Gennady Mishuris

Michal Wrobel, Gennady Mishuris, Andrea Piccolroaz

A novel hydraulic fracture (HF) formulation is introduced which accounts for the hydraulically induced shear stress at the crack faces. It utilizes a general form of the elasticity operator alongside a revised fracture propagation condition based on the critical value of the energy release rate. It is shown that the revised formulation describes the underlying physics of HF in a more accurate way and is in agreement with the asymptotic behaviour of the linear elastic fracture mechanics. A number of numerical simulations by means of the universal HF algorithm previously developed in Wrobel & Mishuris (2015) are performed in order to: i) compare the modified HF formulation with its classic counterpart and ii) investigate the peculiarities of the former. Computational advantages of the revised HF model are demonstrated. Asymptotic estimations of the main solution elements are provided for the cases of small and large toughness. The modified formulation opens new ways to analyse the physical phenomenon of HF and also improves the reliability and efficiency of its numerical simulations.

Michal Wrobel, Gennady Mishuris

In the paper, a novel algorithm employing pseudo-spectral approach is developed for the PKN model of hydrofracturing. The respective solvers based on this approach compute both the solution and its temporal derivative. In comparison with conventional solvers, they demonstrate excellent cost effectiveness in terms of balance between the accuracy of computations and densities of the temporal and spatial meshes. Various leak-off regimes are considered.

Gennady Mishuris, Sergei Rogosin, Michal Wrobel

Asymptotic analysis of the Hele-Shaw flow with a small moving obstacle is performed. The method of solution utilises the uniform asymptotic formulas for Green's and Neumann functions recently obtained by V. Maz'ya and A. Movchan. Theoretical results of the paper are illustrated by the numerical simulations.

Michal Wrobel, Gennady Mishuris

In the paper, we propose a new effective mathematical formulation and resulting universal numerical algorithm capable of tackling various HF models in the framework of a unified approach. The presented numerical scheme is not limited to any particular elasticity model or crack propagation regime. Its basic assumptions are: i) proper choice of independent and dependent variables (with the direct utilization of a new one - the reduced particle velocity), ii) tracing the fracture front by use of the speed equation which can be integrated in a closed form and sets an explicit relation between the crack propagation speed and the coefficients in the asymptotic expansion of the crack opening, iii) proper regularization techniques, iv) improved temporal approximation, v) modular algorithm architecture. The application of the new dependent variable, the reduced particle velocity, instead of the usual fluid flow rate, facilitates the computation of the crack propagation speed from the local relation based on the speed equation. As a result, the position of the crack front is accurately determined from an explicit formula derived from the speed equation. The underlying ideas employed in the algorithm are combined together producing a robust and efficient numerical scheme. Its performance is demonstrated using classical examples of 1D models for hydraulic fracturing: PKN and KGD under various fracture propagation regimes. Solution accuracy is verified against dedicated analytical benchmarks and other solutions available in the literature. Most of the ideas developed here, can be directly extended to more general 2D and 3D cases.