Simulating subterranean fracture propagation
AssigneeHalliburton Energy Services, Inc.
InventorDavid P. Craig
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Systems, methods, and instructions encoded in a computer-readable medium can perform operations related to simulating subterranean fracture propagation. A subterranean formation model representing rock blocks of a subterranean formation is received. The subterranean formation model is used to predict a response of each rock block to one or more forces acting on the rock block during an injection treatment for the subterranean formation. The predicted responses of the rock blocks may include, for example, a fracture, a rotation, a displacement, a dilation of an existing fracture, and/or another type of response. In some implementations, an injection treatment may be designed for a subterranean formation based on the predicted response of the rock blocks.
Claims16
A system for performing an injection treatment, the system comprising:
- an injection treatment control subsystem adapted to control an injection treatment applied to a subterranean formation through a well bore defined in the subterranean formation,
- the injection treatment based on a simulation that predicts, for each of a plurality of rock blocks of the subterranean formation, a response of the rock block to one or more forces acting on the rock block during the injection treatment, wherein the simulation comprises:
- receiving a subterranean formation model comprising:
- a mesh that represents the plurality of rock blocks of the subterranean formation;
- and
- a contact model that models interactions among the plurality of rock blocks;
- and
- using the mesh and the contact model of the subterranean formation model to predict the response for each of the plurality of the rock blocks to the one or more forces, the one or more forces comprising:
- normal contact forces and shear contact forces arising from physical contact between rock blocks;
- and
- fluid forces arising from fluid pressure acting on the rock blocks during fluid injection.
A method of treating a subterranean formation, the method comprising:
- designing an injection treatment for a subterranean formation based on a simulation of forces acting on each of a plurality of rock blocks of the subterranean formation during a simulated injection treatment, wherein the simulation comprises:
- receiving a subterranean formation model comprising:
- a mesh that represents the plurality of rock blocks of the subterranean formation;
- and
- a contact model that models interactions among the plurality of rock blocks;
- and
- using the mesh and the contact model of the subterranean formation model to predict a response for each of the plurality of the rock blocks to the forces, the forces comprising:
- normal contact forces and shear contact forces arising from physical contact between rock blocks;
- and
- fluid forces arising from fluid pressure acting on the rock blocks during fluid injection;
- and
- applying the injection treatment to the subterranean formation through a well bore in the subterranean formation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.