Modelling hydraulic fracture propagation in heterogeneous porous media

Predicting propagation of fluid-driven fractures in heterogeneous porous materials is critical for design of engineering operations to sustainably use underground energy resources. In this paper, a computational model is presented using the phase-field theory and in the context of finite strains kinematics. The framework is built upon the use of variational principle to minimise the energy of the fracturing heterogeneous porous system. The material properties are distributed statistically over the domain to consider the heterogeneity of the porous material, and the nonlinearity of flow generated within the cracked zone is modelled by considering the effect of inertial flow. This numerical framework is verified using a benchmark example, and its application is tested by simulating a pressurised cavity in a heterogeneous reservoir to identify the influential parameters in the propagation path, including the degree of heterogeneity in the mechanical properties of the porous media and flow characteristics.