Fracturing in saturated porous media incorporating hydromechanical coupling and gravitational stress effect
Abstract
The present work is devoted to numerical modeling of fracture initiation and propagation in saturated porous rocks. The emphasis is put on hydromechanical coupling and gravitational stress gradient effect. Compared with previous studies, several novel features are introduced. Based on the formulation of total potential energy and free poroelastic energy, the poroelastic relations of damaged porous media are established and the driving force of fracture propagation is identified. The effect of pore fluid pressure on fracturing is explored in greater depth by incorporating both effective stress and fluid enthalpy. Inspired by experimental results, the interaction between energy dissipation related to viscous fluid flow and fracture evolution is further investigated. Considering the strong pressure-dependency of mechanical behavior of rocks, the evolution of both tensile and shear fractures is influenced by compressive effective stresses. In order to better describe mixed fracturing in rocks under compression-dominating stresses, a hybrid phase-field model is proposed by considering two distinct driving forces respectively for tensile and shear fractures and their interaction is taken into account. Implemented in a finite element framework for fully coupled hydromechanical problems incorporating gravitational fluid flow and stress gradient, a wide series of representative cases are investigated. The proposed model is able to capture all main features involved in hydromechanical fracturing process. In particular, the kinetics of fracturing is influenced by fluid enthalpy contribution and pressure gradient. The proposed model is applied to investigate fracturing processes in laboratory tests under hypergravity conditions. The mechanistic mechanisms of hypergravity effect on fracturing pattern are elucidated.
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BibTeX
@article{zhang2026fracturing,
title = {{Fracturing in saturated porous media incorporating hydromechanical coupling and gravitational stress effect}},
author = {Kuan Zhang and Zhan Yu and Jinlong Li and Wenjie Xu and Yunmin Chen and Nicolas Burlion and Jianfu Shao},
journal = {International Journal of Plasticity},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.1016/j.ijplas.2026.104798},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05853124v1},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Fracturing in saturated porous media incorporating hydromechanical coupling and gravitational stress effect
AU - Kuan Zhang
AU - Zhan Yu
AU - Jinlong Li
AU - Wenjie Xu
AU - Yunmin Chen
AU - Nicolas Burlion
AU - Jianfu Shao
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/17
JO - International Journal of Plasticity
DO - 10.1016/j.ijplas.2026.104798
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05853124v1
AB - The present work is devoted to numerical modeling of fracture initiation and propagation in saturated porous rocks. The emphasis is put on hydromechanical coupling and gravitational stress gradient effect. Compared with previous studies, several novel features are introduced. Based on the formulation of total potential energy and free poroelastic energy, the poroelastic relations of damaged porous media are established and the driving force of fracture propagation is identified. The effect of pore fluid pressure on fracturing is explored in greater depth by incorporating both effective stress and fluid enthalpy. Inspired by experimental results, the interaction between energy dissipation related to viscous fluid flow and fracture evolution is further investigated. Considering the strong pressure-dependency of mechanical behavior of rocks, the evolution of both tensile and shear fractures is influenced by compressive effective stresses. In order to better describe mixed fracturing in rocks under compression-dominating stresses, a hybrid phase-field model is proposed by considering two distinct driving forces respectively for tensile and shear fractures and their interaction is taken into account. Implemented in a finite element framework for fully coupled hydromechanical problems incorporating gravitational fluid flow and stress gradient, a wide series of representative cases are investigated. The proposed model is able to capture all main features involved in hydromechanical fracturing process. In particular, the kinetics of fracturing is influenced by fluid enthalpy contribution and pressure gradient. The proposed model is applied to investigate fracturing processes in laboratory tests under hypergravity conditions. The mechanistic mechanisms of hypergravity effect on fracturing pattern are elucidated.
SN - 0749-6419
ER -