Hello all:

I have been working on proppant transport inside fractures for quite some time now. And now, I have a question regarding meshing technique when it comes to three or four or five COH2D4P elements cross one another in order to create a fracture intersecting network.

I have attached the word file “the cross between HF & NF” where I have shown the meshed version of my model, and there is also a zoomed picture of the fracture intersection.

As you see from the third picture, the four elements around the intersection share one node (which I created from merging four nodes in to one and then changing the location of that node). I kept the four elements initially damaged so that fluid can enter easily and break all the branches once the fluid reaches the intersection.

However, only the main hydraulic fracture is propagating. The other one is not. My in-situ stresses in the horizontal plane are equal (sigma_max = sigma_min = 15 MPa).

Any guesses as to why the other elements are not activating? How can I activate all the elements? Any suggestions or tips?

Thank you,

Mousumi