Imperial College London
Portrait Picture

Professor of Rock Mechanics

Faculty of Engineering, Department of Earth Science & Engineering

Chair in Rock Mechanics
 
 
 
//

Contact

 

+44 (0)20 7594 7412r.w.zimmerman

 
 
//

Location

 

2.38DRoyal School of MinesSouth Kensington Campus

//

Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Salimzadeh:2020:10.1029/2020GL087563,
author = {Salimzadeh, S and Zimmerman, RW and Khalili, N},
doi = {10.1029/2020GL087563},
journal = {Geophysical Research Letters},
title = {Gravity hydraulic fracturing: a method to create self-driven fractures},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2020GL087563},
volume = {47},
year = {2020}
}
Download

RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - In this study, we investigate the possibility of using a highdensity fluid to induce downward fracture growth in a hydraulic fracturing process. We propose a mathematical model to calculate the minimum amount of a dense fluid required to trigger downward fracture propagation under gravity forces, and we verify the calculated minimum volume of the fluid through numerical simulations. Results show that when the injected fluid exceeds the minimum amount, a steady downward growth of the hydraulic fracture is obtained. The fracture propagation consists of two distinct responses: The first response can occur under either toughnessdominated, viscositydominated, or an intermediate hydraulic fracturing regime, depending on fluid rheology, rock properties, and injection scenario. The second response occurs mainly under the toughnessdominated regime, meaning the predominant energy dissipation mechanism is to overcome the fracture toughness and break the rock. In the latter, the speed of the downward fracture growth depends on the viscosity and fluid weight.
AU  - Salimzadeh,S
AU  - Zimmerman,RW
AU  - Khalili,N
DO  - 10.1029/2020GL087563
PY  - 2020///
SN  - 0094-8276
TI  - Gravity hydraulic fracturing: a method to create self-driven fractures
T2  - Geophysical Research Letters
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2020GL087563
UR  - http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000586497000053&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/85292
VL  - 47
ER  -
Download