Development of Multi-Stage Fracturing System and Wellbore Tractor to Enable Zonal Isolation During Stimulation and EGS Operations in Horizontal Wellbores

Fleckenstein, W. W.; Miskimins, Jennifer; Kazemi, Hossein; Eustes, A. W.; Abdimaulen, Dias; Mindygaliyeva, Balnur; Uzun, Ozan; Amini, Kaveh; Hill, T. W.; Mailand, Jason; Henschel, Robert; King, George E.; Ortiz, Santos; Keyes, Cullen

doi:10.2118/210210-ms

Cited by 9 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 14 publications

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“…The core idea of multistage fracturing is adopted from shale gas production perforated completion design (parallel and isolated fractures), which is applied to economically produce gas from horizontal wells. When adapted to an EGS, multistage fracturing will economically produce heat by increasing the size of heat exchangers in a controlled way; one heat exchanger per perforation (Glauser et al, 2013;Fleckenstein et al, 2022). Planned in 2014 and executed in 2015, the Äspö underground experiment described in this study, was a mine-scale test campaign in naturally fractured granitic rock demonstrating the safe development of sub-parallel, zonal-isolated multi-fractures as potential heat exchangers for geothermal purposes .…”

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confidence: 99%

Comprehensive data set of in-situ hydraulic stimulation experiments for geothermal purposes at the Äspö Hard Rock Laboratory (Sweden)

Zang

Niemz

Specht

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Abstract. In this article, a high-resolution acoustic emission sensor, accelerometer and broadband seismometer array data set is made available and described in detail from in-situ experiments performed at Äspö Hard Rock Laboratory in May and June 2015. The main goal of the hydraulic stimulation tests in a horizontal borehole at 410 m depth in naturally fractured granitic rock mass is to demonstrate the technical feasibility to generate multi-stage heat exchangers in a controlled way superior to former massive stimulations applied in enhanced geothermal projects. A set of six, sub-parallel hydraulic fractures is propagated from an injection borehole drilled parallel to minimum horizontal in-situ stress, and monitored by an extensive complementary sensor array implemented in three inclined monitoring boreholes and the near-by tunnel system. Three different fluid-injection protocols are tested: constant water injection, progressive cyclic injection, and cyclic injection with a hydraulic hammer operating at 5 Hz frequency to stimulate a crystalline rock volume of size 30 x 30 x 30 m at depth. We collected geological data from core and borehole logs, fracture inspection data from impression packer, acoustic emission hypocenter tracking and tilt data, as well as quantified the permeability enhancement process. The data and interpretation provided through this publication is an important step both, in upscaling laboratory tests, and downscaling field tests in granitic rock in the framework of enhanced geothermal system research.

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mentioning

confidence: 99%

Comprehensive data set of in-situ hydraulic stimulation experiments for geothermal purposes at the Äspö Hard Rock Laboratory (Sweden)

Zang

Niemz

Specht

et al. 2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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Development of Multi-Stage Fracturing System and Wellbore Tractor to Enable Zonal Isolation During Stimulation and EGS Operations in Horizontal Wellbores

Fleckenstein

Miskimins

Kazemi

et al. 2022

Day 3 Wed, October 05, 2022

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This paper discusses the progress on a project funded by the DOE Utah FORGE (Frontier Observatory for Research in Geothermal Energy) for the development of a subsurface heat exchanger for Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) using unique casing sleeves cemented in place and are used first as a system for rapid and inexpensive multi-stage stimulations and second to perform conformance control functions at 225 °C. The proposed sleeves will use a single-sized dissolvable ball to open for fracture stimulation. After stimulation, and once the balls dissolve, the sleeves are open for immediate fluid injection. A separately designed wellbore tractor specific for both fluid detection and valve manipulation is then deployed to detect and control the injection entry points to create an effective EGS through paired horizontal injectors and open hole producers. The wells will be connected through multiple networks of induced and natural fractures that can be controlled throughout the field life.

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Deformation, Damage, And Fracture in Hot Dry Rock of Geothermal Reservoir Under Uniaxial and Diametrical Compression Using 3D-DIC

Nath,

Aguirre,

Vazquez

et al. 2023

Day 2 Tue, October 17, 2023

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Geothermal resources have attracted global attention because of their renewability, cleanliness, and universality. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that harnessing just 0.1% of the Earth's geothermal energy can power humanity for 2 million years. An improved geothermal system (EGS) efficiently extracts heat from deep hot dry rock (HDR). However, EGS is battling to assure safe drilling and appropriate fracturing to extract heat potential. Conventional laboratory techniques cannot detect fine-scale variability in HDR structures during loading. Due to its inherent heterogeneities, it is especially crucial to characterize deformation and frac-face damage during induced fracturingto unlock heat energy from HDR. This study uses three-dimensional digital image correlation (3D-DIC) to examine damage and deformation in HDR samples. HDR samples from the DOE Utah FORGE project's Well 16B(78)-32 were studied under uniaxial and diametrical compression using a precise 100kN electro-mechanical load frame with a continuous displacement of 0.05mm/min. The samples had a wide range of minerals. During the uniaxial and diametrical compression tests, a3D-DIC image capture system was set up to watch the samples without touching them at a rate of 5 frames per second. A black-and-white speckle pattern is affixed to the specimen to monitor its deformation under load. The 3D-DIC system is used for image processing, visualization, and analysis of the HDR damage process under various load circumstances. Our preliminary results of DIC-generated quantitative full-field strain maps (tension, compression, and shear) exhibiting all sequences involved in the damage process of HDR samples. To evaluate the sample damage, damage factors are measured using DIC maps; the tension-compression ratio is obtained at 5%-10%. The damage evolution process of HDR specimens is separated into four stages, which are evaluated by damage variables: initial damage stage, linear elastic, elastic-plastic, and plastic damage stage. The findings have a major impact on our ability to predict the damage process in EGS. DIC outperforms micro-Computed Tomography(µ-CT), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), andAcoustic Emission(AE) in terms of test range, affordability, accuracy, and monitoring of the entire field. This method overcomes the laboratory limitations for evaluating HDR damage heterogeneity. This image-based algorithm is better at understanding anisotropic and heterogeneous HDR fragmentation and predicting stimulated reservoir volume (SRV). Thus, the results of this study will enhance the effectiveness of hydraulic fracturing in HDR and heat recovery from EGS.

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Development of Multi-Stage Fracturing System and Wellbore Tractor to Enable Zonal Isolation During Stimulation and EGS Operations in Horizontal Wellbores

Cited by 9 publications

References 14 publications

Comprehensive data set of in-situ hydraulic stimulation experiments for geothermal purposes at the Äspö Hard Rock Laboratory (Sweden)

Comprehensive data set of in-situ hydraulic stimulation experiments for geothermal purposes at the Äspö Hard Rock Laboratory (Sweden)

Development of Multi-Stage Fracturing System and Wellbore Tractor to Enable Zonal Isolation During Stimulation and EGS Operations in Horizontal Wellbores

Deformation, Damage, And Fracture in Hot Dry Rock of Geothermal Reservoir Under Uniaxial and Diametrical Compression Using 3D-DIC

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