For the first time in more than two years, the entire (almost!) ResFrac team gathered in Denver. We mixed education (thank you to our friends at Liberty Services for showing us the nuts and bolts of frac’ing)…… with fun.

We at ResFrac are coauthoring four papers at HFTC. The papers describe a parent/child case study performed with Devon in the SCOOP/STACK, our new automated history matching and economic optimization tools, a new crack propagation algorithm designed to improve numerical accuracy and handling of thin layers, and a modeling study on application of multistage hydraulic fracturing for geothermal energy extraction.

Flow rate is a major challenge for geothermal. However, the techniques used in shale to prevent flow localization can be applied directly to geothermal. If we can create hundreds or thousands of flowing fracture pathways around a horizontal or deviated geothermal well, then we will have truly “changed the game.” Read the article at the Journal of Petroleum Technology.

Three brave ResFrac riders took on the Triple Bypass rider in Colorado on August 21. The Triple Bypass is a famous Colorado ride stretching 110 miles and climbing 11,000 ft between Evergreen, CO and Vail, CO.  Egor Donstov, Janz Rondon, and Garrett Fowler rode this year, sporting ResFrac jerseys and lively Mongoose tattoos. While Egor and Garrett enjoyed the views, Janz powered up the climbs, finishing in eighth in a field of over 500 riders in the 40+ category.

Last month we held our third annual ResFrac Symposium, where users presented case studies and panel discussions on industry topics. This year’s lineup featured six operator-speakers as well as guests from the DOE and an independent consultant. We had several talks centered around core workflows enabled by teams using ResFrac: collecting data, facilitating multidisciplinary discussions, calibrating to field diagnostics, and performing economic optimization of prospective designs.

The team has been consistently busy over the last few months, but somehow along the way, our ResFrac Endurance team hasn’t stopped racing and training, setting and achieving goals. We have some race reports to share about the last few months of achievements. Join us in cheering for our ResFrac crew!

ResFrac is releasing Egor Dontsov’s new crack propagation algorithm, MuLTipEl, a major new development in the field of fracture modeling. The algorithm tracks the position of the crack tip within each crack element, giving us unlimited spatial resolution to handle propagation across thin layers, and enables high accuracy 3D crack propagation calculations, even if using a relatively coarse mesh and accounts for detailed layering and heterogeneity of the formation.