The simulator demonstrates how injected fluid pressure must exceed the rock's minimum principal stress plus its tensile strength to initiate a fracture, how propagation pressure differs from initiation pressure once the fracture exists, how the resulting fracture orients itself perpendicular to the minimum principal stress direction, and how proppant becomes trapped in the fracture to keep it conductive after pumping stops.
Adjust the injection pressure and pump rate to watch the wellbore pressure build toward the breakdown point where the fracture initiates, then observe how the pressure needed to keep it growing drops and stabilizes. Change the orientation and magnitude of the minimum principal stress to see the fracture plane reorient accordingly, and add proppant concentration to see how well the fracture stays open once injection stops.
Controls include injection pressure, pump rate, minimum and maximum principal stress magnitude and orientation, rock tensile strength, proppant concentration, and a pause/reset control to step through initiation, propagation, and post-injection fracture closure.
Because fracture orientation is governed entirely by the direction of the minimum principal stress, engineers can often predict, before drilling even begins, which way underground fractures will grow just by mapping the regional stress field.
The simulator demonstrates how injected fluid pressure must exceed the rock's minimum principal stress plus its tensile strength to initiate a fracture, how propagation pressure differs from initiation pressure once the fracture exists, how the resulting fracture orients itself perpendicular to the minimum principal stress direction, and how proppant becomes trapped in the fracture to keep it conductive after pumping stops.
The simulator demonstrates how injected fluid pressure must exceed the rock's minimum principal stress plus its tensile strength to initiate a fracture, how propagation pressure differs from initiation pressure once the fracture exists, how the resulting fracture orients itself perpendicular to the minimum principal stress direction, and how proppant becomes trapped in the fracture to keep it conductive after pumping stops.
Adjust the injection pressure and pump rate to watch the wellbore pressure build toward the breakdown point where the fracture initiates, then observe how the pressure needed to keep it growing drops and stabilizes. Change the orientation and magnitude of the minimum principal stress to see the fracture plane reorient accordingly, and add proppant concentration to see how well the fracture stays open once injection stops.
Because fracture orientation is governed entirely by the direction of the minimum principal stress, engineers can often predict, before drilling even begins, which way underground fractures will grow just by mapping the regional stress field.