Creating novel granular mixtures as proppants: Insights to shape, size, and material considerations

Abstract

Fragmentation of proppant particles in a pack subjected to compressive loading results in a loss of load bearing capacity. Addition of ductile particles to a brittle particle pack reduces particle fragmentation. Computational models simulating confined compression of a proppant pack with a mixture of brittle and ductile particles are developed. The effect of soft particle material, shape and size on the fragmentation behavior of the brittle particle in a proppant pack is studied. The results showed that larger, non-uniform particles lead to higher incidence of particle fracture.More efficient pack compositions are proposed for further study and development.