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Modelling fluid‐driven fractures for partially saturated porous materials
Author(s) -
Sonntag Alixa,
Wagner Arndt,
Ehlers Wolfgang
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
pamm
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 1617-7061
DOI - 10.1002/pamm.202000033
Subject(s) - porous medium , materials science , porosity , fracturing fluid , saturation (graph theory) , poromechanics , characterisation of pore space in soil , mechanics , phase (matter) , fracture (geology) , fracture mechanics , fluid pressure , fluid dynamics , composite material , geology , petroleum engineering , physics , mathematics , combinatorics , quantum mechanics
This contribution aims to study the influence of the saturation degree on the fracturing process. Therefore, a continuum‐mechanical model for fluid‐driven fracturing in partially saturated porous material is presented on the basis of the Theory of Porous Media and the phase‐field approach to fracture. The material is described on the macroscopic scale as an immiscible mixture of three phases, i.e. a solid phase, representing the solid skeleton, and two fluid phases percolating the pore space. Hereby, capillarity effects between the fluid phases are taken into account. The fracturing process is modelled with a phase‐field approach, characterising a diffuse crack pattern. The crack propagation in the solid skeleton is driven by the pressure field of the injected fluid. Finally, a numerical example showing the coupled process of crack propagation in partially saturated porous materials is discussed.