Impact of Viscoelasticity on Sand-Carrying Ability of Viscous Slickwater and Its Sand-Carrying Threshold in Hydraulic Fractures

Xianzhu Han, Junlin Wu, Yongjun Ji, Jinjun Liu, Yang Liu, Bobo Xie, Xianjiang Chen, Hui Yin and Tianbo Liang ()
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Xianzhu Han: Development Company, Xinjiang Oilfield Company, PetroChina, Karamay 834000, China
Junlin Wu: National Key Laboratory of Petroleum Resources and Engineering, China University of Petroleum, Beijing 102249, China
Yongjun Ji: Engineering Research Institute of Xinjiang Oilfield Company, PetroChina, Karamay 834000, China
Jinjun Liu: Development Company, Xinjiang Oilfield Company, PetroChina, Karamay 834000, China
Yang Liu: Development Company, Xinjiang Oilfield Company, PetroChina, Karamay 834000, China
Bobo Xie: Engineering Research Institute of Xinjiang Oilfield Company, PetroChina, Karamay 834000, China
Xianjiang Chen: Development Company, Xinjiang Oilfield Company, PetroChina, Karamay 834000, China
Hui Yin: Development Company, Xinjiang Oilfield Company, PetroChina, Karamay 834000, China
Tianbo Liang: National Key Laboratory of Petroleum Resources and Engineering, China University of Petroleum, Beijing 102249, China

Energies, 2024, vol. 17, issue 2, 1-18

Abstract: Viscous slickwater has a higher viscosity and better sand-carrying ability than conventional slickwater at the same concentration. At a concentration of 0.4 wt.%, the viscosity of the viscous slickwater is 4.7 times that of the conventional slickwater. It is generally believed that viscosity is one of the main influencing factors on the sand-carrying ability of the fluid. However, this study has shown that the good sand-carrying ability of the viscous slickwater is more attributed to its viscoelasticity. Through rheology and sand-carrying tests, it has been found that the viscoelastic properties vary when fluids have the same viscosity; this then leads to a significant difference in the settling rate of sand and the sand-carrying threshold of the fluid in a fracture at a certain flow rate. The routine method of characterizing the viscoelastic property of the slickwater was to observe the cross point of the elastic modulus (G′) and viscous modulus (G″) curves. The smaller the frequency of the cross point, the better the viscoelastic property of the fluid. However, it has been found in experiments that even when the cross point is the same, there is still a significant difference in the sand-carrying ability of fluids. Therefore, sand-carrying experiments are conducted under a similar cross point and different magnitudes of modulus, of which the results indicate that as the elastic modulus increases, the settling rate of sand decreases. The flow rate threshold occurring as sand settles obtained from laboratory experiments is compared with the field condition during hydraulic fracturing. From laboratory experiments, the threshold of inner-fracture flow rate that prevents the sand settling is found to be 8.02 m/min for 0.6 wt.% viscous slickwater with a sand ratio of 30%. In the field operation, the operation conditions meet the sand-carrying threshold obtained from laboratory experiments. Observations from the field test confirm the applicability of the threshold plot proposed according to laboratory measurements, which can provide guidance for optimizing the fracturing scheme in the field.

Keywords: viscoelasticity; sand-carrying ability; threshold of settling rate; sand settling rate (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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