Flow and Effective Permeability in Dual-Supported Fractures: An Analytical Formulation Accounting for Wall and Interfacial Shear

· Dual-supported fractures can form during refracturing, when hydraulic fractures connect with cemented natural fractures, or through fines migration and deposition in natural fractures. · Flow in dual-supported fractures is influenced by the coupled effects of support-material resistance, wall shear from the fracture surfaces, and interfacial shear at the interface between the two support regions. · An analytical velocity-distribution solution is derived to describe flow behavior in dual-supported fractures, and an analytical effective-permeability formulation is developed and incorporated into Darcy’s law for subsurface flow modeling.