Hydraulic Fracturing Growth in Fracture Reservoirs Using Analytical and Numerical Simulation: T-Type Intersections

Hydraulic fracture diagnostics have highlighted the potentially complex natural of hydraulic fracture geometry and propagation. This has been particularly true in the cases of hydraulic fracture growth in naturally fractured reservoirs, where the induced fractures interact with pre-existing natural fractures. A simplified analytical and numerical model has been developed to account for mechanical interaction between induced and natural fractures. Analysis of the distance between natural fractures indicates that induced shear and tensile may be high enough to debond sealed natural fractures ahead of the arrival of the hydraulic fracture tip. We present a complex hydraulic fracture pattern propagation model based on the Extended Finite Element Method (XFEM) as a design tool that can be used to optimize treatment parameters under complex propagation conditions. Results demonstrate that fracture pattern complexity is strongly controlled by the magnitude of anisotropy of in situ stresses, and natural fracture cement strength as well as the orientation of the natural fractures relative to the hydraulic fracture.