Hybrid Discrete Fracture Network Simulation Driven by Statistics, Tectonic History and Geomechanics

Stochastic approaches are often used to simulate discrete fracture networks that are consistent with statistics obtained from field observations. However, classical stochastic methods do not account for fracture interactions to draw the geometry and the position of fractures. In this work, the tectonic history is considered. The fractures related to the oldest tectonic events are simulated first and others are simulated by order until the youngest tectonic events is considered. We use geomechanical consideration to define both a repulsion zone (constraint release zone) and an attraction zone (constraint accumulation zone) around each fracture. The implantation and the growth of each fracture are optimized considering the effect of neighboring fracture already simulated. Simulated discrete fracture network may also be constrained by secondary data such as micro seismic events or connectivity data.