• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.538-546
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• 2013

This paper deals with a hydraulic fracturing technique, which is one of the methods to maximize the recovery rate and productivity of oil and gas in the petroleum industry. In the hydraulic fracturing, typically water mixed with sand and chemicals is injected into a wellbore in order to create artificial fractures along which formation fluids migrate to the well. In recent years, it is widely used in non-conventional oil and gas such as oil shale and shale gas. Three main stages of the hydraulic fracturing process, the proposed design models for the effective hydraulic fracturing and diagnostics after fracturing treatment are introduced. In addition, this paper introduces reservoir geomechanics to solve various problems in the process of hydraulic fracturing.

• 한국지구물리탐사학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.244-251
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• 2003

A two-dimensional BEM code, $FRACOD^{2D}$, was applied to simulate fracture initiation and propagation processes in a rock pillar during an in situ heater test of a rock pillar planned at the $\"{A}sp\"{o}$ Underground Rock laboratory of SKB, in Southern Sweden. To take the advantage of conventional BEM for simulating fracturing processes, but without efforts for domain integral transformation, a hybrid approach is developed to simulate the fracturing processes in rock pillar under coupled thermo-mechanical loading. The code FRACOD was used for simulating the fracture initiation and propagation processes with its boundary tractions reflecting the effects of the initial and redistributed thermomechanical stresses in the domain of interest at multiple excavation and heating steps were produced by a special algorithm of stress inversion, based on resultant thermo-mechanical stress fields at each excavation and heat loading step by a FEM code without considering fracturing processes. This hybrid approach can take the advantages of both types of numerical methods and avoids their shortcomings for fracturing process simulation and domain effects, respectively. In this paper, we present the hybrid approach for the stress, displacements, and fracturing processes at sequential excavation and heating steps of the in situ heater test as a predictive modelling, the formulation of the fracturing models and the predictive results. Two sections of borehole depth, 0.5 m and 1.5 m below the tunnel floor are considered. The pillar area is modelled with the FRACOD and the stress field produced by excavation and heating is transferred with corresponding boundary stresses. From the modelling results, the degree of fracturing and damage are evaluated for 120 days of heating. Dominated shear fracturing in the vicinity of the central pillar was observed from the models at both sections, but spalled area appears to be limited. Based on the modelling results, a sensitivity study for the effect of pre-existing fractures in the vicinity of the holes is also conducted, and the initiation and evolution of EDZ around the deposition holes are investigated using this particular numerical technique.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.251-265
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• 1995

One of the most important matters in stress measurement by hydraulic fracturing technique is the determination of the breakdown pressure, reopening pressure, and shut-in pressure, since these values are the basic input data for the calculation of the in-situ stress. The control of the fracture propagation is also important when the hydraulic fracturing technique is applied to the development of groundwater system, geothermal energy, oil, and natural gas. In this study, a laboratory scale hydraulic fracturing device was built and a series of model tests were conducted with cube blocks of Machon gabbro. A new method called 'flatjack method' was adopted to determine shut-in pressure. The initial stress calculated from the shut-in pressure measured by flatjack method showed much higher accuracy than the stress determined by the conventional method. The dependency of the direction of fracture propagation on the state of the initial stresses was measured by introducin g artificial slots in the borehole made by water jet system. Numerical modeling by BEM was also performed to simulate the fracture propagation process. Both results form numerical and laboratory tests showed good agreement. From this study which provides the extensive results on the determination of shut-in pressure and the control of fracture propagation which are the critical issue in the recent hydraulic fracturing, it is conclued that in-situ stress measurement and the control of fracture propagation could be achived more accurately.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.125-133
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• 2009

Rock fracturing technique through fluid injection into the wellbore has been widely used to extract geothermal heat and to enhance oil and gas production. Single fracture formation is ideal for the production. However, it is very difficult to form single fracture formation. Instead, the formation of segmented fracture is a common phenomenon. Therefore, design parameters are expected to be different from those of single fracture because of mechanical interaction between segmented fractures. In this paper, design parameters such as length, aperture, and net pressure are evaluated by using model of segmented fracture in which numerical technique is incorporated to consider mechanical interaction between segments. Results show that the existence of fracture segmentation affects design parameters in fracturing treatment in rock by fluid injection.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.323-333
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• 1997

A rock mass is usually classified by the results of geological survey and laboratory tests on rock specimens in order to obtain the adequate properties for the numerical analysis. For these purposes a rock mass strength is estimated based on the empirical criterion proposed by Hoek and Brown and a modulus of deformation is taken with the empirical relations developed by Bieniawski, Serafim and Pereira. In addition, the $K_o$ value which is the ratio of the horizontal stress to the vertical stress is one of the most important input data in the numerical analysis. Its role on a tunnel stability analysis could be verified with the numerical results taken by a finite difference code or a distinct element code. However, a deduced value used to be applied for the $K_o$ value in most of tunnel designs, even though the patterns of stress tensor are variable with regions and depths. Thus in situ stresses were measured by a hydraulic fracturing technique on several tunnel sites and applied directly to the tunnel design for the enhancement of its precision. With those informations on in situ stresses, the safe design should be obtained economically on the road or subway tunnels.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.440-448
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• 2014

Hydraulic fracturing technique has been applied in various fields in order to improve the recovery of energy resources such as gas, oil and geothermal energy and research about finding out hydraulic fracturing mechanism and application has been steadily proceeded. In this study, for effective hydraulic fracturing, a scale modeling was progressed to simulate similarly with the actual site. In order to analyze the development aspect of surface crack initiation pressure during hydraulic fracturing followed by different conditions, the number of guide holes hydraulic fracturing test was carried out by setting up a hydraulic fracturing test equipment. Also, through the result, we tried to derive reliable results by comparing and analyzing the value of numerical modeling which is obtained based on the physical properties and mechanical properties with 3DEC, a three-dimensional discrete element method program. As a result, it is considered possible to generate effective crack using the guide hole.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 1994.09a
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• pp.231-234
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• 1994

Concentrated stresses due to the tunnel excavation easily cause failure around opening in the soft rock mass layer. Thus, while excavatng tunnel in the soft rock mass layerm it is very important to predict the possibility of failure or yielding zones around tunnel boundary. There are two typical methods to predict these; 1) the analysis of field monioring data and 2) numerical analysis. In this study, it was attempted to describe the time-dependent or progressive rock mass manner due to the continuous failure and fracturing caused by surrounding underground openings using the second method. In order to apply the effects of progressive failure underground, an iterative technique was used with the Hoek and Brown rock mass failure theory. By developing and simulating, three different shapes of twin tunnels, this research simulated and estimated the proper size of critical pillar width between tunnels, distributed stresses on the tunnel sides, and convergences of tunnel crowns. Moreover, results out progressive failure technique based on the Hoek and Brown theory were compared with the results out of Mohr-Coulomb theory.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.65-71
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• 2009

Hydraulic fracturing technology has been widely applied in the industry for the recovery of the natural resources such as gas, oil and geothermal heat from hot dry rock. During hydraulic fracturing stimulation, multiple cracks are created resulting in mechanical interaction between cracks. Such an interaction influences obtaining hydraulic fracturing key parameters (crack opening, length, and borehole net pressure). The boundary collocation method (BCM) has been proved to be very effective in considering mechanical interaction. However, for better confidence, it needs to be verified by comparison with analytical solutions such as stress intensity factors. In this paper, three cases, single fracture in remote uniaxial tension, single fracture in remote shear stress field and two arbitrary segments in an infinite plane loaded at infinity are considered. As a result, the BCM is proved to be valid technique to consider mechanical interaction between cracks and can be used to estimate the hydraulic fracturing parameters such as opening of the fracture, and so on.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2018

We propose a borehole test technique to estimate permeability of rocks in borehole. The borehole tests are hydraulic injection tests such as leak-off test and hydraulic fracturing tests, which are originally conducted for stress or casing integrity assessment and not for permeability measurement. We use one-dimensional radial diffusion equation to interpret fluid injection test results in terms of permeability. We apply this technique to a leak-off test conducted at a depth of 700 m in a wellbore, where rock formation is mudstone. The estimated permeability is at an order of $10^{-16}m^2$, which is somewhat high but within the range reported for mudstones previously. Quantitative rick assessment suggests that an accurate measurement of open hole section length is important to improve reliability of results. More data may be needed to ensure the reliability of this technique. If validated, however, this technique can provide cost-effective estimation of in situ permeability without conducting independent permeability tests in borehole.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.158-166
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• 2009

As a basic study for investigating the development of the stress-induced crack in Hoek-Brown rock, a homogenization technique of elastic cracks is proposed. The onset of crack is monitored by Hoek-Brown empirical criterion, while the orientation of the crack is determined by the critical plane approach. The concept of volume averaging in stress and strain component was invoked to homogenize the representative rock volume which consists of intact rock and cracks. The formulation results in the constitutive relations for the homogenized equivalent anisotropic material. The homogenization model was implemented in the standard FEM code COSMOSM. The numerical uniaxial tests were performed under plane strain condition to check the validity of the propose numerical model. The effect of friction between the loading plate and the rock sample on the mode of deformation and fracturing was examined by assuming two different contact conditions. The numerical simulation revealed that the homogenized model is able to capture the salient features of deformation and fracturing which are observed commonly in the uniaxial compression test.