Near-Wellbore Hydraulic Fracture Non-Planar Propagation and Torturous Morphology in Tight Sandstone Formation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruxin Zhang ◽  
Qinglin Shan ◽  
Wan Cheng
Keyword(s):  
Stress Distribution ◽  
Fracture Initiation ◽  
Damage Mechanism ◽  
Fracture Morphology ◽  
Propagation Model ◽  
Hydraulic Fractures ◽  
Tight Sandstone ◽  
Propagation Behavior ◽  
Stress Shadow ◽  
Sandstone Formation

Abstract In this paper, a 3D near-wellbore fracture propagation model is established, integrating five parts: formation stress balance, drilling, casing and cementing, perforating, and fracturing, in order to investigate fracture initiation characteristics, near-wellbore fracture non-planar propagation behavior, and torturous hydraulic fracture morphology for cased and perforated horizontal wellbores in tight sandstone formation. The method is based on the combination of finite element method and post-failure damage mechanism. Finite element method is used to determine the coupling behavior between the pore fluid seepage and rock stress distribution. Post-failure damage mechanism is adopted to test the evolution of hydraulic fractures through simulating rock damage process. Moreover, a user subroutine is introduced to establish the relation between rock strength, permeability, and damage, in order to solve the model. This model could simulate the interaction between fractures during their propagation process because of the stress shadow. The simulation results indicate that each operation could cause redistribution and reorientation of near-wellbore stress. Therefore, it is important to know the real near-wellbore stress distribution that affects near-wellbore fracture initiation and propagation. Initially, hydraulic fractures initiate independently from each perforation and propagate along the direction of maximum horizontal stress. However, hydraulic fractures divert from original direction gradually to interconnect and overlap with each other, because of stress shadow, resulting in non-planar propagation behavior. Individual fractures coalesce into a spiral-shaped fracture morphology. In addition, a longitudinal fracture could be observed because of wellbore effect, which is a result of weak cementing strength or near-wellbore weak plane. Finally, the complex and torturous fracture morphologies are created near the wellbore, incorporating Multi-spiral shaped fracture and horizontal-vertical crossing shaped fracture. However, the propagation behavior of fracture far away from wellbore is controlled by in-situ stress, forming a planar fracture. The highlights of this 3D near-wellbore fracture propagation model are following: 1) it considers near-wellbore stress change caused by each construction to ensure the accuracy of near-wellbore stress distribution; 2) it achieves 3D simulation of fracture initiation and near-wellbore propagation from perforations; 3) the interaction between fractures is involved, resulting in complex and torturous morphology. This model provides the theoretical basis for fracture initiation and propagation, which also could be applied into heterogenous formations considering the effect of discontinuities.

scholarly journals A multi-perforation staged fracturing experimental study on hydraulic fracture initiation and propagation

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (6) ◽  
pp. 2466-2484
Author(s):  
Jianguang Wei ◽  
Saipeng Huang ◽  
Guangwei Hao ◽  
Jiangtao Li ◽  
Xiaofeng Zhou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hydraulic Fracturing ◽  
Hydraulic Fracture ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Fracture Initiation ◽  
Fracture Network ◽  
Hydraulic Fractures ◽  
Breakdown Pressure ◽  
Tight Sandstone ◽  
Heterogeneous Samples ◽  
Initiation And Propagation

Hydraulic fracture initiation and propagation are extremely important on deciding the production capacity and are crucial for oil and gas exploration and development. Based on a self-designed system, multi-perforation cluster-staged fracturing in thick tight sandstone reservoir was simulated in the laboratory. Moreover, the technology of staged fracturing during casing completion was achieved by using a preformed perforated wellbore. Three hydraulic fracturing methods, including single-perforation cluster fracturing, multi-perforation cluster conventional fracturing and multi-perforation cluster staged fracturing, were applied and studied, respectively. The results clearly indicate that the hydraulic fractures resulting from single-perforation cluster fracturing are relatively simple, which is difficult to form fracture network. In contrast, multi-perforation cluster-staged fracturing has more probability to produce complex fractures including major fracture and its branched fractures, especially in heterogeneous samples. Furthermore, the propagation direction of hydraulic fractures tends to change in heterogeneous samples, which is more likely to form a multi-directional hydraulic fracture network. The fracture area is greatly increased when the perforation cluster density increases in multi-perforation cluster conventional fracturing and multi-perforation cluster-staged fracturing. Moreover, higher perforation cluster densities and larger stage numbers are beneficial to hydraulic fracture initiation. The breakdown pressure in homogeneous samples is much higher than that in heterogeneous samples during hydraulic fracturing. In addition, the time of first fracture initiation has the trend that the shorter the initiation time is, the higher the breakdown pressure is. The results of this study provide meaningful suggestions for enhancing the production mechanism of multi-perforation cluster staged fracturing.

Research on hydraulic fracture initiation and vertical propagation behavior in laminated tight formation

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
anan wu
Keyword(s):  
Hydraulic Fracture ◽  
Vertical Plane ◽  
Fracture Initiation ◽  
Bedding Plane ◽  
Vertical Stress ◽  
Hydraulic Fractures ◽  
Research Knowledge ◽  
Propagation Behavior ◽  
Vertical Propagation ◽  
Tight Formation

<p>Research on hydraulic fracture initiation and vertical propagation</p><p>behavior in laminated tight formation</p><p>Anan Wu<sup>1</sup>, Bing Hou<sup>*1</sup>, Fei Gao<sup>2</sup>，Yifan Dai<sup>1</sup>，Mian Chen<sup>1</sup></p><ul><li>(1. State Key Laboratory of Petroleum Resources and Engineering, China University of Petroleum-Beijing, Beijing, China No.1 Cementing Company, Bohai Drilling Engineering Company Limited, CNPC, China. Renqiu,062550)</li> </ul><p> </p><p><strong>Abstract: </strong>The extent of hydraulic fracture vertical propagation extent is important in evaluating simulated reservoir volume for laminated tight reservoirs. Given that it is affected by the discontinuities (beddings, natural fractures, and other factors), fracture geometry is complex in the vertical plane and is different from a simple fracture in a homogeneous formation. Because the tight formation bedding is very developed, hydraulic fracture is difficult to spread vertically. Now,the propagation mechanism of hydraulic fracture in the vertical plane has not been well understood. To clarify this mechanism, several groups of large-scale tri-axial tests were deployed in this study to investigate the fracture initiation and vertical propagation behavior in laminated tight formation. The influences of multiple factors on fracture vertical propagation were studied.</p><p>we carried out the indoor hadraulic fracturing physical simulation experiments of the bedding-developed rocks. Tight cores obtained from the core well were wrapped with cement into 30 cm cubes, and samples were drilled and cemented. Before the experiment ,three-dimensional axial stress was applied to simulate the stratigraphic environment. When the stress was balanced, a certain flowing rate was set for hadraulic fracturing. After the fracturing work was completed, the cement block was opened to observe the hydraulic fracture propagation pattern.</p><p>The results showed that the ultimate fracture geometries could be classified into three categories: simple bedding fracture, slight turning fracture, stair-like fracture, and multilateral fishbone-like fracture network. Here comes some research knowledge:(1)When the difference between the vertical stress and the minimum horizontal principal stress is less than 12Mpa, the hydraulic fracture will only expand along the rock bedding plane Furthermore. (2)when the vertical stress difference is close to 14 MPa, hydraulic fractures will generate vertical fractures that will communicate multiple beddings of the rock. (3)Increasing flowing rate will cause a slight turning or jumping fractures and improve the complexity of fractures to a certain extent. (4)because of the influence of beddings and lithology,the fracture pressure is usually high.</p><p><strong>Key words:</strong> Hydraulic fracturing, tight reversior Bedding plane, fracture morphology.</p>

scholarly journals Study on Propagation Behaviors of Hydraulic Fracture Network in Tight Sandstone Formation with Closed Cemented Natural Fractures

Geofluids ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Jun Zhang ◽  
Yu-Wei Li ◽  
Wei Li ◽  
Zi-Jie Chen ◽  
Yuan Zhao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hydraulic Fracturing ◽  
Hydraulic Fracture ◽  
Fracture Network ◽  
In Situ Stress ◽  
Injection Rate ◽  
Fluid Viscosity ◽  
Tight Sandstone ◽  
Propagation Behavior ◽  
Sandstone Formation

Natural fractures in tight sandstone formation play a significant role in fracture network generation during hydraulic fracturing. This work presents an experimental model of tight sandstone with closed cemented preexisting fractures. The influence of closed cemented fractures’ (CCF) directions on the propagation behavior of hydraulic fracture (HF) is studied based on the hydraulic fracturing experiment. A field-scaled numerical model used to simulate the propagation of HF is established based on the flow-stress-damage (FSD) coupled method. This model contains the discrete fracture network (DFN) generated by the Monte-Carlo method and is used to investigate the effects of CCFs’ distribution, CCFs’ strength, and in-situ stress anisotropy, injection rate, and fluid viscosity on the propagation behavior of fracture network. The results show that the distribution direction of CCFs is critical for the formation of complex HFs. When the angle between the horizontal maximum principal stress direction and the CCFs is in the range of 30° to 60°, the HF network is the most complex. There are many kinds of compound fracture propagation patterns, such as crossing, branching, and deflection. The increase of CCFs’ strength is not conducive to the generation of branched and deflected fractures. When the in-situ stress difference ranges from 3 MPa to 6 MPa, the HF network’s complexity and propagation range can be guaranteed simultaneously. The increase in the injection rate will promote the formation of the complex HF network. The proper increase of fracturing fluid viscosity can promote HF’s propagation. However, when the viscosity is too high, the complex HFs only appear around the wellbore. The research results can provide new insights for the hydraulic fracturing optimization design of naturally fractured tight sandstone formation.

scholarly journals Numerical Investigation of Hydraulic Fracture Extension Based on the Meshless Method

Geofluids ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Chaoneng Zhao ◽  
Yongquan Hu ◽  
Jinzhou Zhao ◽  
Qiang Wang ◽  
Pei He ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hydraulic Fracture ◽  
Fracture Propagation ◽  
Propagation Model ◽  
Propagation Path ◽  
Hydraulic Fractures ◽  
Stress Inversion ◽  
Stress Shadow ◽  
Single Well ◽  
Hydraulic Fracture Propagation ◽  
Element Free

The fracture propagation in hydraulic fracturing is described as a nonlinear problem dynamic boundary. Due to the limitation of mesh refinement, it is difficult to obtain the real crack propagation path using conventional numerical methods. Meshless methods (MMs) are an effective method to eliminate the dependence on the computational grid in the simulation of fracture propagation. In this paper, a hydraulic fracture propagation model is established based on the element-free Galerkin (EFG) method by introducing jump and branch enrichment functions. Based on the proposed method, three types of fracturing technology are investigated. The results reveal that the stress interference between fractures has an important impact on the propagation path. For the codirectional fracturing simultaneously, fractures propagate in a repel direction. However, the new fracture is attracted and eventually trapped by the adjacent fracture in the sequential fracturing case. For the opposite simultaneous fracturing in multiwells, two fractures with a certain lateral spacing will deflect toward each other. The effect of stress shadow should be used rationally in the optimization of construction parameters; for the single well multistage fracturing, the stage spacing should be out of stress inversion area, while for the simultaneous fracturing of multiple wells, stress inversion zones should be used to maximize communication between natural fractures. Overall, this study establishes a novel and effective approach of using MM to simulate the propagation of hydraulic fractures, which can serve as a useful reference for understanding the mechanism of hydraulic fracture propagation under various conditions.

scholarly journals Research and Application of Radial Borehole Fracturing Based on Numerical Simulation

Geofluids ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Xiaolong Li ◽  
Jiayuan He
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Simulation ◽  
Principal Stress ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Physical Simulation ◽  
Fracture Initiation ◽  
Damage Mechanism ◽  
Fracture Morphology ◽  
Maximum Principal Stress ◽  
Maximum Energy ◽  
Secondary Fracture

The radial borehole fracturing technology has been applied in a certain number of oilfields with good results being achieved. However, the morphology and variation of fracture still require further study. In this paper, the reservoir model based on formation fluid-solid coupling equation is established with the extended finite element method (XFEM) in ABAQUS, and the fracture morphologies in the single-radial borehole, vertical multiradial borehole, and horizontal multiradial borehole are simulated and analyzed with criteria of maximum principal stress and maximum energy release rate as the damage mechanism. Moreover, the accuracy of numerical simulation results is verified with the large-scale true 3D physical simulation experiment. The results show that the induced stress field along the radial borehole during fracturing is the root cause of fracture directional propagation along the radial borehole whose effective guidance distance reaches 40 m. The vertical multiradial borehole can effectively enhance fracture directional propagation and is capable of reducing fracture initiation pressure. In the horizontal multiradial borehole, the major fracture propagating along each radial borehole is formed in the remote-borehole area, and the secondary fracture connecting the neighboring radial boreholes is formed in the near-borehole zone. Coordination of major and secondary fractures can effectively increase the drainage area and reduce the flow resistance in the near-borehole zone. Based on the research on fracture morphology of multiradial borehole fracturing, the scheme of radial borehole arrangement is optimized and verified through numerical simulation of deliverability. The final optimum borehole arrangement scheme is the intersectional angle of 45° between four orthogonal radial boreholes and horizontal maximum principal stress.

scholarly journals Fully three-dimensional propagation model of horizontal borehole hydraulic fractures in strata under the effect of bedding planes

2018 ◽  
Vol 36 (5) ◽  
pp. 1189-1209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bingxiang Huang ◽  
Jiangwei Liu
Keyword(s):  
Hydraulic Fracturing ◽  
Hydraulic Fracture ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Fracture Morphology ◽  
Bedding Plane ◽  
Propagation Model ◽  
Tensile Failure ◽  
Propagation Mechanism ◽  
Hydraulic Fractures ◽  
Bedding Planes

The bedding plane effect will occur when hydraulic fractures propagate to the bedding plane in sedimentary strata, resulting in the “≠,” “工,” or “/” shaped fracture morphology. Based on previous physical experiments results, this article analyzed the mecroscopic propagation mechanism of tensile failure and the mechanical conditions for main hydraulic fracture and the bedding plane fracture propagating, proposing the criteria for hydraulic fracture to penetrate through the bedding plane. A fully three-dimensional model of hydraulic fracture morphology in horizontal borehole hydraulic fracturing is established with the vertical water flow, water leak-off, and bedding plane effect taken into consideration. Basic equations of continuity, pressure decline, hydraulic fracture morphology, and others are solved. After that, true triaxial hydraulic fracturing experiments with samples containing bedding planes are conducted to verify the aperture, length, width, and height of hydraulic fractures in this model. The model is proved to be accurate and reliable.

scholarly journals The Effect of Perforation Spacing on the Variation of Stress Shadow

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (13) ◽  
pp. 4040
Author(s):  
Weige Han ◽  
Zhendong Cui ◽  
Zhengguo Zhu
Keyword(s):  
Compressive Stress ◽  
Reservoir Rock ◽  
Hydraulic Fractures ◽  
Extended Finite Element ◽  
Gas Reservoir ◽  
Fracture Length ◽  
Shadow Effect ◽  
Stress Shadow ◽  
Initiation Pressure ◽  
Small Perforation

When the shale gas reservoir is fractured, stress shadows can cause reorientation of hydraulic fractures and affect the complexity. To reveal the variation of stress shadow with perforation spacing, the numerical model between different perforation spacing was simulated by the extended finite element method (XFEM). The variation of stress shadows was analyzed from the stress of two perforation centers, the fracture path, and the ratio of fracture length to spacing. The simulations showed that the reservoir rock at the two perforation centers is always in a state of compressive stress, and the smaller the perforation spacing, the higher the maximum compressive stress. Moreover, the compressive stress value can directly reflect the size of the stress shadow effect, which changes with the fracture propagation. When the fracture length extends to 2.5 times the perforation spacing, the stress shadow effect is the strongest. In addition, small perforation spacing leads to backward-spreading of hydraulic fractures, and the smaller the perforation spacing, the greater the deflection degree of hydraulic fractures. Additionally, the deflection angle of the fracture decreases with the expansion of the fracture. Furthermore, the perforation spacing has an important influence on the initiation pressure, and the smaller the perforation spacing, the greater the initiation pressure. At the same time, there is also a perforation spacing which minimizes the initiation pressure. However, when the perforation spacing increases to a certain value (the result of this work is about 14 m), the initiation pressure will not change. This study will be useful in guiding the design of programs in simultaneous fracturing.

Utilizing Microseismic to Monitor Fracture Geometry in a Horizontal Well in a Tight Sandstone Formation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abu M. Sani ◽  
Hatim S. AlQasim ◽  
Rayan A. Alidi
Keyword(s):  
Horizontal Well ◽  
Fracture Propagation ◽  
Horizontal Stress ◽  
Height Growth ◽  
Tight Sandstone ◽  
Fracture Geometry ◽  
Fracture Length ◽  
Sandstone Formation ◽  
Fracture Height ◽  
Maximum Horizontal Stress

Abstract This paper presents the use of real-time microseismic (MS) monitoring to understand hydraulic fracturing of a horizontal well drilled in the minimum stress direction within a high-temperature high-pressure (HTHP) tight sandstone formation. The well achieved a reservoir contact of more than 3,500 ft. Careful planning of the monitoring well and treatment well setup enabled capture of high quality MS events resulting in useful information on the regional maximum horizontal stress and offers an understanding of the fracture geometry with respect to clusters and stage spacing in relation to fracture propagation and growth. The maximum horizontal stress based on MS events was found to be different from the expected value with fracture azimuth off by more than 25 degree among the stages. Transverse fracture propagation was observed with overlapping MS events across stages. Upward fracture height growth was dominant in tighter stages. MS fracture length and height in excess of 500 ft and 100 ft, respectively, were created for most of the stages resulting in stimulated volumes that are high. Bigger fracture jobs yielded longer fracture length and were more confined in height growth. MS events fracture lengths and heights were found to be on average 1.36 and 1.30 times, respectively, to those of pressure-match.

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