Title of article :
Simulation of Hydraulic Fracture Propagation in Fractured Coal Seams with Continuum-discontinuum Elements
Author/Authors :
Zhou ، Haifeng College of Energy Engineering - Xian University of Science and Technology , Gao ، Hui School of Civil and Transportation Engineering - Hebei University of Technology , Feng ، Chun Institute of Mechanics - Chinese Academy of Sciences , Sun ، Zizheng School of Qilu Transportation - Shandong University
Abstract :
Creating new fracture networks in coal seams with natural fractures through hydraulic fracturing techniques is an effective method for exploiting coalbed methane. In this paper, a continuumdiscontinuum element method (CDEM) is developed for simulating and assessing hydraulic fracture propagation in coal seams. An elastic-damage-fracture model is proposed for capturing the deformation and cracking processes of fractured coal. A stress-fracture percolation relation is implemented to simulate the hydro-mechanical coupling processes. The influence of X-direction angles, mechanical strengths, distances and lengths of natural fractures are analyzed in detail. The results are potentially useful to optimize the fracturing design.
Keywords :
Continuum , discontinuum element method (CDEM) , Hydraulic fracturing , Fractured coal , Hydro , mechanical coupling
Journal title :
Journal of Applied and Computational Mechanics
Journal title :
Journal of Applied and Computational Mechanics
