Numerical simulation of fluid flow through deformable natural fracture network

Abstract

In this paper, fluid flow through natural fracture network is studied using computational fluid dynamics. To investigate the influence of fracture roughness, normal deformation and shear deformation on the fracture transmissivity/permeability, numerical tests of fluid flow through 3D rock fracture are conducted using the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) in a middle size cluster. An empirical equation was obtained from the numerical results. Following this, natural fracture networks are built for fluid dynamics simulation of fluid flow through rock fracture network. It is found that the pipe network model enriched with the derived empirical equation can produce similar results compared with the LBM simulation which further confirms the empirical equation’s applicability. Finally, influences of fracture length, fracture density, and deformation of the fracture network on the fluid flow are studied preliminarily from coupling LBM with the discrete fracture network model and discrete element model.