A phase-field fracture model in thermo-poro-elastic media with micromechanical strain energy degradation

TL;DR

This paper develops a comprehensive phase-field fracture model for thermo-poro-elastic media incorporating micromechanical energy degradation, strain-based porosity updates, and advanced numerical stabilization, validated through analytical and numerical experiments.

Contribution

It introduces a novel thermo-poro-elastic phase-field model with micromechanical degradation and strain-driven porosity updates, enhancing simulation accuracy of hydraulic fracturing processes.

Findings

Model accurately predicts thermal and hydraulic fracture propagation.

Numerical stabilization improves simulation robustness.

Thermo-hydro-mechanical interactions are effectively captured.

Abstract

This work extends the hydro-mechanical phase-field fracture model to non-isothermal conditions with micromechanics based poroelasticity, which degrades Biot's coefficient not only with the phase-field variable (damage) but also with the energy decomposition scheme. Furthermore, we propose a new approach to update porosity solely determined by the strain change rather than damage evolution as in the existing models. As such, these poroelastic behaviors of Biot's coefficient and the porosity dictate Biot's modulus and the thermal expansion coefficient. For numerical implementation, we employ an isotropic diffusion method to stabilize the advection-dominated heat flux and adapt the fixed stress split method to account for the thermal stress. We verify our model against a series of analytical solutions such as Terzaghi's consolidation, thermal consolidation, and the plane strain hydraulic fracture propagation, known as the KGD fracture. Finally, numerical experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of the stabilization method and intricate thermo-hydro-mechanical interactions during hydraulic fracturing with and without a pre-existing weak interface.