Many composites fail by fracture events, such as fiber breaks or matrix cracks, rather than by continuous crack growth. Conventional fracture mechanics deals with predicting crack growth. This paper suggests that conventional fracture mechanics can be extended to predict fracture events by using finite fracture mechanics. In finite fracture mechanics, the next fracture event is assumed to occur...

Conductivity optimization is important for hydraulic fracturing due to its key roles in determining fractured well productivity. Proppant embedment is an important mechanism that could cause a remarkable reduction in fracture width and, thus, damage the fracture conductivity. In this work a new analytical model, based on contact mechanics and the Carman–Kozeny model, is developed to calculate t...

The water leak-off during hydraulic fracturing in shale gas reservoirs is a complicated transport behavior involving thermal (T), hydrodynamic (H), mechanical (M) and chemical (C) processes. Although many leak-off models have been published, none of the models fully coupled the transient fluid flow modeling with heat transfer, chemical-potential equilibrium and natural-fracture dilation phenome...

We developed a hydraulic fracturing simulator by coupling a flow simulator to a geomechanics code, namely T+M simulator. Modeling of the vertical fracture development involves continuous updating of the boundary conditions and of the data connectivity, based on the finite element method for geomechanics. The T+M simulator can model the initial fracture development during the hydraulic fracturin...

Discrete Fracture Network (DFN) is a modeling framework for fractured rocks. The core element the description of geological medium as network discrete fractures that can be either generated from statistical distributions or imported deterministic surfaces. It an alternative to continuum methods with both advantages easily integrating properties fracture networks, and not assuming any homogeniza...

ABSTRACT Modeling of fluid flow and solute transport through fractured rock is an important component of engineering analysis in many disciplines including groundwater contamination, nuclear waste disposal, petroleum and gas production, mine excavation and geothermal production. Several studies have been conducted on single rock fracture using parallel plate model. An attempt has been made to s...

in this paper, the mean value of strain energy density criterion has been used to predict the critical fracture load in specimens with u-shaped notch under bending loads. an equation for calculation of averaged strain energy density in this zone has been presented. bending loads under mode i have been considered. two cases have been studied: 1) the control volume only includes the semicircular ...

The mechanisms by which lithology modulates geomorphic processes are poorly known. In the Oregon Coast Range (OCR), rhythmically bedded sandstones of the Eocene Tyee Formation underlie steep, soil-mantled hillslopes, with relatively uniform ridge-valley spacing. These characteristic landforms are perturbed where diagenetic variations manifest as resistant cliffs. Here we use petrology, rock mec...