Stimulated volume. To understand how far fracture coalescence would reach into the formation, a second series of simulations was set up. To a beam like fracture free model a hydraulic gradient of 10 MPa was assigned (Figure 7). The pressure gradient in this time-dependent Xxxxx flow simulations evolved as would be expected. Classical hydraulic stimulation analysis would simulate the propagation of a single fracture in a homogeneous medium. The respective work packages have advantages in the field of fluid and proppant selection, based on physico-empirical routines. The propagation of a single fracture in roxol is depicted in Figure 8. The starter fracture propagates with slight deviations from a straight path (the fracture direction is determined in each step and minimal stress fluctuations contribute to the propagation direction). Fracture propagation is occurring when a tensile strength criterion is reached at the fracture tip. Analysis of the permeability evolution of the beam yields Figure 9. For this analysis roxol was extended and now the change of the model permeability over time can be computed. As expected, for a fracture-free model the permeability converges against the permeability given for the model material.
