Fracture Closure Stress
Fracture Closure Stress (FCS) is based on the concept that the wellbore is held together due to the built-in stresses within the wellbore. The overburden pressure and pore pressure laterally translate into creating these stresses. FCS describes the mechanism of how the fracture in a wellbore initiates and propagates. Whenever the pressure inside the wellbore exceeds the stress holding the wellbore closed which is the ‘Fracture Closure Stress’, the fracture will initiate and propagate.