Numerical Simulation of the Propagation of Hydraulic and Natural Fracture Using Dijkstra’s Algorithm

Yanfang Wu and Xiao Li
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Yanfang Wu: Key Laboratory of Shale Gas and Geoengineering, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academic of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China
Xiao Li: Key Laboratory of Shale Gas and Geoengineering, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academic of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China

Energies, 2016, vol. 9, issue 7, 1-15

Abstract: Utilization of hydraulic-fracturing technology is dramatically increasing in exploitation of natural gas extraction. However the prediction of the configuration of propagated hydraulic fracture is extremely challenging. This paper presents a numerical method of obtaining the configuration of the propagated hydraulic fracture into discrete natural fracture network system. The method is developed on the basis of weighted fracture which is derived in combination of Dijkstra’s algorithm energy theory and vector method. Numerical results along with experimental data demonstrated that proposed method is capable of predicting the propagated hydraulic fracture configuration reasonably with high computation efficiency. Sensitivity analysis reveals a number of interesting observation results: the shortest path weight value decreases with increasing of fracture density and length, and increases with increasing of the angle between fractures to the maximum principal stress direction. Our method is helpful for evaluating the complexity of the discrete fracture network, to obtain the extension direction of the fracture.

Keywords: discrete fracture network; hydraulic fracturing; Dijkstra’s algorithm; hydraulic fracture (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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