Modeling simultaneous initiation and propagation of multiple hydraulic fractures under subcritical conditions

Lu, Guanyi; Gordeliy, Elizaveta; Prioul, Romain; Aidagulov, Gallyam; Bunger, Andrew P.

doi:10.1016/j.compgeo.2018.08.008

Cited by 19 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…A combination of horizontal drilling and multi-stage hydraulic fracturing is an important means for shale gas production [9,16,59,60]. While published work shows that shale hydration would trigger water uptake and wellbore instability due to complex physicochemical processes [54,55], the existing accounts fail to fully acknowledge the significance of shale anisotropy on water uptake and wellbore instability, typically under in situ reservoir temperature and an elevated pressure.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, Nicot and Scanlon [11,12] conclude that up to 80% of hydraulic fluids remain underground after hydraulic fracturing in the Eagle Ford shale reservoir. Published works show that this large amount of fluid loss is associated with fluid-rock interaction such as hydration of clay minerals [13,14], capillary pressure [13,15,16] and osmotic flow [17,18]. Binazadeh et al [14] quantified the effect of solution ionic strength on clay hydration.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Their results indicate that high osmotic pressure likely takes place in shales due to the considerable salinity difference between in situ brine and slick water, which would promote water imbibition and oil counter-current flow. All these mechanisms imply that spontaneous imbibition associated with fluid-shale interaction and capillary forces governs hydraulic fracturing fluids loss [9,13,15,16,[19][20][21].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effect of Shale Anisotropy on Hydration and Its Implications for Water Uptake

Zeng

Jin

et al. 2019

Energies

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Water uptake induced by fluid–rock interaction plays a significant role in the recovery of flowback water during hydraulic fracturing. However, the existing accounts fail to fully acknowledge the significance of shale anisotropy on water uptake typically under in situ reservoir temperature. Thus we investigated the shale-hydration anisotropy using two sets of shale samples from the Longmaxi Formation in Sichuan Basin, China, which are designated to imbibe water parallel and perpendicular to shale bedding planes. All the samples were immersed in distilled water for one to five days at 80 °C or 120 °C. Furthermore, samples’ topographical and elemental variations before and after hydration were quantified using energy-dispersive spectroscopy–field-emission scanning electron microscopy. Our results show that shale anisotropy and imbibition time strongly affect the width of pre-existing micro-fracture in hydrated samples. For imbibition parallel to lamination, the width of pre-existing micro-fracture initially decreases and leads to crack-healing. Subsequently, the crack surfaces slightly collapse and the micro-fracture width is enlarged. In contrast, imbibition perpendicular to lamination does not generate new micro-fracture. Our results imply that during the flowback process of hydraulic fracturing fluid, the shale permeability parallel to bedding planes likely decreases first then increases, thereby promoting the water uptake.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effect of Shale Anisotropy on Hydration and Its Implications for Water Uptake

Zeng

Jin

et al. 2019

Energies

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“…Extensive research has been conducted in the area of hydraulic fracturing mechanisms [19][20][21][22][23]. Deng et al [24] studied the entire hydraulic failure process, including hydraulic fracture initiation and crack propagation through true triaxial testing and a finite element numerical simulation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigation into Influences of Hydraulic Fracturing for Hard Rock Weakening in Underground Mines

Cao,

Wu,

2024

Applied Sciences

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The long overhanging distance of hard roofs and long-collapse steps induces a large area of suspension on the working face in underground coal mines, resulting in excessive pressure and deformation on the surrounding rocks of the adjacent roadway in the work face, which seriously threatens the safety of coal mining operations. In this study, in order to study the hydraulic fracturing effects on hard roofs, numerical simulation and in situ tests were conducted. The analysis and comparison of fracturing effects under different hydraulic fracturing parameters were carried out, and the reasonable hydraulic fracturing parameters of the hydraulic weakening of hard roofs were designed accordingly. Based on designed hydraulic fracturing, industrial tests were conducted in the field while stress and deformation were recorded. The results show that hydraulic fracturing could effectively reduce the pressure of the hard roof. Hydraulic fracturing effectively destroyed the cantilever beam structure above the coal pillar, reduced the stress concentration, and moderated mineral pressure at the working face. The proposed methods and obtained results provide theoretical and technical support for the treatment of underground mines with hard roofs.

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“…However, this long-recognized characteristic of rock failure has only recently been considered in solving the problem of hydraulic fracturing (HF) initiation, which has implications for the effectiveness of HF in challenging formations where breakdown cannot be achieved with typical limits on pumping equipment. It is also argued by Bunger and Lu (2015) as one of the fundamental mechanisms for simultaneous generation of multiple hydraulic fractures, with the potential to significantly impact the propagation of the fractures, especially in early stage of the HF growth (Lu et al, 2017;Lu, Gordeliy, et al, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Time‐Dependent Hydraulic Fracture Initiation

Gordeliy

Prioul

et al. 2020

JGR Solid Earth

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Rocks are known to fail in a time‐dependent manner similar to many brittle and quasi‐brittle materials. However, observed time dependence of hydraulic fracture initiation has ubiquitously been attributed to fluid flow‐related mechanisms without consideration of the intrinsic time dependence of rock failure. Laboratory delayed hydraulic fracturing breakdown experiments on three rocks (granite, sandstone, and limestone) show sensitivity to rock properties associated with subcritical crack growth as well as fluid viscosity and ambient confining pressure applied to the specimens. A new hydraulic fracture initiation model accounting for subcritical crack growth and fluid flow in a poroelastic medium, as well as the additional energy dissipation required for fluid flow in the rough fracture tip, is then used to estimate the value of the subcritical index n based on characterization experiments. Given this characterization data, the model is shown to be capable of predicting time‐dependent hydraulic fracture initiation with variation of fluid viscosity and confining stress.

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Modeling simultaneous initiation and propagation of multiple hydraulic fractures under subcritical conditions

Cited by 19 publications

References 26 publications

Effect of Shale Anisotropy on Hydration and Its Implications for Water Uptake

Effect of Shale Anisotropy on Hydration and Its Implications for Water Uptake

Investigation into Influences of Hydraulic Fracturing for Hard Rock Weakening in Underground Mines

Time‐Dependent Hydraulic Fracture Initiation

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