IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v9y2016i9p699-d77262.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Numerical Modeling and Investigation of Fluid-Driven Fracture Propagation in Reservoirs Based on a Modified Fluid-Mechanically Coupled Model in Two-Dimensional Particle Flow Code

Author

Listed:
  • Jian Zhou

    (Key Laboratory of Shale Gas and Geoengineering, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing 100029, China)

  • Luqing Zhang

    (Key Laboratory of Shale Gas and Geoengineering, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing 100029, China)

  • Anika Braun

    (Key Laboratory of Shale Gas and Geoengineering, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing 100029, China)

  • Zhenhua Han

    (Key Laboratory of Shale Gas and Geoengineering, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing 100029, China
    College of Earth Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China)

Abstract

Hydraulic fracturing is a useful tool for enhancing rock mass permeability for shale gas development, enhanced geothermal systems, and geological carbon sequestration by the high-pressure injection of a fracturing fluid into tight reservoir rocks. Although significant advances have been made in hydraulic fracturing theory, experiments, and numerical modeling, when it comes to the complexity of geological conditions knowledge is still limited. Mechanisms of fluid injection-induced fracture initiation and propagation should be better understood to take full advantage of hydraulic fracturing. This paper presents the development and application of discrete particle modeling based on two-dimensional particle flow code (PFC 2D ). Firstly, it is shown that the modeled value of the breakdown pressure for the hydraulic fracturing process is approximately equal to analytically calculated values under varied in situ stress conditions. Furthermore, a series of simulations for hydraulic fracturing in competent rock was performed to examine the influence of the in situ stress ratio, fluid injection rate, and fluid viscosity on the borehole pressure history, the geometry of hydraulic fractures, and the pore-pressure field, respectively. It was found that the hydraulic fractures in an isotropic medium always propagate parallel to the orientation of the maximum principal stress. When a high fluid injection rate is used, higher breakdown pressure is needed for fracture propagation and complex geometries of fractures can develop. When a low viscosity fluid is used, fluid can more easily penetrate from the borehole into the surrounding rock, which causes a reduction of the effective stress and leads to a lower breakdown pressure. Moreover, the geometry of the fractures is not particularly sensitive to the fluid viscosity in the approximate isotropic model.

Suggested Citation

  • Jian Zhou & Luqing Zhang & Anika Braun & Zhenhua Han, 2016. "Numerical Modeling and Investigation of Fluid-Driven Fracture Propagation in Reservoirs Based on a Modified Fluid-Mechanically Coupled Model in Two-Dimensional Particle Flow Code," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-19, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:9:y:2016:i:9:p:699-:d:77262
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/9/9/699/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/9/9/699/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bo Zhang & Xiao Li & Zhaobin Zhang & Yanfang Wu & Yusong Wu & Yu Wang, 2016. "Numerical Investigation of Influence of In-Situ Stress Ratio, Injection Rate and Fluid Viscosity on Hydraulic Fracture Propagation Using a Distinct Element Approach," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-19, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jian Zhou & Luqing Zhang & Anika Braun & Zhenhua Han, 2017. "Investigation of Processes of Interaction between Hydraulic and Natural Fractures by PFC Modeling Comparing against Laboratory Experiments and Analytical Models," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-18, July.
    2. Zhenhua Han & Jian Zhou & Luqing Zhang, 2018. "Influence of Grain Size Heterogeneity and In-Situ Stress on the Hydraulic Fracturing Process by PFC 2D Modeling," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-14, June.
    3. Haijun Zhao & Dwayne D. Tannant & Fengshan Ma & Jie Guo & Xuelei Feng, 2019. "Investigation of Hydraulic Fracturing Behavior in Heterogeneous Laminated Rock Using a Micromechanics-Based Numerical Approach," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-21, September.
    4. Song Wang & Jian Zhou & Luqing Zhang & Zhenhua Han, 2020. "Numerical Investigation of Injection-Induced Fracture Propagation in Brittle Rocks with Two Injection Wells by a Modified Fluid-Mechanical Coupling Model," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-26, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zhaohui Chong & Xuehua Li & Xiangyu Chen & Ji Zhang & Jingzheng Lu, 2017. "Numerical Investigation into the Effect of Natural Fracture Density on Hydraulic Fracture Network Propagation," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-33, July.
    2. Ning Li & Heping Xie & Ziqi Gao & Cunbao Li, 2022. "Study on the Hydraulic Fracturing Failure Behaviour of Granite and Its Comparison with Gas Fracturing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-19, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:9:y:2016:i:9:p:699-:d:77262. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.