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New Frontiers in Oil and Gas Exploration pp 435–460Cite as

Recent Advances in Global Fracture Mechanics of Growth of Large Hydraulic Crack Systems in Gas or Oil Shale: A Review

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Abstract

This chapter reviews the recent progress toward computer simulation of the growth of vast systems of branched hydraulic cracks needed for the efficient extraction of gas or oil from shale strata. It is emphasized that, to achieve significant gas extraction, the spacing of parallel hydraulic cracks must be on the order of 0.1 m, which means that the fracturing of the entire fracking stage would require creating about a million vertical cracks. Another emphasized feature is that the viscous flow of fracking water along the hydraulic cracks must be combined with Darcy diffusion of a large amount of water into the pores and flaws in shale. The fracture mechanics on the global scale is handled by the crack band model with gradual postpeak softening and a localization limiter in the form of a material characteristic length. Small scale computer simulations demonstrate that the computational approach produces realistically looking results.

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Acknowledgements

Financial support from the U.S. Department of Energy through subcontract No. 37008 of Northwestern University with Los Alamos National Laboratory is gratefully acknowledged. Ramifications of fracturing analysis from concrete to shale were partially supported by ARO grant W911NF-15-101240 to Northwestern University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. McCormick Institute Professor and W.P. Murphy Professor of Civil and Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Northwestern University, 2145 Sheridan Road, CEE/A135, Evanston, IL 60208, USA

    Zdeněk P. Bažant

  2. Graduate Research Assistant, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

    Viet T. Chau

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  1. Zdeněk P. Bažant
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  2. Viet T. Chau
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Correspondence to Zdeněk P. Bažant .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, State University of New York at Binghamton Department of Mechanical Engineering, Binghamton, New York, USA

    Congrui Jin

  2. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA

    Gianluca Cusatis

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Bažant, Z.P., Chau, V.T. (2016). Recent Advances in Global Fracture Mechanics of Growth of Large Hydraulic Crack Systems in Gas or Oil Shale: A Review. In: Jin, C., Cusatis, G. (eds) New Frontiers in Oil and Gas Exploration. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40124-9_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40124-9_13

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-40124-9

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