Modelling of hydraulic fracturing process by coupled discrete element and fluid dynamic methods

Discrete Element Simulation of Hydraulic Fracturing and Induced Seismicity in Engineered Geothermal Systems

In this paper the Discrete Element Model (DEM) ‘ESyS_Particle’, previously used to model fracture of brittle rocks and earthquake processes, is further developed to be able to be applied to the hydraulic fracturing process in Engineered Geothermal Systems (EGS). The advantage of DEM is that large deformations and dynamic process can be modelled easily. ESyS_Particle has been used to successfull...

Fully Coupled Geomechanics and Discrete Flow Network Modeling of Hydraulic Fracturing for Geothermal Applications

The primary objective of our current research is to develop a computational test bed for evaluating borehole techniques to enhance fluid flow and heat transfer in enhanced geothermal systems (EGS). Simulating processes resulting in hydraulic fracturing and/or the remobilization of existing fractures, especially the interaction between propagating fractures and existing fractures, represents a c...

A coupled finite element method for the numerical simulation of hydraulic fracturing with a condensation technique

Article history: Received 28 January 2014 Received in revised form 1 August 2014 Accepted 2 August 2014 Available online 10 August 2014

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