The Method to Model Microseismic Events during Hydrofracture Propagation

Abstract

The physical-and-mathematical model is presented for generation of microseismic events during hydrofracture propagation. Defects (discontinuities) are described using the ESC-model. The formulas are given for the jumps of discontinuities, characteristics of seismic and aseismic events, as well as the seismic moment and seismic magnitude. The algorithm is developed to model microseismic events during hydrofracture propagation by the known geometry and physical properties of the medium as the input data. The calculations are performed for the pseudo-3D and planar models of hydrofracture propagation. It is shown that a majority of events take place at the front of the growing hydrofracture, which agrees with the observations.