Hydraulic fracturing with a simplified fluid model and XFEM

A nonlocal model for fluid-structure interaction with applications in hydraulic fracturing

Modeling important engineering problems related to flow-induced damage (in the context of hydraulic fracturing among others) depends critically on characterizing the interaction of porous media and interstitial fluid flow. This work presents a new formulation for incorporating the effects of pore pressure in a nonlocal representation of solid mechanics. The result is a framework for modeling fl...

Constraints on Upward Migration of Hydraulic Fracturing Fluid and Brine

Recent increases in the use of hydraulic fracturing (HF) to aid extraction of oil and gas from black shales have raised concerns regarding potential environmental effects associated with predictions of upward migration of HF fluid and brine. Some recent studies have suggested that such upward migration can be large and that timescales for migration can be as short as a few years. In this articl...

Hydraulic and Pneumatic Fracturing

A variational hydraulic fracturing model coupled to a reservoir simulator

A variational fracture model coupled to an external reservoir simulator through variable exchange is presented. While convergence is not optimal without Jacobian matrices with which fully coupling can provide, the presented coupling scheme is versatile enough that the reservoir simulator could be easily replaced with any other simulator. A variational approach to fracture is introduced first by...

Complex Fluids and Hydraulic Fracturing.

Nearly 70 years old, hydraulic fracturing is a core technique for stimulating hydrocarbon production in a majority of oil and gas reservoirs. Complex fluids are implemented in nearly every step of the fracturing process, most significantly to generate and sustain fractures and transport and distribute proppant particles during and following fluid injection. An extremely wide range of complex fl...