ydraulic Fracturing Propagation Path Adjacent to the Natural Fracture by XFEM

Hydraulic fracturing initiation phase is one of the most common interesting issue which have been focused recently. One of the key parameters that affects the hydraulic fracture complexity is the natural fracture in the naturally fractured reservoirs. Hydraulic fracturing orientation in naturally fractured reservoir can have a great impact on the technical and financial success of the operation. The fundamental key in a successful operation is processing and analysis of propagation of hydraulic fracturing in natural fractures network. However, modeling the process of hydraulic fracture network creation and interaction between hydraulically induced fractures and natural fractures presents many technical challenges. Recent developments in the area of complex hydraulic fracture propagation models now provide a means to better characterize fracture complexity. The principle of hydraulic fracture propagation is that it follows the least resistance, the most preferential propagation. Our numerical results presents a general overview of hydraulic fracturing models developed and applied to simulation of complex fractures in naturally fractured reservoirs. We modeled a hydraulic fracture with the XFEM method using a cohesive-zone technique. Our goal in this study was to investigate the principal effect of the geomechanical properties and stress in the hydraulic fracturing path, considering far-field stress. The results of a numerical evaluation reveals the effect of induced stresses, as a function of natural fracture and geomechanical properties, are presented, including a detailed evaluation of natural fracture debonding due to induced stresses at the tip of hydraulic fracture.

Keywords:

Hydraulic fracture , Natural fracture , Interaction , XFEM