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Fracture propagation in rocks during hydro-fracturing process - experiments and discrete element method coupled with fluid flow and heat transport
The aim of the 3-year experimental-theoretical project is to: a) explain the mechanism of fracture formation and propagation in rocks during hydrofracturing (the action of fracturing fluid under high pressure) and b) describe it using a modern mathematical model based on the discrete element method (DEM), combining the mechanics of discontinuous bodies with fluid mechanics and heat transport in 3D conditions. Due to the fact that the hydrofracturing process strongly depends on the inhomogeneous structure of rocks, the discrete element method is an appropriate numerical tool for studying this process at the mesoscopic level. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) will be used to solve the Navier-Stokes equations within the framework of fluid mechanics. Calculations will be performed for two-phase (liquid and gas phase) laminar and turbulent incompressible fluid flow taking into account the transport of mass, momentum and heat in existing and newly formed fractures of rocks. The mechanical properties of rocks and the flow of fluid and heat in the rock matrix will be studied in the laboratory on rock samples and artificial rock material consisting of spheres. Our research is innovative on a global scale due to the wide range of mutually complementary experiments and numerical simulations, using the latest measurement tools (micro-computed tomography) and computational tools (combined DEM/CFD model coupling the mechanics of a discontinuous body with fluid mechanics and heat transport at the level of the meso-structure of rocks). As a result of our research, the knowledge about the mechanism of fracture formation and propagation in rocks during hydrofracturing will be significantly expanded by taking into account the coupled mechanical-hydraulic-thermal effects at the meso-scale level of rocks. The information obtained at the mesoscopic level will be helpful in creating a reliable macroscopic phenomenological model for describing the hydrofracturing process in rocks on a large scale. The conducted basic research will enable the construction of tools for applied research, which in the future will enable practical applications of our model for assessing the efficiency of gas and oil extraction from rocks and heat from geothermal sources.
Details
- Project's acronym:
- OPUS
- Financial Program Name:
- OPUS
- Organization:
- Narodowe Centrum Nauki (NCN) (National Science Centre)
- Agreement:
- UMO-2018/29/B/ST8/00255 z dnia 2019-02-04
- Realisation period:
- 2019-02-04 - 2022-02-03
- Research team leader:
- prof. dr hab. engr. Jacek Tejchman
- Team members:
-
- Scholar mgr. Inz Muneeb Dar
- Realised in:
- Gdańsk University of Technology; Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering
- Project's value:
- 1 228 200.00 PLN
- Request type:
- National Research Programmes
- Domestic:
- Domestic project
- Verified by:
- No verification
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