A generic approach to modelling flexible confined boundary conditions in SPH and its application

In this paper, a new approach to applying confining stress to flexible boundaries in the smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method is developed to facilitate its applications in geomechanics. Unlike the conventional SPH methods that impose confining boundary conditions by creating extra boundary particles, the proposed approach makes use of kernel truncation properties of SPH approximations that occur naturally at free-surface boundaries. Therefore, it does not require extra boundary particles and, as a consequence, can be utilised to apply confining stresses onto any boundary with arbitrary geometry without the need for tracking the curvature change during the computation. This enables more complicated problems that involve moving confining boundaries, such as confining triaxial tests, to be simulated in SPH without difficulties. To further enhance SPH applications in elasto-plastic computations of geomaterials, a robust numerical procedure to implement Mohr-Coulomb plasticity model in SPH is presented for the first time to avoid difficulties associated with corner singularities in Mohr-Coulomb model. The proposed approach was first validated against two-dimensional finite element (FE) solutions for confining biaxial compression tests to demonstrate its predictive capability at small deformation range when FE solutions are still valid. It is then further extended to three-dimensional conditions and utilised to simulate triaxial compression experiments. Simulation results predicted by SPH show good agreement with experiments, FE solutions, and other numerical results available in the literature. This suggests that the proposed approach of imposing confining stress boundaries is promising and can handle complex problems that involve moving confining boundary conditions.     

基于零厚度内聚力单元的水力裂缝随机扩展方法研究

为有效模拟裂缝性页岩储层中水力裂缝随机扩展过程,基于单元节点的拓扑数据结构,利用网格节点分裂方式,建立了一种基于有限元网格嵌入零厚度内聚力单元的水力裂缝随机扩展新方法。利用KGD模型解析解和2种室内试验,验证了新方法的准确性和有效性。同时,通过数值算例研究了水平地应力差和储层非均质性对水力裂缝随机扩展过程的影响。研究表明:(1)该方法弥补了ABAQUS平台内置的内聚力单元无法有效模拟水力裂缝随机扩展的不足;(2)在较高水平地应力差下页岩储层非均质性越强,与水力裂缝相交的高角度天然裂缝越容易开启。所建方法能准确地描述复杂水力裂缝的随机扩展行为,可为裂缝性页岩储层的数值模拟提供新手段。     

Simulation of hydraulic fracture propagation near a natural fracture using virtual multidimensional internal bonds

A virtual multidimensional internal bond (VMIB) model developed to simulate the propagation of hydraulic fractures using the finite‐element method is formulated within the framework of the virtual internal bond theory (VIB) that considers a solid as randomized material particles in the micro scale, and derives the macro constitutive relation from the cohesive law between the material particles with an implicit fracture criterion. Hydraulic pressure is applied using a new scheme that enables simulation of hydraulically driven cracks. When the model is applied to study hydraulic fracture propagation in the presence of a natural fracture, the results show the method to be very effective. It shows that although the in situ stress ratio is the dominant factor governing the propagation direction, a natural fault can also strongly influence the hydraulic fracture behavior. This influence is conditioned by the shear stiffness of the fault and the distance to the original hydraulic fracture. The model results show that when the fault is strong in shear, its impact on hydraulic fracture trajectory is weak and the hydraulic fracture will likely penetrate the fault. For a weak fault, however, the fracture tends to be arrested at the natural fault. The distance between the fault and the hydraulic fracture is also important; the fault influence increases with decreasing distance. The VMIB does not require selection of a fracture criterion and remeshing when the fracture propagates. Therefore, it is advantageous for modeling fracture initiation and propagation in naturally fractured rock. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

单轴压缩非贯通节理岩石尖端塑性区及弹塑性断裂模型研究

基于Drucker-Prager（下简称D-P）准则,建立压缩载荷作用下的非贯通节理岩石的弹塑性断裂模型。针对节理岩石小范围屈服翼裂纹尖端塑性区,推导了D-P屈服准则的纯I、纯II及I、II复合型3种翼裂纹无量纲塑性区径长函数,并与Mises准则的塑性区进行对比;结果表明,D-P准则的I型和复合型塑性区较Mises屈服准则的塑性区大,且其II型及I、II复合型塑性区在翼裂纹上下表面不连续。进一步,引入断裂软化因子以表征节理岩石裂隙断裂扩展后的断裂软化规律,考虑非贯通节理岩石复合型断裂软化,是由于节理尖端翼裂纹应变能密度超过最小应变能密度导致其成核扩展引起的,提出用应变能密度的指数函数形式表征断裂软化变量的演化;塑性屈服函数采用Borja等的应力张量3个不变量的硬化/软化函数,反映塑性内变量及应力状态对硬化函数的影响;建立节理岩石的弹塑性断裂本构关系及其数值算法,并用回映隐式积分算法编制了弹塑性断裂模型的程序。以单轴压缩下非贯通节理岩石为例,分析岩石断裂韧度、节理摩擦系数和节理倾角等参数的影响,结果表明,所提出的弹塑性断裂模型与数值和试验结果比较吻合。     

Numerical simulation of particle plugging in hydraulic fracture by element partition method

Hydraulic fracturing (HF) treatment often involves particle migration and is applied for propping or plugging fractures. Particle migration behaviors, e.g., bridging, packing, and plugging, significantly affect the HF process. Hence, it is crucial to effectively simulate particle migration. In this study, a new numerical approach is developed based on a coupled element partition method (EPM). The EPM is used to model natural and hydraulic fractures, in which a fracture is allowed to propagate across an element, thereby avoiding remeshing in fracture simulations. To characterize the water flow process in a fracture, a fully hydromechanical coupled equation is adopted in the EPM. To model particle transportation in fractures with water flow, each particle is treated as a discrete element. The particles move in the fracture as a result of being dragged by fluid. Their movement, contact, and packing behaviors are simulated using the discrete element method. To reflect the plugging effect, an equivalent aperture approach is proposed. Using this method, the particle migration and its effect on water flow are well simulated. The simulation results show that this method can effectively reproduce particle bridging, plugging, and unblocking in a hydraulic fracture. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that particle plugging significantly affects water flow in a fracture and hence the propagation of hydraulic fracture. This method provides a simple and feasible approach for the simulation of particle migration in a hydraulic fracture.     

Mixed mode fracture analysis of semi-circular bend (SCB) specimen: A numerical study based on extended finite element method

Previous studies are mainly concentrated on the use of the semi-circular bend (SCB) specimen for determining the entire mixed-mode I-II fracture toughness of rock, while less attention has been paid to its mixed-mode fracture process. In this situation, this study investigated mixed-mode fracture behavior of the SCB specimen using the extended finite element method (X-FEM). The crack growth trajectory, crack initiation angle and onset of fracture were discussed in detail. This paper is expected to provide a better understanding of mixed-mode fracture process of the SCB specimen occurring during fracture initiation and propagation.     

Adaptive finite element analysis of mode I fracture in cement‐based materials

Microscopic studies using advanced experimental techniques have provided better insight into the fracture mechanisms in cement‐based materials. A clear understanding of fracture mechanisms is critical for the development of rigorous computational models for analysing fracture. Fracture analysis is usually carried out by finite element method. Accuracy of FE analysis depends upon the choice of mesh and for the predictions to be reliable, discretization errors are to be minimized. In cohesive crack approach, the non‐linearity is limited to the boundary conditions along the geometric discontinuity while the bulk of the material retains its elastic nature. The paper presents a mesh‐adaptive strategy based on ZZ error estimator to model discrete crack propagation in cement‐based materials. Examples of simulations have demonstrated the potential of the mesh‐adaptive technique in modelling the evolution of the localized strain profiles as well as failure of concrete test specimen. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Linear Elastic and Cohesive Fracture Analysis to Model Hydraulic Fracture in Brittle and Ductile Rocks

Hydraulic fracturing technology is being widely used within the oil and gas industry for both waste injection and unconventional gas production wells. It is essential to predict the behavior of hydraulic fractures accurately based on understanding the fundamental mechanism(s). The prevailing approach for hydraulic fracture modeling continues to rely on computational methods based on Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics (LEFM). Generally, these methods give reasonable predictions for hard rock hydraulic fracture processes, but still have inherent limitations, especially when fluid injection is performed in soft rock/sand or other non-conventional formations. These methods typically give very conservative predictions on fracture geometry and inaccurate estimation of required fracture pressure. One of the reasons the LEFM-based methods fail to give accurate predictions for these materials is that the fracture process zone ahead of the crack tip and softening effect should not be neglected in ductile rock fracture analysis. A 3D pore pressure cohesive zone model has been developed and applied to predict hydraulic fracturing under fluid injection. The cohesive zone method is a numerical tool developed to model crack initiation and growth in quasi-brittle materials considering the material softening effect. The pore pressure cohesive zone model has been applied to investigate the hydraulic fracture with different rock properties. The hydraulic fracture predictions of a three-layer water injection case have been compared using the pore pressure cohesive zone model with revised parameters, LEFM-based pseudo 3D model, a Perkins-Kern–Nordgren (PKN) model, and an analytical solution. Based on the size of the fracture process zone and its effect on crack extension in ductile rock, the fundamental mechanical difference of LEFM and cohesive fracture mechanics-based methods is discussed. An effective fracture toughness method has been proposed to consider the fracture process zone effect on the ductile rock fracture.     

Fuzzy parameters analysis of time‐dependent fracture of concrete dam models

In order to apply the mechanical properties (measured on material specimens or laboratory‐sized models) to large structures (such as concrete dams), a non‐linear theory able to predict the size‐scale effect has to be used. One of these theories was first proposed by Hillerborg and co‐workers (fictitious crack model) and is based on the earlier works by Barenblatt and Dugdale for metals (cohesive crack model). It is based on the existence of a fracture process zone (FPZ), where the material undergoes strain softening. The behaviour of the material outside the FPZ is linear elastic. A large number of short‐time laboratory tests were executed, by varying the load, under crack mouth opening displacement control. Since concrete exhibits a time‐dependent behaviour, an interaction between creep and micro‐crack growth occurs in the FPZ. Therefore, different testing conditions can be applied: rupture can be achieved by keeping the load constant before peak value (pre‐peak tests), or after peak value and after an unloading and reloading procedure (post‐peak tests). The crack propagation rate is shown to be small enough to neglect inertial forces and large enough to keep the time‐dependent behaviour of the process zone as dominant compared to the behaviour of the undamaged and viscoelastic zone. Due to the variability in material microstructure from one specimen to another, experimental data show large ranges of scatter. Well established methods in probability theory require sufficient experimental data in order to assume a probability density distribution. The objective of this study is to investigate the ranges of variation of the time response under constant load in simple structural elements associated with pre‐selected variation (fuzziness) in the main material parameters. For situations where the values of the material parameters are of a non‐stochastic nature, the fuzzy set approach to modelling variability has been proposed as a better and more natural approach. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A new SPH-based approach to simulation of granular flows using viscous damping and stress regularisation

The smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method was recently extended to simulate granular materials by the authors and demonstrated to be a powerful continuum numerical method to deal with the post-flow behaviour of granular materials. However, most existing SPH simulations of granular flows suffer from significant stress oscillation during the post-failure process, despite the use of an artificial viscosity to damp out stress fluctuation. In this paper, a new SPH approach combining viscous damping with stress/strain regularisation is proposed for simulations of granular flows. It is shown that the proposed SPH algorithm can improve the overall accuracy of the SPH performance by accurately predicting the smooth stress distribution during the post-failure process. It can also effectively remove the stress oscillation issue in the standard SPH model without having to use the standard SPH artificial viscosity that requires unphysical parameters. The predictions by the proposed SPH approach show very good agreement with experimental and numerical results reported in the literature. This suggests that the proposed method could be considered as a promising continuum alternative for simulations of granular flows.     

砂岩断裂及其亚临界断裂的力学行为和细观机制

通过三点弯曲的SEM试验,详细研究了砂岩断裂的力学特征和细观机制。结果表明：砂岩断裂是一个复杂的过程,它不但与砂岩的物理成分、微缺陷等有关,还与砂岩中碎屑颗粒的分布密切相关,存在明显的亚临界断裂。亚临界断裂裂纹和断裂主裂纹形态相似。亚临界断裂裂纹较多的样品呈现延性断裂破坏的特征,而亚临界断裂裂纹较少的样品则呈现脆性断裂破坏的现象。     

A smoothed particle hydrodynamics modelling of soil–water mixing and resulting changes in average strength

Soil–water interaction is a pivotal process in many underwater geohazards such as underwater landslides where soil sediments gradually evolve into turbidity currents after interactions with ambient water. Due to the large deformations, multiphase interactions and phase changes this involves, investigations from numerical modelling of the transition process have been limited so far. This study explores a simple numerical replication of such soil–water mixing with respect to changes in average strength using smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH). A uniform viscoplastic model is used for both the solid-like and fluid-like SPH particles. The proposed numerical solution scheme is verified by single-phase dam break tests and multiphase simple shear tests. SPH combinations of solid-like and fluid-like particles can replicate the clay–water mixture as long as the liquidity index of the solid-like particles is larger than unity. The proposed numerical scheme is shown to capture key features of an underwater landslide such as hydroplaning, water entrainment and wave generation and thus shows promise as a tool to simulate the whole process of subaquatic geohazards involving solid–fluid transition during mass transport.     

Lagrangian meshfree particles method (SPH) for large deformation and failure flows of geomaterial using elastic–plastic soil constitutive model

Simulation of large deformation and post‐failure of geomaterial in the framework of smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) are presented in this study. The Drucker–Prager model with associated and non‐associated plastic flow rules is implemented into the SPH code to describe elastic–plastic soil behavior. In contrast to previous work on SPH for solids, where the hydrostatic pressure is often estimated from density by an equation of state, this study proposes to calculate the hydrostatic pressure of soil directly from constitutive models. Results obtained in this paper show that the original SPH method, which has been successfully applied to a vast range of problems, is unable to directly solve elastic–plastic flows of soil because of the so‐called SPH tensile instability. This numerical instability may result in unrealistic fracture and particles clustering in SPH simulation. For non‐cohesive soil, the instability is not serious and can be completely removed by using a tension cracking treatment from soil constitutive model and thereby give realistic soil behavior. However, the serious tensile instability that is found in SPH application for cohesive soil requires a special treatment to overcome this problem. In this paper, an artificial stress method is applied to remove the SPH numerical instability in cohesive soil. A number of numerical tests are carried out to check the capability of SPH in the current application. Numerical results are then compared with experimental and finite element method solutions. The good agreement obtained from these comparisons suggests that SPH can be extended to general geotechnical problems. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Modeling hydraulic fracture propagation in permeable media with an embedded strong discontinuity approach

The paper presents an embedded strong discontinuity approach to simulate single hydraulic fracture propagation in the poroelastic medium under plane-strain conditions. The method enriches the strain field with the discontinuous deformation mode and allows the fracture to be modeled inside elements. The Mode-I fracture initiation and propagation are described by the trilinear cohesive law, which is implemented by the penalty method. The enhanced permeability inside the fractured elements is dependent on the fracture aperture. Hydraulic fracture propagation is driven by the high pressure gradient near the fracture. Fluid transfer between the fracture and bulk rock is automatically captured within the poroelastic framework. The numerical framework is verified by the comparisons with the asymptotic analytical solutions for single hydraulic fracture propagation.     

压实黏土的脆性断裂模型及有限元算法

利用弥散裂缝理论,提出了压实黏土拉伸状态下的脆性断裂模型.当压实黏土达到其极限抗拉强度后,通过建立单元的各向异性刚度矩阵,将土体裂缝弥散于实体单元,构造了平面应变条件下考虑压实黏土脆性开裂的有限元计算模式.通过对某压实黏土单轴拉伸试验成果的模拟计算,验证了构建的脆性断裂模型和有限元算法对土体拉伸破坏特性和裂缝发展过程的适用性.本文还进行了模拟软弱面水压“楔劈效应”的简单数值试验,表明压实黏土脆性开裂模型和算法可较好地模拟裂缝扩展行为.     

Discrete element simulation of the effect of particle size on the size of fracture process zone in quasi-brittle materials

Experimental tests performed on quasi-brittle materials show that a process zone develops ahead of a crack tip. This zone can affect the strength and the deformation pattern of a structure. A discrete element approach with a softening contact bond model is utilized to simulate the development of the fracture process zone in the three-point bending tests. Samples with different dimensions and particle sizes are generated and tested. It is shown that as the material brittleness decreases, the width of the process zone becomes more dependent on the specimen size. Furthermore, the increase in the particle size, results in increase in the width of the process zone. A dimensional analysis together with the numerical results shows that the width of process zone is a linear function of particle size (radius). This finding is discussed and compared with published experimental data in the literature.     

Meshless numerical modeling of brittle–viscous deformation: first results on boudinage and hydrofracturing using a coupling of discrete element method (DEM) and smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH)

We have developed a new approach for the numerical modeling of deformation processes combining brittle fracture and viscous flow. The new approach is based on the combination of two meshless particle-based methods: the discrete element method (DEM) for the brittle part of the model and smooth particle hydrodynamics (SPH) for the viscous part. Both methods are well established in their respective application domains. The two methods are coupled at the particle scale, with two different coupling mechanisms explored: one is where DEM particles act as virtual SPH particles and one where SPH particles are treated like DEM particles when interacting with other DEM particles. The suitability of the combined approach is demonstrated by applying it to two geological processes, boudinage, and hydrofracturing, which involve the coupled deformation of a brittle solid and a viscous fluid. Initial results for those applications show that the new approach has strong potential for the numerical modeling of coupled brittle–viscous deformation processes.     

Computational model coupling mode II discrete fracture propagation with continuum damage zone evolution

We propose a numerical method that couples a cohesive zone model (CZM) and a finite element‐based continuum damage mechanics (CDM) model. The CZM represents a mode II macro‐fracture, and CDM finite elements (FE) represent the damage zone of the CZM. The coupled CZM/CDM model can capture the flow of energy that takes place between the bulk material that forms the matrix and the macroscopic fracture surfaces. The CDM model, which does not account for micro‐crack interaction, is calibrated against triaxial compression tests performed on Bakken shale, so as to reproduce the stress/strain curve before the failure peak. Based on a comparison with Kachanov's micro‐mechanical model, we confirm that the critical micro‐crack density value equal to 0.3 reflects the point at which crack interaction cannot be neglected. The CZM is assigned a pure mode II cohesive law that accounts for the dependence of the shear strength and energy release rate on confining pressure. The cohesive shear strength of the CZM is calibrated by calculating the shear stress necessary to reach a CDM damage of 0.3 during a direct shear test. We find that the shear cohesive strength of the CZM depends linearly on the confining pressure. Triaxial compression tests are simulated, in which the shale sample is modeled as an FE CDM continuum that contains a predefined thin cohesive zone representing the idealized shear fracture plane. The shear energy release rate of the CZM is fitted in order to match to the post‐peak stress/strain curves obtained during experimental tests performed on Bakken shale. We find that the energy release rate depends linearly on the shear cohesive strength. We then use the calibrated shale rheology to simulate the propagation of a meter‐scale mode II fracture. Under low confining pressure, the macroscopic crack (CZM) and its damaged zone (CDM) propagate simultaneously (i.e., during the same loading increments). Under high confining pressure, the fracture propagates in slip‐friction, that is, the debonding of the cohesive zone alternates with the propagation of continuum damage. The computational method is applicable to a range of geological injection problems including hydraulic fracturing and fluid storage and should be further enhanced by the addition of mode I and mixed mode (I+II+III) propagation. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Frictional contact algorithms in SPH for the simulation of soil–structure interaction

Simulation of frictional contact between soils and rigid or deformable structure in the framework of smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) is presented in this study. Two algorithms are implemented into the SPH code to describe contact behavior, where the contact forces are calculated using the law of conservation of momentum based on ideal plastic collision or using the criteria of partial penetrating. In both algorithms, the problem of boundary deficiency inherited from SPH is properly handled so that the particles located at contact boundary can have precise acceleration, which is critical for contact detection. And the movement and rotation of the rigid structure are taken into account so that it is easy to simulate the process of pile driving or movement of a retaining wall in geotechnical engineering analysis. Furthermore, the capability of modeling deformability of a structure during frictional contact simulations broadens the fields of SPH application. In contrast to previous work dealing with contact in SPH, which usually use particle‐to‐particle contact or ignoring sliding between particles and solid structure, the method proposed here is more efficient and accurate, and it is suitable to simulate interaction between soft materials and rigid or deformable structures, which are very common in geotechnical engineering. A number of numerical tests are carried out to verify the accuracy and stability of the proposed algorithms, and their results are compared with analytical solutions or results from finite element method analysis. Good agreement obtained from these comparisons suggests that the proposed algorithms are robust and can be applied to extend the capability of SPH in solving geotechnical problems. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

3D finite element modeling of sand particle fracture based on in situ X‐Ray synchrotron imaging

Compressive loading of granular materials causes inter‐particle forces to develop and evolve into force chains that propagate through the granular body. At high‐applied compressive stresses, inter‐particle forces will be large enough to cause particle fracture, affecting the constitutive behavior of granular materials. The first step to modeling particle fracture within force chains in granular mass is to understand and model the fracture of a single particle using actual three‐dimensional (3D) particle shape. In this paper, the fracture mode of individual silica sand particles was captured using 3D x‐ray radiography and Synchrotron Micro‐computed Tomography (SMT) during in situ compression experiments. The SMT images were used to reconstruct particle surfaces through image processing techniques. Particle surface was then imported into Abaqus finite element (FE) software where the experimental loading setup was modeled using the extended finite element method (XFEM) where particle fracture was compared to experimental fracture mode viewed in radiograph images that were acquired during experimental loading. Load‐displacement relationships of the FE analysis were also compared with experimental measurements. 3D FE modeling of particle fracture offers an excellent tool to map stress distribution and monitors crack initiation and propagation within individual sand particles. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.