Effect of Poroelasticity on Hydraulic Fracture Interactions

This study investigates, by performing finite element-based simulations, the influence of fluid leak-off and poroelasticity on growth of multiple hydraulic fractures that initiate from a single horizontal well. In this research, poroelastic deformation of the matrix is coupled with fluid flow in the fractures, and fluid flow in the rock matrix, in three dimensions. Effects of the fluid leakoff and poroelasticity on the propagation of the neighboring fractures are studied by varying the matrix permeability, and the Biot coefficient. Simulation results show that the stress induced by the opening of the fractures, and the stress induced by the fluid leak-off, each have the effect of locally altering the magnitudes and orientations of the principal stresses, hence altering the propagation direction of the fractures. The stress induced by the opening of the fractures tends to propagate both of the fractures away from each other in a curved trajectory, whereas the effects of fluid leak-off and poroelasticity (i.e., a higher Biot coefficient) tend to straighten the curved trajectory.