Hydraulic Fracturing (HF) is becoming increasingly popular as a candidate mechanism for preconditioning rock mass in mining. To date, accurate numerical methods for simulating the complex behaviour of fluid-driven fracture network near excavations are not well established within the mining industry. In this work we propose a novel implementation of the Material Point Method (MPM) to simulate the complex HF sequence followed in mining; this creates a dense network of fractures. We present a new way of generating fractures in the context of the MPM framework by incorporating the so-called Marching Cubes algorithm into the computational background grid. We first validate our model against some laboratory verified results and then apply the method to some conceptual models. These experiments illustrate effective ways of preconditioning with HF to ensure that stress is modified around the fractured area and the associated seismic hazard thereby reduced.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Keywords:	hydraulic fracturing, material point method, preconditioning, mining, marching cubes
Research Division:	Earth Sciences
Research Group:	Geophysics
Research Field:	Geophysics not elsewhere classified
Objective Division:	Expanding Knowledge
Objective Group:	Expanding knowledge
Objective Field:	Expanding knowledge in the mathematical sciences
UTAS Author:	Basson, G (Mr Gysbert Basson)
UTAS Author:	Bassom, AP (Professor Andrew Bassom)
UTAS Author:	Salmon, B (Dr Brian Salmon)
ID Code:	147874
Year Published:	2021
Deposited By:	Mathematics
Deposited On:	2021-11-19
Last Modified:	2022-05-20
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