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Hydraulic Fracture Propagation Through an Orthogonal Discontinuity: A Laboratory, Analytical and Numerical Study

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Abstract

Rocks are naturally fractured, and lack of knowledge of hydraulic fracture growth through the pre-existing discontinuities in rocks has impeded enhancing hydrocarbon extraction. This paper presents experimental results from uniaxial and biaxial tests, combined with numerical and analytical modelling results to develop a criterion for predicting whether a hydraulic fracture will cross a discontinuity, represented at the laboratory by unbonded machined frictional interfaces. The experimental results provide the first evidence for the impact of viscous fluid flow on the orthogonal fracture crossing. The fracture elliptical footprint also reflects the importance of both the applied loading stress and the viscosity in fracture propagation. The hydraulic fractures extend both in the direction of maximum compressive stress and in the direction with discontinuities that are arranged to be normal to the maximum compressive stress. The modelling results of fracture growth across discontinuities are obtained for the locations of slip starting points in initiating fracture crossing. Our analysis, in contrast to previous work on the prediction of frictional crossing, includes the non-singular stresses generated by the finite pressurised hydraulic fracture. Experimental and theoretical outcomes herein suggest that hydraulic fracture growth through an orthogonal discontinuity does not depend primarily on the interface friction coefficient.

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Acknowledgements

Ella María Llanos would like to thank the co-authors for their guidance and understanding during her PhD, summarised in this paper. Special thanks to CSIRO and Schlumberger Moscow for their financial support as well as to The Endeavour International Postgraduate Research and The University of Adelaide scholarships. Thanks as well to Leo Connelly, Nigel Smith, Anthony Coleman and all the staff at the Hydraulic Fracturing Laboratory at CSIRO.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia

    Ella María Llanos & Richard Hillis

  2. Strata Control Technology (SCT), Bendigo, VIC, Australia

    Robert G. Jeffrey

  3. Deep Exploration Technologies CRC (DET-CRC), Adelaide, SA, Australia

    Richard Hillis

  4. Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), Clayton, VIC, Australia

    Xi Zhang

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  1. Ella María Llanos
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  2. Robert G. Jeffrey
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  3. Richard Hillis
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  4. Xi Zhang
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Correspondence to Ella María Llanos.

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Llanos, E.M., Jeffrey, R.G., Hillis, R. et al. Hydraulic Fracture Propagation Through an Orthogonal Discontinuity: A Laboratory, Analytical and Numerical Study. Rock Mech Rock Eng 50, 2101–2118 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00603-017-1213-3

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