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A three‐dimensional model of hydraulic fracturing
Author(s) -
Luo Chenyi,
Ehlers Wolfgang
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
pamm
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 1617-7061
DOI - 10.1002/pamm.201610221
Subject(s) - hydraulic fracturing , poromechanics , petroleum engineering , porous medium , fracturing fluid , mechanics , fossil fuel , stiffness , constitutive equation , porosity , geology , materials science , geotechnical engineering , engineering , composite material , physics , waste management , structural engineering , finite element method
Abstract Hydraulic fracturing, also known as “fracking”, is a common technology in the oil and gas industry. In practice, adequate fissures and cracks are generated in the stratum by injecting the fracking fluid consisting of multiple chemicals. As a result, more oil and gas are released and later extracted from the outflow. To describe the fracking process, the interaction between the soil and the fracking fluid is an important task. Another challenge comes from the description of the crack propagation, especially in the three‐dimensional case. The proposed model is based on the Theory of Porous Media (TPM), which offers a modern approach to model the biphasic, namely solid‐fluid, material. In order to simulate the crack propagation, an order parameter is included in the constitutive equations. The evolution of the order parameter is related to the stored energy of the solid. With an increasing order parameter, the stiffness of the solid and the interaction between the solid and fluid are decreasing. Hence, the material is transformed from an intact solid skeleton with a pore fluid to a broken one with a bulk fluid. (© 2016 Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)