The effect of pore pressure on hydraulic fracture growth: An experimental study

TitleThe effect of pore pressure on hydraulic fracture growth: An experimental study
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2018
AuthorsAl Tammar, M., M. M. Sharma, and R. Manchanda
JournalRock Mechanics and Rock Engineering
Pagination1-24
Date Published05/2018
ISSN0723-2632
Other NumbersOnline ISSN 1434-453X
KeywordsFracturing experiments, Hydraulic Fracturing
Abstract

Laboratory experiments are conducted in this study to investigate hydraulic fracture initiation and propagation in porous test specimens in the presence of multiple uid injection sources and anisotropic far- eld stresses. Numerous laboratory observa- tions of fracture growth are documented via clear, high resolution images and digital image correlation analyses. It is clearly shown that injection-induced stresses can appreciably a ect hydraulic fracture trajectories and fracturing pressures. We show that induced hydraulic fractures, under our laboratory conditions, are attracted to regions of high pore pressure. Induced fractures tend to propagate towards neighboring high pore pressure injection ports. The recorded breakdown pressure in the fracturing experiments decreases signi cantly as the number of neighboring injectors increases. When a hydraulic fracture is induced near an injection port that is maintained at a relatively high injection pressure, a secondary fracture can grow at a markedly lower uid pressure than that of the main fracture. The in uence of an adjacent uid injection source on the hydraulic fracture trajectory can be minimized or suppressed when the applied far- eld di erential stress is relatively high. Multiple fractures induced from closely spaced injection ports tend to grow towards neighboring ports and perpendicularly to the applied maximum far- eld stress. The experimental observations in this paper can serve as benchmark evidence for numerical hydraulic fracturing simulators that are used for modeling eld applications.

DOI10.1007/s00603-018-500-7