Patent ID: 7063147
Filing Date: 2006-06-20
Classification: E21B

Abstract:
1. A method of continuously updating a perimeter of a fracture footprint, said fracture footprint having a plurality of tip elements, comprising the steps of: (a) updating a fill fraction for each tip clement of said plurality of tip elements by using the following equation: wherein w k is the fracture width at time t k , w k+1 is the fracture width at time t k+1 , F k is the fill fraction at time t k , F k+1 (j+1) is the fill fraction at time t k+1 and iteration (j+1), Δt k is the time step at time t k , n is the local unit normal to the fracture boundary, Γ e (t), at tip element a and time t, v k+1 (j) is the local fluid front velocity at time t k+1 and iteration (f), G e (F k+1 (j+1) ,t,t 0 e ) is an integrated sink (or leakoff) term over the possibly partially filled tip element e, t 0 e is the trigger time at which the fluid first enters tip element e, t is the current time, and A e is the area of the rectangular tip element e.