By
Learning Outcomes
At the end of this lecture, students should be able to:
Hydraulic Fracturing
Hydraulic fracturing is an appropriate well-stimulation
technique for wells in low- and moderate- permeability
formations that do not provide commercial production
rates even when there is no damage or the damaged has
been removed by acidizing treatments.
Truck-mounted pumps
Blenders
Fluid tanks
Proppant tanks
Dr Aliyu Adebayo Sulaimon
SURFACE SYMPHONY
Equipment Layout
Fracturing
fluid
Proppant
Blender
Pumper
Pad/Fracture
Figure 2: Equipment layout in hydraulic fracturing treatments
Fracturing Stages
There are two stages:
Pad Stage
Only fracturing fluid is injected to fracture and
create a pad
Slurry Stage
Mixture of fracturing fluid/proppant is injected to
fill the fracture
Note:
The proppant should have enough compressive
strength to resist formation stress.
Dr Aliyu Adebayo Sulaimon
Fracturing Stages
Fracturing Stages
Fracturing Stages
Reservoir temperature
Reservoir pressure
The expected value of fracture half-length
Water sensitivity
Dr Aliyu Adebayo Sulaimon
Fracturing Fluids
Table 1
Source:
Economides, M.J.
and Nolte, K.G. 2000.
Reservoir
Stimulation, third
edition. New York:
John Wiley & Sons.
Cross-linkers
Figure 8: Proppant selection based on closure pressure (Source: Economides.& Nolte, 2000)
Figure 9: Effective stress on the propping agent. (Source: Economides.& Nolte, 2000)
By calibrating the 2D model with field results, the 2D models can be used
to make design changes and improve the success of stimulation treatments.
If the correct fracture height value is used in a 2D model, the model will give
reasonable estimates of created fracture length and width if other
parameters, such as in-situ stress, Youngs modulus, formation permeability,
and total leak-off coefficient, are also reasonably known and used.
Fracture Geometry
Data Sources
Table 2
Source: http://petrowiki.org/File%3AVol4prt_Page_327_Image_0001.png
Fracture Mechanics
In petroleum engineering, fracture mechanics theories have been
used for more than 50 years.
Rock fracture mechanics is about understanding what will happen to
the rocks in the subsurface when subjected to fracture stress.
Poro-elastic theory is often used to estimate the minimum horizontal
stress.
The important parameters to consider in hydraulic fracturing are:
Youngs modulus.
Poissons ratio, and
Fracture toughness
In situ stress,
Dr Aliyu Adebayo Sulaimon
Young s modulus:
If the modulus is large, the material is stiff; a stiff rock results in more
narrow fractures.
Fracture Mechanics
Fracture Mechanics
Effective stress concept suggests that pore pressure (Pp) helps
counteract the mechanical stress carried through grain-to-grain
contact.
Effective stress: is defined as the total stress minus the pore pressure.
The efficiency of the Pp effect is measured by poro-elastic factor (Biots
constant), .
()
where
effective stress
Fracture Mechanics
where
Bulk compressibility
Poissons ratio
Youngs modulus
()
where
Fracture Mechanics
Fracture Toughness, KIC:
It is a property that reflects the rocks resistance for an existing
fracture to propagate for a given fracture mode.
The following are correlations between fracture toughness and
tensile strength, T, fracture radius and net pressure (R & P ),
Youngs modulus, E, and compressive strength, Co :
where
Fracture Mechanics
Shlyapobersky et al, 1988:
()
where
= ,
ISIP
, =
(5)
Fracture Mechanics
Whittaker et al, 1992:
= . + . ;
()
= . + . ;
()
= . + . ;
()
Example 1
Sand and shale samples were laboratory-tested for tensile strength and
fracture toughness with the following results:
Formation
Sand
845
553
Shale
1155
784
For Shale:
= . .
= . .
Dr Aliyu Adebayo Sulaimon
Assignment
Question 1:
Use the data provided in Table 1 to estimate the fracture toughness for each
of the lithologies shown. Calculate the Youngs modulus that would give the
same fracture toughness as calculated in the example problem.
Question 2:
Table A shows selected values of fracture toughness that were determined
experimentally for chalk, limestone and sandstone samples. Analyze in
detail, the difficulty of matching fracturing pressure on the basis of fracture
toughness measured under unconfined conditions.
Assignment
TABLE A: Selected values of fracture toughness
Rock Type
Confining Pressure
(MPa)
Experimental
(MPa in)
Chalk
0.00
0.73
Chalk
24.13
2.22
Chalk
48.26
2.33
Limestone
0.00
1.44
Limestone
24.13
2.12
Limestone
48.26
4.92
Sandstone
0.00
1.36
Sandstone
24.13
2.62
Sandstone
48.26
4.96
Questions?