Fluid driven fractures propagate in the upper earth crust either naturally or in response to engineered fluid injections. The quantitative prediction of their evolution is critical in order to better understand their dynamics as well as to optimize their creation. We present a Python implementation of an open-source hydraulic fracture propagation simulator based on the implicit level set algorithm originally developed by Peirce & Detournay (2008) -- "An implicit level set method for modeling hydraulically driven fractures". Comp. Meth. Appl. Mech. Engng, (33-40):2858--2885. This algorithm couples a finite discretization of the fracture with the use of the near tip asymptotic solutions of a steadily propagating semi-infinite hydraulic fracture. This allows to resolve the multi-scale processes governing hydraulic fracture growth accurately, even with relatively coarse meshes. We present an overview of the mathematical formulation, the numerical scheme and the details of our implementation. A series of problems including a radial hydraulic fracture verification benchmark, the propagation of a height contained hydraulic fracture, the lateral spreading of a magmatic dyke and the handling of fracture closure are presented to demonstrate the capabilities, accuracy and robustness of the implemented algorithm.
The paper treats the propagation of a hydraulically driven crack. We explicitly write the local speed equation, which facilitates using the theory of propagating interfaces. It is shown that when neglecting the lag between the liquid front and the crack tip, the lubrication PDE yields that a solution satisfies the speed equation identically. This implies that for zero or small lag, the boundary value problem appears ill-posed when solved numerically. We suggest e - regularization, which consists in employing the speed equation together with a prescribed BC on the front to obtain a new BC formu…
We present a multi-resolution approach for constructing model-based simulations of hydraulic fracturing, wherein flow through porous media is coupled with fluid-driven fracture. The approach consists of a hybrid scheme that couples a discrete crack representation in a global domain to a phase-field representation in a local subdomain near the crack tip. The multi-resolution approach addresses issues such as the computational expense of accurate hydraulic fracture simulations and the difficulties associated with reconstructing crack apertures from diffuse fracture representations. In the global…
In this work, a Bayesian inversion framework for hydraulic phase-field transversely isotropic and orthotropy anisotropic fracture is proposed. Therein, three primary fields are pressure, displacements, and phase-field while direction-dependent responses are enforced (via penalty-like parameters). A new crack driving state function is introduced by avoiding the compressible part of anisotropic energy to be degraded. For the Bayesian inversion, we employ the delayed rejection adaptive Metropolis (DRAM) algorithm to identify the parameters. We adjust the algorithm to estimate parameters according…
The paper presents novel results, obtained on the basis of the modified theory of hydraulic fractures (HF). The theory underlines significance of the speed equation. When applied to numerical simulation of HF, the theory reveals three distinct issues: (i) modeling the central part of a HF; (ii) modeling the near-front zone; and (iii) tracing changes in the shape of a fracture contour. Modeling the central part leads to a stiff system of ODE in time, what strongly complicates its integration. For explicit schemes, it requires small time steps to meet the CFL condition. For implicit schemes, it …
Propagation of a fluid-driven crack in an impermeable linear elastic medium under axis-symmetric conditions is investigated in the present work. The fluid exerting the pressure inside the crack is an incompressible Newtonian one and its front is allowed to lag behind the propagating fracture tip. The tip cavity is considered as filled by fluid vapors under constant pressure having a negligible value with respect to the far field confining stress. A novel algorithm is here presented, which is capable of tracking the evolution of both the fluid and the fracture fronts. Particularly, the fracture…
In this paper a problem of numerical simulation of hydraulic fractures is considered. An efficient algorithm of solution is proposed for the plain strain model of hydraulic fracturing. The algorithm utilizes a FEM based subroutine to compute deformation of the fractured material. The flow of generalized Newtonian fluid in the fracture is modelled in the framework of lubrication theory. In this way, the architecture of the computational scheme is relatively simple and enables one to deal with advanced cases of the fractured material properties and configurations as well as various rheological m…
A generalised framework for phase field-based modelling of coupled problems: application to thermo-mechanical fracture, hydraulic fracture, hydrogen embrittlement and corrosion
HyFrac.fun: A 3D Hydraulic Fracturing Simulator on Cloud
College of Civil Engineering, Tongji University（同济大学土木工程学院）；School of Software, Shandong University（山东大学软件学院）；Center of Excellence in Applied Mechanics and Structures, Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University（朱拉隆功大学工程学院土木工程系应用力学与结构卓越中心）；GreenTech Nexus: Research Center for Sustainable Construction Innovation, Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University（朱拉隆功大学工程学院绿色科技纽带可持续建筑创新研究中心）
In this paper we propose computationally efficient and robust methods for estimating the moment tensor and location of micro-seismic event(s) for large search volumes. Our contribution is two-fold. First, we propose a novel joint-complexity measure, namely the sum of nuclear norms which while imposing sparsity on the number of fractures (locations) over a large spatial volume, also captures the rank-1 nature of the induced wavefield pattern. This wavefield pattern is modeled as the outer-product of the source signature with the amplitude pattern across the receivers from a seismic source. A ra…
This study presents a phase field model for brittle fracture in fluid-infiltrating vuggy porous media. While the state-of-the-art in hydraulic phase field fracture considers Darcian fracture flow with enhanced permeability along the crack, in this study, the phase field not only acts as a damage variable that provides diffuse representation of cracks or cavities, but also acts as an indicator function that separates the domain into two regions where fluid flows are governed by Stokes and Darcy equations, respectively. Since the phase field and its gradient can be respectively regarded as smoot…
Coupled hydro-mechanical processes are of great importance to numerous engineering systems, e.g., hydraulic fracturing, geothermal energy, and carbon sequestration. Fluid flow in fractures is modeled after a Poiseuille law that relates the conductivity to the aperture by a cubic relation. Newton's method is commonly employed to solve the resulting discrete, nonlinear algebraic systems. It is demonstrated, however, that Newton's method will likely converge to nonphysical numerical solutions, resulting in estimates with a negative fracture aperture. A Quasi-Newton approach is developed to ensure…
The coupled simulations of dynamic interactions between the well, hydraulic fractures and reservoir have significant importance in some areas of petroleum reservoir engineering. Several approaches to the problem of coupling between the numerical models of these parts of the full system have been developed in the industry in past years. One of the possible approaches allowing formulation of the problem as a fixed-point problem is studied in the present work. Accelerated Anderson's and Aitken's fixed-point algorithms are applied to the coupling problem. Accelerated algorithms are compared with t…
