A novel hydraulic fracturing model for the fluid-driven fracture propagation in poroelastic media containing the natural cave

Hydraulic fracturing is an efficient technology to extract hydrocarbon within natural caves. However, these caves can markedly affect the fracture propagation behavior. This paper proposes a novel hydraulic fracturing model to simulate the fracture propagation in poroelastic media containing the natural cave, utilizing the strengths of the phase-field method. By coupling the Reynolds flow with cubic law in fracture domain, free flow in cave domain, and low-permeability Darcy flow in reservoir domain, the fracture-cave-reservoir flow governing equations are established. The Biot poroelasticity theory and fracture width are the links of hydro-mechanical coupling. The smooth phase-field is introduced to diffuse not only the sharp fracture but also the sharp cave edge. The fully coupling model is solved by a staggered scheme, which independently solves the pressure field and displacement field in inner cycle, and then independently solves the phase field in outer cycle. The proposed model is verified by comparing with the Khristianovic-Geertsma-de Klerk (KGD) model and Cheng's hydraulic fracturing model. Then, the interaction between hydraulic fracture and natural cave is investigated through several two-dimensional and three-dimensional cases. The result shows that the cave effect can make the hydraulic fracture deflect and raise its propagation velocity. Increasing the fracture-cave distance, injection rate, and in situ stress difference can all decline the cave effect. The displayed cases also substantiate the capability and efficiency of the proposed model.

Automated summary

Hydraulic fracturing model using the phase-field method is proposed in this paper for simulating fracture propagation in poroelastic media with natural caves. The model couples the flow in fracture, cave, and reservoir domains, and is solved by a staggered scheme. The results show that the presence of caves can affect the hydraulic fracture's path and velocity, and increasing the distance, injection rate, and stress difference between the fracture and cave can limit the cave effect.