TY - JOUR

T1 - Two-dimensional models for waterflooding induced hydraulic fracture accounting for the poroelastic effects on a reservoir scale

AU - Baykin, A. N.

AU - Abdullin, R. F.

AU - Dontsov, E. V.

AU - Golovin, S. V.

N1 - A. N. Baykin acknowledges the support by the Stipend of the President of Russian Federation for young scientists ( SP-1703.2022.1 ).

PY - 2023/5

Y1 - 2023/5

N2 - This work focuses on the developing of a computationally efficient numerical model for a waterflooding induced planar hydraulic fracture in a poroelastic medium. In particular, under certain assumptions it is possible to decouple the fully coupled model into poroelastic reservoir and purely elastic fracture subproblems. Further, the general 3D problem formulation for a planar fracture is reduced to two dimensions for early time plane strain fracture and late time constant height fracture. Noticeably, the division of the problem into two subproblems allows us to use the displacement discontinuity approach for the fracture related part, and finite element method for the reservoir related part. The latter is especially important for the constant height fracture, which cannot be modeled using exclusively the finite element approach in two dimensions. The algorithm is benchmarked against the available analytical solutions, as well as compared to other numerical codes. The developed numerical method is used to study the influence of the heterogeneous pore pressure and the corresponding stress for different waterflooding fracturing situations. We consider the cases with both injection and production wells operating nearby. With the presence of such wells, the fracture growth becomes asymmetrical and both the well type and location are important. The qualitatively different fracture behavior is observed for various cases. Other numerical examples include the simulation of a step-rate test as well as investigation of the possibility of fracture control by altering the injection rate.

AB - This work focuses on the developing of a computationally efficient numerical model for a waterflooding induced planar hydraulic fracture in a poroelastic medium. In particular, under certain assumptions it is possible to decouple the fully coupled model into poroelastic reservoir and purely elastic fracture subproblems. Further, the general 3D problem formulation for a planar fracture is reduced to two dimensions for early time plane strain fracture and late time constant height fracture. Noticeably, the division of the problem into two subproblems allows us to use the displacement discontinuity approach for the fracture related part, and finite element method for the reservoir related part. The latter is especially important for the constant height fracture, which cannot be modeled using exclusively the finite element approach in two dimensions. The algorithm is benchmarked against the available analytical solutions, as well as compared to other numerical codes. The developed numerical method is used to study the influence of the heterogeneous pore pressure and the corresponding stress for different waterflooding fracturing situations. We consider the cases with both injection and production wells operating nearby. With the presence of such wells, the fracture growth becomes asymmetrical and both the well type and location are important. The qualitatively different fracture behavior is observed for various cases. Other numerical examples include the simulation of a step-rate test as well as investigation of the possibility of fracture control by altering the injection rate.

KW - Finite element method

KW - Hydraulic fracture

KW - Numerical modeling

KW - Poroelasticity

KW - Waterflooding

UR - https://www.scopus.com/record/display.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85160009884&origin=inward&txGid=737b1731e51ee0d814a827e5f39ad975

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/00248756-5f8a-3473-a966-d224e52fe6ce/

U2 - 10.1016/j.geoen.2023.211600

DO - 10.1016/j.geoen.2023.211600

M3 - Article

VL - 224

JO - Geoenergy Science and Engineering

JF - Geoenergy Science and Engineering

SN - 2949-8910

M1 - 211600

ER -