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Hydraulic fracturing based on the Theory of Porous Media
Author(s) -
Luo Chenyi,
Ehlers Wolfgang
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
pamm
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 1617-7061
DOI - 10.1002/pamm.201510191
Subject(s) - porous medium , hydraulic fracturing , discontinuity (linguistics) , mechanics , instability , porosity , stiffness , materials science , field (mathematics) , geology , geotechnical engineering , mathematics , physics , composite material , mathematical analysis , pure mathematics
Hydraulic fracturing is a widely‐used technology in the field of energy exploitation. The relevant study is intricate owing to the crack‐inducing instability and the coupling between different constituents in stratum. The proposed model is based on the phase‐field theory and extended to the Theory of Porous Media. The former removes crack discontinuity by substituting sharp crack with smeared one and the later provides clear and distinct description of multi‐phasic material in macroscopic scale. A new variable, the order parameter ϕ is imported to characterise material as unbroken porous media and the crack zone, the evolution of which is governed by potential energy of solid. With the change of ϕ, the stiffness of solid is decreasing while the fluid transport is transferring from Darcy‐type to Navier‐Stokes‐type. (© 2015 Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)