abstract

In continuous formations, the rock properties and the state of in situ stresses control the propagation direction of an induced hydraulic fracture (HF) and its geometry. The present study succinctly reviews more than a hundred scientific papers that have deeply explored hydraulic fracture propagation from the rock mechanical perspective and summarizes the current state of knowledge on the propagation of hydraulic fractures. These studies fall into three major categories of field, experimental, and numerical studies. It was found that numerical simulations are the most common methods for studying hydraulic fracture propagation, while field and analytical studies are the least-used methods because of their technical complications and practical limitations. One of the most efficient methods for the numerical simulation that has been adopted by numerous researches from around the world in recent years is the Lattice simulation approach. This method is a particle-based model and uses the Distinct Element Method. Since the Lattice simulation presents higher accuracy and computational efficiency over the existing methods to simulate complex reservoir conditions, the current review particularly focuses on this method and also discusses the functionality of the recently introduced XSite simulation package. The results from this work demonstrate the superior ability of the Lattice simulation and XSite package in modeling different propagation regimes, geometry, and growth of the HF. Moreover, the authors simulated the interaction mode of hydraulic and natural fractures based on two significant parameters of the phenomenon, namely “angle of approach” and “in situ differential stress”, and verified the results with the Blanton criteria.