Hybrid FEM and peridynamic simulation of hydraulic fracture propagation in saturated porous media

TL;DR

This paper introduces a hybrid FEM and peridynamics approach for simulating hydraulic fracture propagation in saturated porous media, effectively capturing crack growth and fluid flow interactions.

Contribution

The paper develops a novel hybrid modeling method combining peridynamics and FEM for hydraulic fractures in saturated media, validated against exact solutions.

Findings

Accurate simulation of crack propagation and fluid pressure oscillations.

Validation against exact solutions confirms model reliability.

Demonstrates capability in complex hydraulic fracture scenarios.

Abstract

This paper presents a hybrid modeling approach for simulating hydraulic fracture propagation in saturated porous media: ordinary state-based peridynamics is used to describe the behavior of the solid phase, including the deformation and crack propagation, while FEM is used to describe the fluid flow and to evaluate the pore pressure. Classical Biot poroelasticity theory is adopted. The proposed approach is first verified by comparing its results with the exact solutions of two examples. Subsequently, a series of pressure- and fluid-driven crack propagation examples are solved and presented. The phenomenon of fluid pressure oscillation is observed in the fluid-driven crack propagation examples, which is consistent with previous experimental and numerical evidences. All the presented examples demonstrate the capability of the proposed approach in solving problems of hydraulic fracture propagation in saturated porous media.