Fluid-driven micro-cracking behaviour of crystalline rock using a coupled hydro-grain-based discrete element method

The grain-scale heterogeneity of rock has been found to greatly affect the cracking behaviour in mechanical tests. However, the heterogeneity has been insufficiently considered in hydraulic fracturing. To fill the gap, this paper proposes a coupled hydro-grain-based discrete element model and explores the fluid-driven micro-cracking of crystalline rock. The micro-heterogeneity of the rock is represented by a grain-based model. Three...