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Published in: Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering 11/2016

29-09-2016 | Original Paper

Impact of Partially Cemented and Non-persistent Natural Fractures on Hydraulic Fracture Propagation

Authors: Wei Fu, Brandon C. Ames, Andrew P. Bunger, Alexei A. Savitski

Published in: Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering | Issue 11/2016

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Abstract

This paper presents laboratory experiments exploring the interaction between hydraulic fractures and preexisting natural fractures that are strongly cemented relative to the host material strength but over only a portion of the natural fracture. Two sets of experiments were conducted, including the central region cemented case and the top–bottom region cemented case. Three main patterns are observed for the interaction between hydraulic fractures and partially cemented natural fractures: (1) complete crossing, (2) crossing with mismatched crack path and (3) no crossing. The results show that a hydraulic fracture penetrates directly through a fully and strongly cemented preexisting natural fracture. When the proportion of the strongly cemented region decreases or the height of the weak natural fracture increases, the hydraulic fracture is observed to persist through the entire height of the specimen both before and after the interface. However, the fracture path proceeds directly through strongly cemented portions while causing mismatched crack path at uncemented portions. No crossing results are obtained when the strongly cemented region is sufficiently small, around 30 % of the natural fracture’s height. Results of this seldom considered but almost certainly realistic configuration of partial cementing suggest that the hydraulic fracture path is strongly influenced by the size of the cemented region of the natural fracture.

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Metadata
Title
Impact of Partially Cemented and Non-persistent Natural Fractures on Hydraulic Fracture Propagation
Authors
Wei Fu
Brandon C. Ames
Andrew P. Bunger
Alexei A. Savitski
Publication date
29-09-2016
Publisher
Springer Vienna
Published in
Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering / Issue 11/2016
Print ISSN: 0723-2632
Electronic ISSN: 1434-453X
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00603-016-1103-0

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