Cohesive-zone effects in hydraulic fracture propagation

Hydraulic fracture presents an interesting case of crack elasticity and fracture propagation non-linearly coupled to fluid flow. Hydraulic fracture (HF) is often modeled using the Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics (LEFM), which assumes that the damaged zone associated with the rock breakage near the advancing fracture front is small compared to the lengthscales of other physical processes acting during propagation. The latter include dissipation...