This paper provides an overview of the key mechanical problems of hydraulic fracturing process including rock deformation due to the fluid pressure on crack surfaces, crack initiation and propagation, fluid flow within cracks and their couplings. The fundamentals of the numerical methods for hydraulic fracturing are reviewed with their progress and development trend, for example, finite element method, discrete element method, boundary element method and other related numerical methods. These methods are analyzed and compared in terms of advantages and applicability.

hydraulic fracturing  /  numerical methods  /  fracture mechanics  /  crack propagation