Software

This software is built on the open-source parallel MOOSE framework and uses the finite-element method to model hydraulic fracturing. It solves momentum and mass conservation equations with advanced numerical techniques, enabling simulation of fracture propagation, proppant transport and settling, and fracture closure with compaction. The software also models pulsed-power-induced fracturing by solving coupled hydromechanical equations, incorporating damage models and evolving permeability and stiffness to capture multi-fracture growth in saturated environments.

DualSPHysics-INL is a customized version of DualSPHysics 5.0.1, adapted from src_mphase/DSPH_v5.0_NNewtonian to simulate granular materials like soils and biomass rather than fluids. It incorporates a G-B hypoplastic constitutive model (Gudehus & Bauer) to capture a wide range of granular mechanical behaviors and uses momentum-based boundary conditions that prevent particle leakage and handle friction from free-slip to no-slip. GPU acceleration enables efficient computation for complex simulations.

This MATLAB package simulates fluid-driven fracture propagation in porous, anisotropic materials across multiple scales. It combines a meso-scale nonlocal damage model, a macro-scale cohesive zone model, and a transition algorithm to capture multiscale mechanical behavior. Fluid flow in both the matrix and fractures is modeled using Darcy’s and Cubic laws, and XFEM is employed for discretization and solution of the boundary value problems.