A lubrication fracture model in a poro-elastic medium

Abstract

We present a non-planar fracture model in a poro-elastic medium. The medium in which the fracture is embedded is governed by the standard Biot equations of linear poro-elasticity and the flow of the fluid within the fracture is governed by the lubrication equation. We establish existence and uniqueness of the linearized coupled system under weak assumptions on the data. Two discretizations of the problem are formulated: one with a continuous Galerkin method and one with a mixed method for the flow in the reservoir and in the fracture. We perform the numerical analysis of the former and we provide an algorithm and numerical experiments for the latter.