Patent ID: 6876959

Claim:
A method of designing a hydraulic fracture of a well, comprising: (a) obtaining a first data set, the first data set comprising: time history of fluid volumes for pumping, time history of proppant volumes for pumping, fluid properties, proppant properties, and logs, (b) providing the first data set to a computer, the computer having a processor capable of executing instructions, the computer further having electronic storage means with stored equations comprising hydraulic fracturing relationships, (c) computing by said processor a first set of values by manipulating said fist data set using said stored equations, (d) determining from said first set of values the dimensions of a hydraulic fracture using a mesh of elements, said dimensions including fracture height and length, fracture width and fluid pressures as a function of time, wherein the elements are capable of being only partially active, further wherein recalculation of fully active elements is not required during computing of said first set of values, (e) converting said first set of values into a set of output data, the output data representing fracture dimensions and pressure as a function of pumping time, (f) displaying the output data.