Sg. Mogilevskaya et al., Interaction between a circular opening and fractures originating from its boundary in a piecewise homogeneous plane, INT J NUM A, 24(12), 2000, pp. 947-970
Citations number
38
Categorie Soggetti
Geological Petroleum & Minig Engineering
Journal title
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR NUMERICAL AND ANALYTICAL METHODS IN GEOMECHANICS
The complex variables boundary element method (CVBEM) is used to study inte
raction between a circular opening and fractures originating from its bound
ary in a piecewise homogeneous plane. A new complex hypersingular equation
for piecewise homogeneous media with a circular opening is obtained. The eq
uation is solved using the CVBEM technique with circular and straight bound
ary elements and polynomial approximations (with square root asymptotics fo
r crack tip elements) for the unknown functions. The algorithm is verified
through comparison with known semi-analytical and numerical solutions that
involve interaction between a circular opening and specific systems of crac
ks or other openings. New numerical results concerning the interaction of t
he circular opening with the cracks and circular inclusions are presented,
The method is applied to an important problem in the petroleum industry: mo
delling propagation of hydraulic fractures in the vicinity of a borehole. C
opyright (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.