# Simulation of hydro-mechanically coupled processes in rough rock fractures using an immersed boundary method and variational transfer operators

## TL;DR

This paper introduces an immersed boundary method with variational transfer operators for high-resolution simulation of hydro-mechanical processes in rough fractures, enabling accurate modeling of complex boundary interactions without remeshing.

## Contribution

It adapts an immersed boundary approach with variational transfer operators to efficiently simulate fluid-structure interactions in rough fractures, simplifying complex boundary handling.

## Key findings

- Successfully resolves rough fracture boundaries in fluid flow simulations.
- Captures flow changes during fracture closure under normal load.
- Simulates fracture opening due to increased fluid pressure.

## Abstract

Hydro-mechanical processes in rough fractures are highly non-linear and govern productivity and associated risks in a wide range of reservoir engineering problems. To enable high-resolution simulations of hydro-mechanical processes in fractures, we present an adaptation of an immersed boundary method to compute fluid flow between rough fracture surfaces. The solid domain is immersed into the fluid domain and both domains are coupled by means of variational volumetric transfer operators. The transfer operators implicitly resolve the boundary between the solid and the fluid, which simplifies the setup of fracture simulations with complex surfaces. It is possible to choose different formulations and discretization schemes for each subproblem and it is not necessary to remesh the fluid grid. We use benchmark problems and real fracture geometries to demonstrate the following capabilities of the presented approach: (1) Resolving the boundary of the rough fracture surface in the fluid; (2) Capturing fluid flow field changes in a fracture which closes under increasing normal load; and (3) Simulate the opening of a fracture due to increased fluid pressure.