There has been considerable speculation conoerning

Many investigators"":lO have shown that competent

rocks behave elastically over some range of stresses. Of
course, if the tensile stress imposed upon a rock ex
ceeds some limiting value, then the rock will fail in
tension. In similar manner, there are some limiting
shear stresses that can be imposed upon rocks. Hubbert
and Willis" have discussed the shear conditions which
will lead to failure,
Under moderate stress conditions (such as those
likely to be encountered when hydraulically fracturing)
and when stresses are rapidly appl~ed,
relatively, most
rocks will fail in a brittle manner. Hence, for this
discussion of hydraulic fractures in the earth's crust,
we assume the rocks behave as brittle, elastic materials.
Let us develop the discussion in the following way.
(The following thoughts are applicable only to brittle
materials. )
1. First we consider a brittle, elastic system, An
energy balance will show the minimum pressur,e neces
sary to fracture rock, and from this pressure we cal
culate the minimum crack width resulting from ex
tension of a hydraulic fracture.
the geometry of hydraulically created fractures in the
earth's crust. One of the questions of practical im
portance is the width of fractures under dynamic con
ditions, i.e., while the fracture is being created and
extended. Such width information could be used, for
instance, to help estimate the area of a fracture gen
erated under various conditions. m Also, there has been
a recent trend toward the use of large propping par
ticles.",15 Therefore is is desirable to know what factors
can be varied in order to assure entry of the large
particles into the fracture.
There has been some work on fracture widths re
ported in the literature. In particular, there have been
several Russian publications dealing with this sub
ject."'!'''' These papers have dealt principally with
the elastic theory and the application of this theory
to hydraulic fractures. These studies have not led to
an engineering method for estimating fracture widths
under dynamic conditions. A recent paper' has reviewed
and summarized the Russian concepts.
An earlier paper' from our laboratories also discussed
the application of the elastic theory to hydraulic frac
tures. This first approach, based largely on photoelastic
studies, has proved to be too simplified to accurately
describe the fracturing process. However, these early
thoughts have served as a guide during the development
of more exact concepts.
We would like to present in this paper our current
2. Then we will show that, under ordinary fractur
ing conditions, fracture widths are appreciably greater
than the minimum widths of extending fractures. In
fact, we will find that crack width is controlled by
fluid pressure drop in the fracture.
3. We will discuss pressure drops in fractures and
resulting crack widths for various operating conditions
and both vertical and horizontal fractures.
4. Finally, we will discuss the significance of these
concepts, their relationship to fracturing pressures, etc.
First, consider minimum fracture extension pres
sures. We can shed some light on this question by
considering the theory proposed by Griffith"S to ex
plain the rupture of brittle, elastic materials. Griffith
recognized that solid materials exhibit a surface energy"
(similar to surface tension in a liquid). The funda
mental concept of the Griffith theory is that, when
cracks spread without the application of external work
(in the interior of an elastic medium which is stressed
Original manuscript received in Society of Petroleum Engineer::;
office May 2. 1961. Revised manuscript received July 31. 1961. Paper
to be presented at 36th Annual Fall Meeting of SPE, Oct. 8-11,
1861. in Dallas.
lOReferences given at end of paper.
SPE 89
SEPTEMBER, 1961
937
externally), the decrease in strain energy resulting from
the elastic strain in the vicinity of the crack is balanced
by the increase in surface energy.
A similar approach when external work is applied by
the injection of fluid can be used to estimate hydraulic
fracture widths in rocks under static conditions (when
the fluid has stopped moving). Consider an infinite
elastic medium containing a plane crack bounded by
a circle-a penny-shaped crack. If fluid were injected
into this pre-existing crack but at a pressure less than
that necessary to extend the fracture in length, then
the crack would be "inflated". For a perfectly elastic
medium, the relationship between crack shape and
pressure within the crack has been calculated by Sned
don." Fig. 1 shows a conceptual sketch with some of
the geometrical relationships predicted by the elastic
theory.
Now let us suppose the pressure in the crack is
increased until the crack is just ready to extend in
radius. Let volume dV be injected at the fracture ex
tension pressure P, and suppose this results in an in
crease in fracture radius dC. The amount of work done
to pump the fluid into the fracture is clearly PdV. The
Poisson's ratio), the minimum fracture extension pre~
sure (in excess of the earth stress) varies inversely as
the square root of the fracture radius.
EXPERIMENTAL VERIFICATION OF THE
GRIFFITH-SNEDDON APPROACH
The Griffith-Sneddon approach to minimum fracture
extension pressure can be verified experimentally. Sned
don has shown that the volume of a radially symmetr
ical crack with a uniform pressure P acting in the crack
is given by Eq. 2.
V = 16 (1 - v') C' (P - a)
(2)
3E
where V = volume of the crack.
Combining this with Eq. 1 to eliminate C yields
Eq.3.
27r'.a'E' ] 1/'
( p - a) -
(3)
[
- 3(1 - v')'V
Hence, the fracture extension pressure should vary
inversely as the fifth root of crack volume.
We have measured fracture extension pressure and
amount of energy stored in the fracture system arises
from (1) an increase in potential energy of the elastic
medium and (2) an increase in the surface energy
caused by the increase in fracture radius. To obtain the
minimum fracture extension pressure, the work done is
equated to the energy stored in the fracture system. By
using this approach, Sack" has derived an equation
which will give the minimum pressure necessary to ex
tend a fracture in rock (Eq. 1).
p _ a) - ~ /
7r a E
(
)
'"
- ,,2(1 - v')C
(1
crack volume for a Portland cement model. Fluid leak
off into the model could not be eliminated completely.
However, it was minimiud by using a fluid of low
leak-off properties and a cement of low permeability.
The volume of fluid leaking off was estimated and
subtracted from the total volume injected to estimate
the volume of fluid remaining in the crack. The model
was arranged so that the pressure acting within the
fracture could be measured.
Fig. 2 shows a sketch of the model and a plot of
log P vs log V. A line with slope of "- 1/5" is
drawn through the data, thus verifying the relationship
shown by Eq. 3.
where Pm =minimum fracture extension pressure, psi,
(J = total earth stress perpendicular to the plane
of the fracture, psi (total earth stress is
defined as the sum of stress in rock matrix
plus pore pressure, see Ref. 11),
MIMIMUM FRACTURE EXTENSION
PRESSURES
a = specific surface energy of the rock,
ft-lb/sq in.,
E = Young's modulus of the rock, psi,
To predict minimum fracture extension pressures for
field cases, we must determine typical physical proper
ties of rocks.
v = Poisson's ratio for the rock, and
C = fracture radius, ft.
This equation predicts that, for a given rock (i.e.,
fixed values of surface energy, Young's modulus and
rC~~~~R
J
u
RADIALLY SYMMETRICAL
FRACTURE INSIPE
h
CEMENT BLOCK
, , ALUMINUM FINS
CEMENTED TO
W-TOTAl CRACK WIDTH AT RADIUS, r
TUBE
Pm- A UNIFORM PRESSURE ACTING OVER THE
SURFACE OF THE CRACK.
SIDE
(T. TOTAL EARTH STRESS PERPENDICULAR
TO THE PLANE OF THE CRACIC
DETAIL OF FRACTURE
INITIATING FINS
C • FRACTURE RADIUS
r • RADIUS UNDER CONSIDERATION
: 1000
II· POISSONS RATIO FOR ROCK
rS~OPE OF LiNE' _I~
E • YOUMS'S MOOULUS OF ROCK
-4.
'- , ,
r.-
z
Ii
~
~211~~-'-''-'-'-~'-1I-'-'-r-r-r.-'-'-'-,,-.
"z
i~~\ I 00111111111111 ttlil
...
-
(P -0-).
t2 11"3
a3
E
2
]
:;
11
3{J-v'lV
...
...
'" =>
t;
-1.0
-0.&
0
O.!i
1.0
I
I
i
!
i
~ 1°8.01
(i)
0.1
,0
CR~CK
VOLUME, ec
FIG. I-SKETCH OF AN UNRESTRICTED FRACTURE WITH
FIG. 2-SKETCH OF PORTLAND CEMENT MODEL AND THE
GEOMETRY PREDICTED BY THE ELASTIC THEORY.
CRACK PRESSURE·VOLUME RELATIONSHIP.
938
JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY
The values of Poisson's ratios for rocks reported in
the literature""ao range from about 0,05 to 0.25. Since
the minimum fracture extension pressure is not very
sensitive to changes in Poisson's ratio, the use of an
average value of 0.15 appears justified.
Young's moduli for rocks vary over a much broader
range. Elastic moduli are influenced by the type of
rock, porosity and average stress. Table 1 gives ranges
of moduli that appear to be in agreement with most
literature data.
2
,4,30
the fracture. The fluid pressure at the leading edge of
the crack is nearly equal to the opposing earth stress.
(The pressure in excess of the earth stress at the
leading edge of the crack is usually negligible, as we
have just seen in the previous section; therefore, it
is taken as zero in the remainder of this paper.) This
is shown conceptually on Fig. 4. (A similar sketch
could be drawn for a horizontal fracture.) Operating
conditions which lead to high pressure drop along the
crack (such as high injection rates and viscous fluids)
will result in relatively wide cracks. Conversely, operat
ing conditions which lead to low pressure drop (low
injection rates and thin fluids) will result in relatively
narrow cracks.
There is a paucity of surface energy data for rocks.
The U.S. Bureau of Mines" has reported some of the
best data. They report a value of 0.0265 ft-Ib/sq in. for
the surface energy of quartz crystals and 0.00613 ft-Ib/
sq in. for the surface energy of calcite crystals
(CaCO,).
Since crack widths are controlled by pressure drop
in the crack, we must consider several controlling
situations. In this paper, we will discuss the following
cases.
The apparent surface energy during fracturing prob
ably corresponds to the surface energy of the cement
ing material and quartz grains actually fractured. Be
cause of the porous nature of rock, however, the new
surface actually created during cleavage is less than
1 sq in./sq in. of fracture surface. Hence, the apparent
1. Vertically oriented, vertically restricted fractures
-includes crack widths resulting: (a) from Newtonian
fluids flowing along the crack in laminar flow; (b)
from Newtonian fluid flowing along the crack in
turbulent flow; (c) from non-Newtonian fluids flowing
surface energy during typical fracturing is estimated
along the crack in laminar flow; and (d) when a large
to be not more than 0.01 ft-Ib/sq in. and perhaps
much less.
amount of sand in the fracture restricts fluid flow and
thereby increases pressure drop along the fracture.
2. Horizontally oriented, axially symmetrical frac
tures resulting from Newtonian fluids in laminar flow
includes: (a) fractures deep within the earth; and (b)
very shallow fractures.
The minimum pressures needed to extend an average
fracture can now be estimated. Let us take a simplified
case of an axially symmetrical fracture (a penny-shaped
crack). Assume that the following properties are typi
cal: E = 4 X 10
6
psi, a = 0.01 ft-Ib/sq in. (or less) and
There are, of course, other conditions which could
v = 0.15.
The minimum fracture extension pressure can be
be considered. However, we believe that these cases will
cover most situations and generally will show the be
havior to be expected. (For instance, widths of un
restricted vertical fractures will be about the same as
for horizontal fractures of the same size.)
calculated from Eq. 1, and the corresponding maximum
crack width at the wellbore can be calculated from Eq.
4. Eq. 4 is derived by Sneddon" for th