EGU2020-10275
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-10275
EGU General Assembly 2020
© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Interaction of a hydraulic fracture with parallel pre-existing fractures

Haijun Wang1, Shuyang Yu2, Xuhua Ren2, Lei Tang1, Arcady Dyskin3,5, and Elena Pasternak4
Haijun Wang et al.
  • 1Nanjing Hydraulic Research Institute, Materials and structure engineering department, China (hjwang@nhri.cn)
  • 2Hohai University, Nanjing, China
  • 3Department of Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering, UWA, Australia
  • 4Department of Mechanical Engineering, UWA, Australia
  • 5Beijing Research Center for Engineering Structures and New Materials, Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture (BUCEA), China

Formation and growth of hydraulic fractures can be strongly affected by pre-existing fractures in the rock mass. Until now the main attention was directed towards the investigation of the interaction between the hydraulic fracture and the pre-existing fractures intersecting its path, as they could significantly hamper its formation and growth, alter the geometry and produce additional leak-off. Less attention was paid to the interaction of the hydraulic fracture with parallel and coplanar pre-existing fractures, yet their interaction and coalescence can lead to unwelcome increase in the hydraulic fracture dimensions, change the direction of growth and in some cases result in undesirable effects such as environmental damage.  

 

In order to investigate the hydraulic fracture interaction with parallel pre-existing fractures we conducted a series of tests on transparent rectangular samples with two artificial cracks. One of the crack was loaded with pressurised fluid. The types of interaction were classified and the conditions of fracture coalescence formulated. The results will contribute to the understanding of hydraulic fracture propagation in fractured rock masses and mitigating environmental damage.

 

Acknowledgements. Wang acknowledge support from the Natural Scinece Foundation of Jiangsu (BK20171130). The AVD and EP acknowledge support from the Australian Research Council through project DP190103260. AVD acknowledges the support from the School of Civil and Transportation, Faculty of Engineering, Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture. Wang acknowledge support from the National Natural Science Fund (51409170,U1765204)

How to cite: Wang, H., Yu, S., Ren, X., Tang, L., Dyskin, A., and Pasternak, E.: Interaction of a hydraulic fracture with parallel pre-existing fractures, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-10275, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-10275, 2020