Abstract
Abstract The interaction mode of induced fracture and natural fracture plays an important role in prediction of hydraulic fracture propagation. In this paper, a two-dimensional hydromechanical coupled discrete element model is first introduced in the framework of particle flow simulation, which can well take into account mechanical and hydraulic properties of rock samples with natural fracture. The model’s parameters are strictly calibrated by conducting numerical simulations of uniaxial compression test and direct tensile and shear tests, as well as fluid flow test. The effectiveness of coupled model is also assessed by describing hydraulic fracture propagation in two representative cases, respectively, rock samples with and without preexisting fracture. With this model in hand, the effects of interaction between induced and natural fractures with different approach angles and differential stresses on fluid injection pressure and fracture propagation patterns are investigated and discussed. Results suggest that the interaction modes mainly involve three basic behaviors including the arrested, captured with offset, and directly crossing. For a given differential stress, the captured offset of hydraulic fracture by natural fracture gradually decreases with the approach angle increase, while for a fixed approach angle, that captured offset increases with differential stress decrease.
Highlights
Hydraulic fracturing has become a widely used technique for the stimulation of oil and gas in a variety of untraditional reservoirs [1,2,3,4]
A series of sensitive analysis on interaction mode of hydraulic fracture and natural fracture is first investigated including approach angle and differential stress, and the obtained results are used to investigate the change of hydraulic fracturing process in aspect of borehole pressure and fracture propagation
By introducing an improved fluidmechanical coupling model, a series of numerical hydraulic fracturing simulations are conducted in the framework of particle flow code (PFC) to study the interaction mechanism between hydraulic fracture and weak plane
Summary
Hydraulic fracturing has become a widely used technique for the stimulation of oil and gas in a variety of untraditional reservoirs [1,2,3,4] Natural fractures in these untraditional reservoirs are widespread in terms of fault, vein, bedding planes, open fractures, and joints [5,6,7,8]. It is not easy to give an exhaustive review of all previous studies, and only some representative ones are mentioned here. During this process, we use the common term weak plane or weak layer to refer to that natural cemented fracture. Zhou et al [21] studied the interaction of induced fracture and weak plane during
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