Fracture network fluid flow simulation with enhanced fluid-solid interaction force determination

Abstract

An illustrative hydraulic fracturing flow simulation method includes: identifying a network of fractures within a formation rock matrix; modeling each fracture in the network as fluid flow path having discrete points at which a fluid pressure is determined; representing the rock matrix with discrete nodes at which a fluid-solid interaction force is determined, each said discrete node being associated with multiple discrete points along a fluid flow path; deriving the fluid-solid interaction force for each node from the fluid pressure at the associated discrete points; estimating an extent of fracture propagation based in part on the fluid-solid interaction forces; and displaying a visual representation of the fracture propagation extent. The deriving includes: obtaining an analytic integral of the fluid pressure as modified by a weighting function for each interval between adjacent ones of the associated discrete points; evaluating the analytic integrals for each interval to obtain contributions; and summing the contributions.