Modelling of hydraulic fracture propagation in inhomogeneous poroelastic medium

In the paper a model for description of a hydraulic fracture propagation in inhomogeneous poroelastic medium is proposed. Among advantages of the presented numerical algorithm, there are incorporation of the near-tip analysis into the general computational scheme, account for the rock failure criterion on the base of the cohesive zone model, possibility for analysis of fracture propagation in inhomogeneous reservoirs. The numerical convergence of the algorithm is verified and the agreement of our numerical results with known solutions is established. The influence of the inhomogeneity of the reservoir permeability to the fracture time evolution is also demonstrated.