ENERGY BALANCE OF HYDRAULIC FRACTURE AND FRACTURE TOUGHNESS

Based on the discussion of the phenomenon that the effect of fracture toughness is neglected in general hydraulic fracturing models, this paper gives the energy balance equation in-colding all parameters in hydraulic fracturing and proposes a method of determining the apparent fracture toughness of rock from hydraulic fracture experimental data. The discussion on the factors affecting apparent toughness indicates the inevitability that the apparent fracture toughness of rock measured by hydraulic fracture experimental data is significantly higher than that measured by the standard three-point bending method.

Project Supported:

Clc Number:

TD315