IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v10y2017i6p736-d99362.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Numerical Analysis on the Formation of Fracture Network during the Hydraulic Fracturing of Shale with Pre-Existing Fractures

Author

Listed:
  • Jianming He

    (Key Laboratory of Shale Gas and Geoengineering, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China
    College of Earth Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China)

  • Zhaobin Zhang

    (Key Laboratory of Shale Gas and Geoengineering, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China)

  • Xiao Li

    (Key Laboratory of Shale Gas and Geoengineering, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China
    College of Earth Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China)

Abstract

In this paper, configurations of pre-existing fractures in cubic rock blocks were investigated and reconstructed for the modeling of experimental hydraulic fracturing. The fluid-rock coupling process of hydraulic fracturing was simulated based on the displacement discontinuities method. The numerical model was validated against the related laboratory experiments. The stimulated fracture configurations under different conditions can be clearly shown using the validated numerical model. First, a dominated fracture along the maximum principle stress direction is always formed when the stress difference is large enough. Second, there are less reopened pre-existing fractures, more newly formed fractures and less shear fractures with the increase of the cohesion value of pre-existing fractures. Third, the length of the stimulated shear fracture decreases rapidly with the increase of the friction coefficient, while the length of the tensile fracture has no correlation to the fiction coefficient. Finally, the increase of the fluid injection rate is favorable to the formation of a fracture network. The unfavorable effects of the large stress difference and the large cohesion of pre-existing fractures can be partly suppressed by an increase of the injection rate in the hydraulic fracturing treatment. The results of this paper are useful for understanding fracture propagation behaviors during the hydraulic fracturing of shale reservoirs with pre-existing fractures.

Suggested Citation

  • Jianming He & Zhaobin Zhang & Xiao Li, 2017. "Numerical Analysis on the Formation of Fracture Network during the Hydraulic Fracturing of Shale with Pre-Existing Fractures," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-10, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:10:y:2017:i:6:p:736-:d:99362
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/10/6/736/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/10/6/736/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Zhaobin Zhang & Xiao Li & Jianming He & Yanfang Wu & Bo Zhang, 2015. "Numerical Analysis on the Stability of Hydraulic Fracture Propagation," Energies, MDPI, vol. 8(9), pages 1-18, September.
    2. Zhaobin Zhang & Xiao Li, 2016. "Numerical Study on the Formation of Shear Fracture Network," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-16, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Wenrui Shi & Xingzhi Wang & Yuanhui Shi & Aiguo Feng & Yu Zou & Steven Young, 2019. "Application of Dipole Array Acoustic Logging in the Evaluation of Shale Gas Reservoirs," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-17, October.
    2. Wan Cheng & Chunhua Lu & Bo Xiao, 2021. "Perforation Optimization of Intensive-Stage Fracturing in a Horizontal Well Using a Coupled 3D-DDM Fracture Model," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-18, April.
    3. Zenghui Liu & Changlong Du & Hongxiang Jiang & Kai Liu, 2017. "Analysis of Roadheader for Breaking Rock Containing Holes under Confining Pressures," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-19, August.
    4. Haijun Zhao & Dwayne D. Tannant & Fengshan Ma & Jie Guo & Xuelei Feng, 2019. "Investigation of Hydraulic Fracturing Behavior in Heterogeneous Laminated Rock Using a Micromechanics-Based Numerical Approach," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-21, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yanfang Wu & Xiao Li, 2016. "Numerical Simulation of the Propagation of Hydraulic and Natural Fracture Using Dijkstra’s Algorithm," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(7), pages 1-15, July.
    2. Xin Chang & Yintong Guo & Jun Zhou & Xuehang Song & Chunhe Yang, 2018. "Numerical and Experimental Investigations of the Interactions between Hydraulic and Natural Fractures in Shale Formations," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-27, September.
    3. Qiuping Qin & Qingfeng Xue & Zizhuo Ma & Yikang Zheng & Hongyu Zhai, 2021. "Hydraulic Fracturing Simulations with Real-Time Evolution of Physical Parameters," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-12, March.
    4. Lianchong Li & Yingjie Xia & Bo Huang & Liaoyuan Zhang & Ming Li & Aishan Li, 2016. "The Behaviour of Fracture Growth in Sedimentary Rocks: A Numerical Study Based on Hydraulic Fracturing Processes," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-28, March.
    5. Zhaobin Zhang & Xiao Li, 2016. "Numerical Study on the Formation of Shear Fracture Network," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-16, April.
    6. Qian Li & Yiyu Lu & Zhaolong Ge & Zhe Zhou & Jingwei Zheng & Songqiang Xiao, 2017. "A New Tree-Type Fracturing Method for Stimulating Coal Seam Gas Reservoirs," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-14, September.
    7. Zhaobin Zhang & Xiao Li & Weina Yuan & Jianming He & Guanfang Li & Yusong Wu, 2015. "Numerical Analysis on the Optimization of Hydraulic Fracture Networks," Energies, MDPI, vol. 8(10), pages 1-19, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:10:y:2017:i:6:p:736-:d:99362. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.