An X-FEM Algorithm for Modeling of Multi-zone Hydraulic Fracturing in Saturated Porous Media

In this paper, a fully coupled hydro-mechanical model is presented for the study of multi-zone hydraulic fracturing within saturated porous media. The well-known ou-pthorn formulation is employed in order to simulate the saturated porous domain. An X-FEM Penalty algorithm is adopted to prevent the overlap of the fracture edges. Meanwhile, the large time increment method (LATIN) is utilized to remove the leak-off flow in the case of crack closure. Multiple crack growth pattern is determined by means of energy based stress functions for cohesive fractures. A computational algorithm is proposed for distribution of the fracturing fluid flow across existing discontinuities. Finally, several examples are provided to demonstrate the robustness of the proposed formulation.