A Variational Approach to Hydraulic Fracturing
Blaise Bourdin (Lsu), Chukwudi Chukwudozie (LSU)
Crack initiation and growth: methods, applications, and challenges
Tue 9:00 - 10:30
Sayles Auditorium
Hydraulic fracturing of reservoir has become ubiquitous, yet remains controversial, and its numerical simulation is still a challenge. We follow the variational approach to fracture, which we extend to account for hydraulic stimulation. The strength of this approach is to provide a rigorous and unified framework accounting for new cracks nucleation, existing cracks activation, and full path identification. Our numerical approach is based on a regularized model where fractures are represented by a smooth function which can be modified to account for pressure forces along crack boundaries. We study a proof of concept problem where pressure is assumed constant throughout the fracture system. For simple geometries, a closed form solution can be derived and compared with numerical simulations. We present experiments highlighting the ability of this approach to deal with interacting cracks and in-situ stresses.