A Thermal–Hydraulic–Mechanical–Chemical Coupling Model for Acid Fracture Propagation Based on a Phase-Field Method

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer review

Authors

Research Organisations

External Research Organisations

  • China Univeristy of Petroleum - Beijing
  • Florida State University
View graph of relations

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)4583-4605
Number of pages23
JournalRock Mechanics and Rock Engineering
Volume57
Issue number7
Early online date1 Mar 2024
Publication statusPublished - Jul 2024

Abstract

Acid fracturing is a technique to enhance productivity in carbonate formations. In this work, a thermal–hydraulic–mechanical–chemical (THMC) coupling model for acid fracture propagation is proposed based on a phase-field approach. The phase-field variable is utilized as an indicator function to distinguish the fracture and the reservoir, and to track the propagation of the fracture. The resulting system is a nonstationary, nonlinear, variational inequality system in which five different physical modules for the displacement, the phase-field, the pressure, the temperature, and the acid concentration are coupled. This multi-physical system includes numerical challenges in terms of nonlinearities, solution coupling algorithms, and computational cost. To this end, high fidelity physics-based discretizations, parallel solvers, and mesh adaptivity techniques are required. The model solves the phase-field and the displacement variables by a quasi-monolithic scheme and the other variables by a partitioned schemes, where the resulting overall algorithm is of iterative coupling type. In order to maintain the computational cost low, the adaptive mesh refinement technique in terms of a predictor-corrector method is employed. The error indicators are obtained from both the phase-field and concentration approximations. The proposed model and the computational robustness were investigated by studying fourteen cases as well as some mesh refinement studies. It is observed that the acid and thermal effect increase the fracture volume and fracture width. Moreover, the natural fractures and holes affect the acid fracture propagation direction.

Keywords

    Acid fracture propagation, Adaptive finite elements, Multiphysics, Phase-field method, Predictor–corrector mesh refinement

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Cite this

A Thermal–Hydraulic–Mechanical–Chemical Coupling Model for Acid Fracture Propagation Based on a Phase-Field Method. / Dai, Yifan; Hou, Bing; Lee, Sanghyun et al.
In: Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering, Vol. 57, No. 7, 07.2024, p. 4583-4605.

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer review

Download
@article{c3eadebeb6744e3b94fbf221adce1746,
title = "A Thermal–Hydraulic–Mechanical–Chemical Coupling Model for Acid Fracture Propagation Based on a Phase-Field Method",
abstract = "Acid fracturing is a technique to enhance productivity in carbonate formations. In this work, a thermal–hydraulic–mechanical–chemical (THMC) coupling model for acid fracture propagation is proposed based on a phase-field approach. The phase-field variable is utilized as an indicator function to distinguish the fracture and the reservoir, and to track the propagation of the fracture. The resulting system is a nonstationary, nonlinear, variational inequality system in which five different physical modules for the displacement, the phase-field, the pressure, the temperature, and the acid concentration are coupled. This multi-physical system includes numerical challenges in terms of nonlinearities, solution coupling algorithms, and computational cost. To this end, high fidelity physics-based discretizations, parallel solvers, and mesh adaptivity techniques are required. The model solves the phase-field and the displacement variables by a quasi-monolithic scheme and the other variables by a partitioned schemes, where the resulting overall algorithm is of iterative coupling type. In order to maintain the computational cost low, the adaptive mesh refinement technique in terms of a predictor-corrector method is employed. The error indicators are obtained from both the phase-field and concentration approximations. The proposed model and the computational robustness were investigated by studying fourteen cases as well as some mesh refinement studies. It is observed that the acid and thermal effect increase the fracture volume and fracture width. Moreover, the natural fractures and holes affect the acid fracture propagation direction.",
keywords = "Acid fracture propagation, Adaptive finite elements, Multiphysics, Phase-field method, Predictor–corrector mesh refinement",
author = "Yifan Dai and Bing Hou and Sanghyun Lee and Thomas Wick",
note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Austria, part of Springer Nature 2024.",
year = "2024",
month = jul,
doi = "10.1007/s00603-024-03769-x",
language = "English",
volume = "57",
pages = "4583--4605",
journal = "Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering",
issn = "0723-2632",
publisher = "Springer-Verlag Wien",
number = "7",

}

Download

TY - JOUR

T1 - A Thermal–Hydraulic–Mechanical–Chemical Coupling Model for Acid Fracture Propagation Based on a Phase-Field Method

AU - Dai, Yifan

AU - Hou, Bing

AU - Lee, Sanghyun

AU - Wick, Thomas

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Austria, part of Springer Nature 2024.

PY - 2024/7

Y1 - 2024/7

N2 - Acid fracturing is a technique to enhance productivity in carbonate formations. In this work, a thermal–hydraulic–mechanical–chemical (THMC) coupling model for acid fracture propagation is proposed based on a phase-field approach. The phase-field variable is utilized as an indicator function to distinguish the fracture and the reservoir, and to track the propagation of the fracture. The resulting system is a nonstationary, nonlinear, variational inequality system in which five different physical modules for the displacement, the phase-field, the pressure, the temperature, and the acid concentration are coupled. This multi-physical system includes numerical challenges in terms of nonlinearities, solution coupling algorithms, and computational cost. To this end, high fidelity physics-based discretizations, parallel solvers, and mesh adaptivity techniques are required. The model solves the phase-field and the displacement variables by a quasi-monolithic scheme and the other variables by a partitioned schemes, where the resulting overall algorithm is of iterative coupling type. In order to maintain the computational cost low, the adaptive mesh refinement technique in terms of a predictor-corrector method is employed. The error indicators are obtained from both the phase-field and concentration approximations. The proposed model and the computational robustness were investigated by studying fourteen cases as well as some mesh refinement studies. It is observed that the acid and thermal effect increase the fracture volume and fracture width. Moreover, the natural fractures and holes affect the acid fracture propagation direction.

AB - Acid fracturing is a technique to enhance productivity in carbonate formations. In this work, a thermal–hydraulic–mechanical–chemical (THMC) coupling model for acid fracture propagation is proposed based on a phase-field approach. The phase-field variable is utilized as an indicator function to distinguish the fracture and the reservoir, and to track the propagation of the fracture. The resulting system is a nonstationary, nonlinear, variational inequality system in which five different physical modules for the displacement, the phase-field, the pressure, the temperature, and the acid concentration are coupled. This multi-physical system includes numerical challenges in terms of nonlinearities, solution coupling algorithms, and computational cost. To this end, high fidelity physics-based discretizations, parallel solvers, and mesh adaptivity techniques are required. The model solves the phase-field and the displacement variables by a quasi-monolithic scheme and the other variables by a partitioned schemes, where the resulting overall algorithm is of iterative coupling type. In order to maintain the computational cost low, the adaptive mesh refinement technique in terms of a predictor-corrector method is employed. The error indicators are obtained from both the phase-field and concentration approximations. The proposed model and the computational robustness were investigated by studying fourteen cases as well as some mesh refinement studies. It is observed that the acid and thermal effect increase the fracture volume and fracture width. Moreover, the natural fractures and holes affect the acid fracture propagation direction.

KW - Acid fracture propagation

KW - Adaptive finite elements

KW - Multiphysics

KW - Phase-field method

KW - Predictor–corrector mesh refinement

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85186468006&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/s00603-024-03769-x

DO - 10.1007/s00603-024-03769-x

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85186468006

VL - 57

SP - 4583

EP - 4605

JO - Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering

JF - Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering

SN - 0723-2632

IS - 7

ER -

By the same author(s)