HyFrac.fun: A 3D Hydraulic Fracturing Simulator on Cloud

2026-05-20

AI Summary

This study addresses the challenge of evaluating the impact of complex non-planar three-dimensional fracture geometries—induced by inter-fracture elastic stress shadowing in multi-cluster hydraulic fracturing—on long-term well productivity, a task hindered by incompatibilities between conventional fracture and production simulators. To overcome this, the authors develop a cloud-native integrated platform that leverages the structural isomorphism of SGBEM–FEM governing equations to enable zero-loss, automated transfer of fracture meshes from fracturing to production simulation for the first time. The framework couples three-dimensional fracture propagation, a steady-state Darcy flow solver, and a shear-thinning power-law fluid model. Results reveal a “dual-shadow” phenomenon, demonstrating that under identical injection conditions, stress-shadow-driven fracture geometry exerts a far greater influence on long-term productivity than fracturing fluid rheology, with shear-thinning effects showing negligible impact on fracture trajectory and ultimate production.

Abstract

When multiple hydraulic fractures propagate simultaneously from a horizontal wellbore, elastic stress-shadow interactions generate complex non-planar three-dimensional geometries whose effect on subsequent reservoir drainage has infrequently been quantified, because the propagation and production solvers have historically been incompatible stand-alone tools. This paper presents HyFrac.fun, a cloud-native platform that bridges this gap by exploiting a structural isomorphism between the two SGBEM--FEM governing operator systems. The platform enables automated zero-conversion handoff of the evolved 3D fracture mesh directly to the steady-state Darcy production solver for realizing a fully integrated lifecycle simulation of multi-stage non-planar hydraulic fractures. The lifecycle analysis reveals a double shadow phenomenon: the mechanical stress shadow that suppresses inner-fracture growth during stimulation mirrors a fluid pressure shadow that reduces the inner fracture's drawout rate at small cluster spacing. Critically, switching to a shear-thinning power-law fracturing fluid leaves the fracture trajectories and production rates almost unchanged, demonstrating that stress-shadow-controlled fracture geometry instead of fluid rheology is the primary determinant of long-term production efficiency at equal injection rates. These physics findings are accessible from integrated fracture propagation and production simulations.

Problem

• hydraulic fracturing
• stress shadow
• non-planar fractures
• reservoir drainage
• fracture propagation

Innovation

• cloud-native simulation
• structural isomorphism
• stress-shadow effect
• integrated fracture-propagation and production modeling
• non-planar hydraulic fractures