Phase-field modeling of proppant-filled fractures in a poroelastic medium

Abstract

In this paper we present a phase field model for proppant-filled fractures in a poroelastic medium. The formulation of the coupled system involves four unknowns: displacements, phase field, pressure, and proppant concentration. The two-field displacement phase-field system is solved fully-coupled and accounts for crack irreversibility. This solution is then coupled to the pressure equation via a fixed-stress iteration. The pressure is obtained by using a diffraction equation where the phase-field variable serves as an indicator function that distinguishes between the fracture and the reservoir. The transport of the proppant in the fracture is modeled by using a power-law fluid system. The numerical discretization in space is based on Galerkin finite elements for displacements and phase-field, and an enriched Galerkin method is applied for the pressure equation in order to obtain local mass conservation. The concentration is solved with cell-centered finite elements. Nonlinear equations are treated with Newton’s method. Our developments are substantiated with several numerical examples in two and three dimensions.