Parameters Affecting the Interaction Among Closely Spaced Hydraulic Fractures

Summary Placing multiple hydraulic fractures at intervals along horizontal wells has proved to be a highly effective method for stimulation. However, the mechanical interaction between a growing hydraulic fracture and one or more previous hydraulic fractures can affect the fracture geometry such that the final fracture array is suboptimal for stimulation. If the fracture-array geometry is idealized as a set of regular and planar fractures,...