Fluid-driven multiple fracture growth from a permeable bedding plane intersected by an ascending hydraulic fracture

In bedded sedimentary rocks, the energy for spontaneous growth of multiple vertical fractures from a bedding plane may be provided by an overpressurized sublayer fracture that connects a fluid source to the bedding plane. In this paper, using our coupled deformation and flow model, we study the processes and mechanisms involved in the formation and interaction of closely space fractures from preexisting flaws or starter fractures located along the bedding plane. Fracture growth from multiple flaws can be convergent, parallel or divergent, depending on the factors like contrasts in moduli and far-field stresses, flaw sizes and locations, and initial bed conductivity, fluid viscosity, and injection rate, as well as time. The results presented here have been obtained for conditions where fluid viscous dissipation is dominant, in contrast to other results available in literature based on uniform pressure assumption equivalent to use of an inviscid fluid. It is demonstrated that the earlier a hydraulic fracture starts to extend, the more likely it is to become the primary fracture in a system of closely spaced fractures. The fracture closest to the fluid source typically grows faster as a result of a higher pressure level because viscous dissipation results in a decrease in pressure with distance from the fluid source. But its development does not completely inhibit the growth of other hydraulic fractures. Simultaneous growth of closely spaced fractures is supported by the local stress and energetic analyses, and the fracture distance can be very small. Their length to spacing ratio is accordingly much larger than that predicted previously. Under certain circumstances, a longer and more permeable fracture may grow to a greater extent than a shorter fracture closer to the fluid source, which may grow toward and merge with the longer fracture to create fracture clusters adjacent to a bedding plane. Citation: Zhang, X., and R. G. Jeffrey (2012), Fluid-driven multiple fracture growth from a permeable bedding plane intersected by an ascending hydraulic fracture, J. Geophys. Res., 117, B12402, doi:10.1029/2012JB009609.