Numerical Simulation Study on the Evolution Law of Stress and Crack in Coal Seam Hydraulic Fracturing

Abstract

Hydraulic fracturing as a conventional reservoir permeability enhancement technique can effectively increase the production of coalbed methane, and it is important to study the stress and crack evolution law to evaluate the effect of coalbed fracturing and optimize the construction process. To accurately derive the evolution characteristics of stress and the propagation form of cracks during hydraulic fracturing of coal seams, a numerical model of hydraulic fracturing was established based on a three-point bending test of coal samples using the finite-discrete element method (FDEM). Based on a coal seam in a mining area in southwest China, a hydraulic fracturing model was established, and the reliability of the numerical model was verified by comparing the numerical simulation with the analytical expression. The model was used to study the evolution of stress and cracks with time during hydraulic fracturing, and the influence of elastic modulus and permeability on the evolution of stress and cracks was investigated. The results show that stress and cracks in the process of hydraulic fracturing belong to a mutual feeding mechanism during evolution, and the effective permeability range of fracturing is an ellipse with the crack as the long axis enclosed by the effective stress field. The greater the elastic modulus of the coal seam, the greater the crack initiation pressure and the shorter the crack initiation time, and a coal seam with a high elastic modulus is more likely to form complex cracks. The change in coal seam permeability has little effect on the initiation pressure and initiation time, but the crack propagation path is obviously different, and a coal seam with low permeability is more favorable to hydraulic fracturing.