PyFrac: A planar 3D hydraulic fracture simulator

TL;DR

PyFrac is an open-source Python-based simulator for hydraulic fracture propagation, utilizing an implicit level set method to accurately model complex fracture dynamics across multiple scales.

Contribution

This work provides the first open-source implementation of the implicit level set hydraulic fracture simulator, enabling detailed and efficient modeling of fracture growth.

Findings

Accurately models hydraulic fracture propagation with coarse meshes

Successfully simulates various fracture scenarios including radial and magmatic dykes

Demonstrates robustness and precision across multiple benchmark problems

Abstract

Fluid driven fractures propagate in the upper earth crust either naturally or in response to engineered fluid injections. The quantitative prediction of their evolution is critical in order to better understand their dynamics as well as to optimize their creation. We present a Python implementation of an open-source hydraulic fracture propagation simulator based on the implicit level set algorithm originally developed by Peirce & Detournay (2008) -- "An implicit level set method for modeling hydraulically driven fractures". Comp. Meth. Appl. Mech. Engng, (33-40):2858--2885. This algorithm couples a finite discretization of the fracture with the use of the near tip asymptotic solutions of a steadily propagating semi-infinite hydraulic fracture. This allows to resolve the multi-scale processes governing hydraulic fracture growth accurately, even with relatively coarse meshes. We present an overview of the mathematical formulation, the numerical scheme and the details of our implementation. A series of problems including a radial hydraulic fracture verification benchmark, the propagation of a height contained hydraulic fracture, the lateral spreading of a magmatic dyke and the handling of fracture closure are presented to demonstrate the capabilities, accuracy and robustness of the implemented algorithm.