Thermally-induced cracking behaviors of coal reservoirs subjected to cryogenic liquid nitrogen shock

The benefits of using cryogenic liquid nitrogen shock to enhance coal permeability have been confirmed from experimental perspectives.In this paper,we develop a fully coupled thermo-elastic model in combination with the strain-based isotropic damage theory to uncover the cooling-dominated cracking behaviors through three typical cases,i.e.coal reservoirs containing a wellbore,a primary fracture,and a natural fracture network,respectively.The progressive cracking processes,from thermal fracture initiation,propagation or cessation,deflection,bifurcation to multi-fracture interactions,can be well captured by the numerical model.It is observed that two hierarchical levels of thermal fractures are formed,in which the number of shorter thermal fractures consistently exceeds that of the longer ones.The effects of coal properties related to thermal stress levels and thermal diffusivity on the fracture morphology are quantified by the fracture fractal dimension and the statistical fracture number.The induced fracture morphology is most sensitive to changes in the elastic modulus and thermal expansion coefficient,both of which dominate the complexity of the fracture networks.Coal reservoir candidates with preferred thermal-mechanical properties are also recommended for improving the stimulation effect.Further findings are that there exists a critical injection temperature and a critical in-situ stress difference,above which no thermal fractures would be formed.Preexisting natural fractures with higher density and preferred orientations are also essential for the formation of complex fracture networks.The obtained results can provide some theoretical support for cryogenic fracturing design in coal reservoirs.

Coupled heat-fluid-solid numerical study on heat extraction potential of hot dry rocks based on discrete fracture network model

Fracture networks within hot dry rock(HDR)geothermal reservoirs are complex,and heat extraction via water injection is thus a coupled process of heat-fluid-solid multifield.In this paper,utilizing the theory of normally distributed random functions,we develop a corresponding pre-processing subprogram to establish a discrete network model of complex fracture distribution in HDR reservoirs;then construct a heat-fluid-solid finite element model for heat extraction via water injection and compare the numerical solution with the analytical solution of the one-dimensional non-isothermal consolidation problem for verification.The numerical simulation results show that the main factors affecting the heat extraction efficiency of HDR reservoirs include fracture width,fracture density,fracture permeability,and matrix permeability.When a HDR reservoir is injected with water for heat extraction,there is a certain threshold value of these influential parameters,beyond which the outlet temperature drops significantly,resulting in an obvious thermal breakthrough.When injecting water for heat extraction,the values of these parameters should be controlled and kept at a reasonable level,otherwise,the HDR reservoir may enter a thermal breakthrough stage in advance,which is not conducive for long-period heat extraction.Influenced by the random distribution of complex fractures,the leading edge of the cold front may present an irregular distribution.During the process of heat extraction,the stress gradually changes from a compressional state to a tensile state,which induces further damage to the HDR reservoir.

A Numerical Study on Hydraulic Fracturing Problems via the Proper Generalized Decomposition Method

The hydraulic fracturing is a nonlinear,fluid-solid coupling and transient problem,in most cases it is always time-consuming to simulate this process numerically.In recent years,although many numerical methods were proposed to settle this problem,most of them still require a large amount of computer resources.Thus it is a high demand to develop more efficient numerical approaches to achieve the real-time monitoring of the fracture geometry during the hydraulic fracturing treatment.In this study,a reduced order modeling technique namely Proper Generalized Decomposition(PGD),is applied to accelerate the simulations of the transient,non-linear coupled system of hydraulic fracturing problem,to match this extremely tight response time constraint.The separability of the solution in space and time dimensions is studied for a simplified model problem.The solid and fluid equations are coupled explicitly by inverting the solid discrete problem,and a simple iterative procedure to handle the non-linear characteristic of the hydraulic fracturing problem is proposed in this work.Numeral validation illustrates that the results of PGD match well with these of standard finite element method in terms o f fracture opening and fluid pressure in the hydro-fracture.Moreover,after the off-line calculations,the numerical results can be obtained in real time.

Failure Patterns and Mechanisms of Hydraulic Fracture Propagation Behavior in the Presence of Naturally Cemented Fractures

In this study,we use the extended finite element method(XFEM)with a consideration of junction enrichment functions to investigate the mechanics of hydraulic fractures related to naturally cemented fractures.In the proposed numerical model,the lubrication equation is adopted to describe the fluid flow within fractures.The fluid-solid coupling systems of the hydraulic fracturing problem are solved using the Newton-Raphson method.The energy release rate criterion is used to determine the cross/arrest behavior between a hydraulic fracture(HF)and a cemented natural fracture(NF).The failure patterns and mechanisms of crack propagation at the intersection of natural fractures are discussed.Simulation results show that after crossing an NF,the failure mode along the cemented NF path may change from the tensile regime to the shear or mixed-mode regime.When an advancing HF kinks back toward the matrix,the failure mode may gradually switch back to the tensile-dominated regime.Key factors,including the length of the upper/lower portion of the cemented NF,horizontal stress anisotropy,and the intersection angle of the crack propagation are investigated in detail.An uncemented or partially cemented NF will form a more complex fracture network than a cemented NF.This study provides insight into the formation mechanism of fracture networks in formations that contain cemented NF.

A Numerical Study on the Propagation Mechanisms of Hydraulic Fractures in Fracture-Cavity Carbonate Reservoirs

Field data suggests that carbonate reservoirs contain abundant natural fractures and cavities.The propagation mechanisms of hydraulic fractures in fracture-cavity reservoirs are different from conventional reservoirs on account of the stress concentration surrounding cavities.In this paper,we develop a fully coupled numerical model using the extended finite element method(XFEM)to investigate the behaviors and propagation mechanisms of hydraulic fractures in fracture-cavity reservoirs.Simulation results show that a higher lateral stress coefficient can enhance the influence of the natural cavity,causing a more curved fracture path.However,lower confining stress or smaller in-situ stress difference can reduce this influence,and thus contributes to the penetration of the hydraulic fracture towards the cavity.Higher fluid viscosity and high fluid pumping rate are both able to attenuate the effect of the cavity.The frictional natural fracture connected to the cavity can significantly change the stress distribution around the cavity,thus dramatically deviates the hydraulic fracture from its original propagation direction.It is also found that the natural cavity existing between two adjacent fracturing stages will significantly influence the stress distribution between fractures and is more likely to result in irregular propagation paths compared to the case without a cavity.

Study on a Dual Embedded Discrete Fracture Model for Fluid Flow in Fractured Porous Media

Simulation of fluid flow in the fractured porous media is very important and challenging.Researchers have developed some models for fractured porous media.With the development of related research in recent years,the prospect of embedded discrete fracture model(EDFM)is more and more bright.However,since the size of the fractures in the actual reservoir varies greatly,a very fine grid should be used which leads to a huge burden to the computing resources.To address this challenge,in the present paper,an upscaling based model is proposed.In this model,the flow in large-scale fractures is directly described by the EDFM while that in the small-scale fractures is upscaled through local simulation by EDFM.The EDFM is used to simulate the large-and small-scale fractures independently two times,so the new model is called dual embedded discrete fracture model(D-EDFM).In this paper,the detailed implementation process of D-EDFM is introduced and,through test cases,it is found the proposed model is a feasible method to simulate the flow in fractured porous media.