Correction to Growth model for large branched three-dimensional hydraulic crack system in gas or oil shale (Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A (2016) 374 (20150418) 10.1098/rsta.2015.0418)

Recent reanalysis revealed that the branching indicated by the computer program in this article was, in fact, triggered by a programming glitch which caused an unintended abrupt change of Biot coefficient for transverse water pressure on the crack. This change suddenly increased the pressure on the solid phase and triggered dynamic response. Such a sudden trigger is probably unrealistic and requires correction. The correction nevertheless reveals a useful fact, namely that producing fluid pressure shocks within the cracks would locally stimulate branching. A partly revised model, which is based mostly on the mathematical formulation from this paper leads to crack branching similar to what is seen in the figures of this paper, has been published by Rahimi-Aghdam et al. [1].