Numerical modeling of simultaneous hydraulic fracturing in the mode of multi-well pads

In order to investigate propagation regularity of hydraulic fractures in the mode of multi-well pads, numerical modeling of simultaneous hydraulic fracturing of multiple wells was conducted. The mathematical model was established coupling rock deformation with fluid flow in the fractures and wellbores. And then the model was solved by displacement discontinuity method coupling with implicit level set method. The implicit method was based on fracture tip asymptotical solution and used to determine fracture growth length. Simulation results showed that when multiple wells were fractured simultaneously, adjacent fractures might propagate towards each other, showing an effect of attraction other than repulsion. Fracture spacing and well spacing had significant influence on the propagation path and geometry of multiple fractures. Furthermore, when multiple wells were fractured simultaneously, stress reversal regions had a large area, and stress reversal regions were distributed not only in the area between fractures but also on the outside of them. The area of stress reversal regions was related to fracture spacing and well spacing. Results indicated that multi-well fracturing induced larger area of stress reversal regions than one-well fracturing, which was beneficial to generating complex fracture network in unconventional reservoirs.