Iterative coupling with a reservoir simulator

For more realistic simulations of hydraulic fracturing, one needs to couple the reservoir deformation and crack propagation with reservoir and fracture flow models.

A first strategy is to leverage an existing reservoir simulators using a modified stress-splitting, where the crack geometry is communicated to the flow simulator through permeability multipliers, and pressure and temperature are returned to the fracture model. This is the scope of a collaborative project with Keita Yoshioka (Chevron ETC) (missing reference). Despite its obvious flaws, this approach highlights the potential of phase–field models of fracture for hydraulic fracturing simulation, and is capable of tackling some of the pervasive issues in the area, including the ability to handle interaction between pre-existing and stimulated cracks, propagating along unknown geometry in 3D, subject to insitu stresses

Interactions between pre-existing and propagating fractures in 3D using iterative coupling from (Yoshioka & Bourdin, 2016).

References

1. Yoshioka, K., & Bourdin, B. (2016). A variational hydraulic fracturing model coupled to a reservoir simulator. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min., 88, 137–150. DOI:10.1016/j.ijrmms.2016.07.020 Download