Numerical study of supercritical fluid fracturing performance for energy resource development

Abstract

This article is a summary of the author’s thesis (LIU, 2020) which won the best doctoral thesis award from the Japanese Society for Rock Mechanics (JSRM). A coupled fracturing model including a fluid model and a solid model was developed to simulate supercritical fluids fracturing on a laboratory scale. The flow model and solid model are based on the pore-scale network method and the finite element method, respectively. The mechanisms of different performances between supercritical fluids and water-based fracturing on a laboratory scale are investigated. The simulation results were validated by comparing them with experimental results. Subsequently, an upscaling model based on the coupled fracturing model was developed to learn the supercritical water fracturing performance on the field scale.