Predictions of the Growth of Multiple Interacting Hydraulic Fractures in Three Dimensions

Castonguay, Stephen T.; Mear, Mark E.; Dean, Rick; Schmidt, Joseph H.

doi:10.2118/166259-ms

Cited by 53 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…The significant consequences of multifracture treatments are stress-shadow effects that lead to complex fracture geometry and fracture-width restriction. Fracture geometry can be further complicated by preexisting natural fractures in shale-gas reservoirs (Gale et al 2007;Olson 2008;Chong et al 2010), which is not the focus of this work but which will be discussed in a future publication. To optimize multiple-fracture treatments, characterization of the fracture geometry is very necessary.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Wong and Xu (2013) modeled multiple-fracture propagation in horizontal wells with mechanical interaction through the boundary integral formulation. Castonguay et al (2013) implemented the weakly singular, symmetric Galerkin boundary-element method to calculate fracture geometry, in which flow in the fracture is modeled as power-law fluid flow in the arbitrary curved channels. Nagel et al (2011) proposed a discrete-element model, in which the discrete-fracture network consists of planar, finite fractures in three dimensions that bound intervening rigid or deformable reservoir blocks.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Simultaneous Multifracture Treatments: Fully Coupled Fluid Flow and Fracture Mechanics for Horizontal Wells

2014

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Successfully creating multiple hydraulic fractures in horizontal wells is critical for unconventional gas production economically. Optimizing the stimulation of these wells will require models that can account for the simultaneous propagation of multiple, potentially nonplanar, fractures.In this paper, a novel fracture-propagation model (FPM) is described that can simulate multiple-hydraulic-fracture propagation from a horizontal wellbore. The model couples fracture deformation with fluid flow in the fractures and the horizontal wellbore. The displacement discontinuity method (DDM) is used to represent the mechanics of the fractures and their opening, including interaction effects between closely spaced fractures. Fluid flow in the fractures is determined by the lubrication theory. Frictional pressure drop in the wellbore and perforation zones is taken into account by applying Kirchoff's first and second laws. The fluid-flow rates and pressure compatibility are maintained between the wellbore and the multiple fractures with Newton's numerical method. The model generates physically realistic multiple-fracture geometries and nonplanar-fracture trajectories that are consistent with physical-laboratory results and inferences drawn from microseismic diagnostic interpretations.One can use the simulation results of the FPM for sensitivity analysis of in-situ and fracture treatment parameters for shale-gas stimulation design. They provide a physics-based complex fracture network that one can import into reservoir-simulation models for production analysis. Furthermore, the results from the model can highlight conditions under which restricted width occurs that could lead to proppant screenout.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Simultaneous Multifracture Treatments: Fully Coupled Fluid Flow and Fracture Mechanics for Horizontal Wells

2014

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“…Several of these methods have been extended to allow for interaction with heterogeneities in the reservoir (Weng et al 2011;Sesetty and Ghassemi 2012;McClure and Horne 2013;Wu and Olson 2013;McClure et al 2015). Castonguay et al (2013) developed a boundary element method for modeling the competitive growth of cracks in an elastic domain. Their model was based on a single fracture model developed earlier (Rungamornrat et al 2005) and was able to generate three dimensional growth of competing fractures.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strategies for Effective Stimulation of Multiple Perforation Clusters in Horizontal Wells

Manchanda

Bryant

Bhardwaj

et al. 2016

Day 1 Tue, February 09, 2016

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Increasing the efficiency of completions in horizontal wells is an important concern in the oil and gas industry. To decrease the number of fracturing stages per well it is common practice to use multiple clusters per stage. This is done with the hope that most of the clusters in the stage will be effectively stimulated. Diagnostic evidence, however, suggests that in many cases only 1 or 2 clusters out of 4 or 5 clusters in a stage are effectively stimulated.In this paper strategies to maximize the number of effectively stimulated perforation clusters are discussed. A fully 3-D poroelastic model that simulates the propagation of non-planar fractures in heterogeneous media is developed and used to model the propagation of multiple competing, fractures. A parametric study is first conducted to show how important fracture design variables such as limited entry perforations and cluster spacing; and formation parameters such as permeability, lateral and verical heterogeneity affect the growth of competing fractures. The effect of stress shadowing due to both mechanical and poroelastic effects is accounted for.3-D numerical simulations have been performed to show the impact of some operational and reservoir parameters on simultaneous competitive fracture propagation. It was found that an increase in stage spacing decreases the stress interference between propagating fractures and increases the number of propagating fractures in a stage. It was also found that an increase in reservoir permeability can decrease the stress interference between propagating fractures because of poro-elastic stress changes. A modest (about 25%) variability in reservoir mechanical properties along the wellbore is shown to be enough to alter the number of fractures created in a hydraulic fracturing stage and mask the effects of stress shadowing. Inter-stage fracture simulations show post-shutin fracture extension induced by stress interference from adjacent propagating fractures. The impact of poro-elasticity is highlighted for infill well fracture design and preferential fracture propagation towards depleted regions is clearly observed in multi-well pad fracture simulations.The results in this paper attempt to provide practitioners with a better understanding of multi-cluster fracturing dynamics. Based on these findings recommendations are made on how best to design fracture treatments that will not only lead to the successful placement of fluid and proppant in a single fracture, but in a set of fractures that are competing with each other for growth. The ability to successfully stimulate all perforation clusters is shown to be a function of key fracture design parameters.

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“…Similar work poroelastic media was also done by Bourdin et al (2012). Another common modeling approach is based on boundary element formulation (BEM), Castonguay et al (2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Pressurized-Fracture Propagation using a Phase-Field Approach Coupled to a Reservoir Simulator

2014

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Tight gas and shale oil play an important role in energy security and meeting an increasing energy demand. Hydrualic fracturing is a widely used technology for recovering these resources. Prediction of fracture growth during slick-water injection and final geometry for single and muti-stage hydraulic allows quantitative assessment of frac-job scenarios. A recently introduced phase-field approach for pressurized fractures in a porous medium offers various attractive computational features for numerical simulations of cracks such as joining, branching, and non-planar propagation for heterogeneous porous media. In this study, we employ the phase-field fracture propagation model is used as a pre-processor in order to couple it to a fractured poroelastic reservoir simulator. This offers the possibility to simulate the entire scenario from hydraulic fracturing to the production process. The proposed algorithm is based on a one-way coupling and is therefore easy to adapt to existing legacy reservoir simulators. The phase-field model can be seen as a fracture-well-model in the reservoir simulator. The key idea behind this strategy is the possibility to couple reservoir and fracture flow in the phase-field formulation from which we obtain an initial condition for the reservoir simulator. Our proposed framework is substantiated with several numerical tests in two-and three dimensions.

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Predictions of the Growth of Multiple Interacting Hydraulic Fractures in Three Dimensions

Cited by 53 publications

References 8 publications

Simultaneous Multifracture Treatments: Fully Coupled Fluid Flow and Fracture Mechanics for Horizontal Wells

Simultaneous Multifracture Treatments: Fully Coupled Fluid Flow and Fracture Mechanics for Horizontal Wells

Strategies for Effective Stimulation of Multiple Perforation Clusters in Horizontal Wells

Pressurized-Fracture Propagation using a Phase-Field Approach Coupled to a Reservoir Simulator

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