Evaluating different energized fracturing fluids using an integrated equation-of-state compositional hydraulic fracturing and reservoir simulator

Complex Fluids and Hydraulic Fracturing.

Nearly 70 years old, hydraulic fracturing is a core technique for stimulating hydrocarbon production in a majority of oil and gas reservoirs. Complex fluids are implemented in nearly every step of the fracturing process, most significantly to generate and sustain fractures and transport and distribute proppant particles during and following fluid injection. An extremely wide range of complex fl...

A variational hydraulic fracturing model coupled to a reservoir simulator

A variational fracture model coupled to an external reservoir simulator through variable exchange is presented. While convergence is not optimal without Jacobian matrices with which fully coupling can provide, the presented coupling scheme is versatile enough that the reservoir simulator could be easily replaced with any other simulator. A variational approach to fracture is introduced first by...

Hydraulic and Pneumatic Fracturing

An institutional theory of hydraulic fracturing policy

a r t i c l e i n f o The use of high-volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing (fracking) has increased substantially over the past five years in the United States. Use of this drilling technology to extract natural gas from hitherto impermeable shale is expected to increase even more in coming decades. Two institutions, integration contracts and well spacing requirements, evolved to mitigate the...

Energy Analysis of Hydraulic Fracturing

In this paper, numerical simulations of circular boreholes under internal hydraulic pressure are carried out to investigate the energy transferred to the surrounding rock and the breakdown pressure. The simulations are conducted by using a micromechanical continuum damage model proposed by Golshani et al. (2006). The simulation results suggest that the borehole breakdown pressure and the energy...