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Injection-Sensitive Mechanics of Hydraulic Fracture Interaction with Discontinuities

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Abstract

We develop a new analytical model, called OpenT, that solves the elasticity problem of a hydraulic fracture (HF) contact with a pre-existing discontinuity natural fracture (NF) and the condition for HF re-initiation at the NF. The model also accounts for fluid penetration into the permeable NFs. For any angle of fracture intersection, the elastic problem of a blunted dislocation discontinuity is solved for the opening and sliding generated at the discontinuity. The sites and orientations of a new tensile crack nucleation are determined based on a mixed stress- and energy-criterion. In the case of tilted fracture intersection, the finite offset of the new crack initiation point along the discontinuity is computed. We show that aside from known controlling parameters such stress contrast, cohesional and frictional properties of the NFs and angle of intersection, the fluid injection parameters such as the injection rate and the fluid viscosity are of first-order in the crossing behavior. The model is compared to three independent laboratory experiments, analytical criteria of Blanton, extended Renshaw−Pollard, as well as fully coupled numerical simulations. The relative computational efficiency of OpenT model (compared to the numerical models) makes the model attractive for implementation in modern engineering tools simulating hydraulic fracture propagation in naturally fractured environments.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Xi Zhang and Rob Jeffrey for providing support with MineHF2D code. They also thank Leonid Germanovich, Xiaowei Weng and Brice Lecampion for useful discussions, and Schlumberger for permission to publish the paper. Finally, at the review stage, they thank Alexei Savitski for insightful comments.

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  1. O. Melchaeva

    Present address: JSC Gazprom neft, Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Schlumberger-Doll Research, Cambridge, MA, USA

    D. Chuprakov, O. Melchaeva & R. Prioul

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  1. D. Chuprakov
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  2. O. Melchaeva
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  3. R. Prioul
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Correspondence to D. Chuprakov.

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Chuprakov, D., Melchaeva, O. & Prioul, R. Injection-Sensitive Mechanics of Hydraulic Fracture Interaction with Discontinuities. Rock Mech Rock Eng 47, 1625–1640 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00603-014-0596-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00603-014-0596-7

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