In-situ stresses controlling hydraulic fracture propagation and fracture breakdown pressure

Zhang, Yushuai; Zhang, Jincai; Yuan, Bin; Yin, Shangxian

doi:10.1016/j.petrol.2018.01.050

Cited by 82 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…11. Schematic diagram of ground stress distribution within an alternating sandstone and mudstone sequence, from Zhang et al, (2018), with permission from Elsevier. σ h , σ H and σ V represent minimum horizontal principle stress, maximum horizontal principle stress and vertical stresss, respectively.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geological Controls on High Production of Tight Sandstone Gas in Linxing Block, Eastern Ordos Basin, China

Meng

et al. 2020

Acta Geologica Sinica (Eng)

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Tight sandstone gas in the Linxing Block, eastern Ordos Basin, has been successfully exploited. The high performance is mainly a result of the special geological conditions. The key geological controls for high production have been discussed on the basis of seismic data, field observation, sample features, mercury porosimetry, mechanical properties, and basin modeling. Firstly, the coal measures have good gas generation potential, not only because of the existence of coalbeds and organic‐rich shales, but also because coal laminae and microbial mats in the shales significantly increase their total organic carbon (TOC) contents. Secondly, except for the uplifted zone of the Zijinshan complex and the eastern fault zone, rare large faults develop in the Carboniferous–Permian sequence, ensuing the sealing capacity of cap rock. Small fractures generally concentrated in the sandstones rather than the mudstones. Thirdly, gas accumulation in the Linxing Block was controlled by the tectonic, burial and thermal histories. Gas accumulation in the Linxing Block started in the Late Triassic, followed by three short pauses of thermal maturation caused by relatively small uplifts; the maximum hydrocarbon generation period is the Early Cetaceous as a combined result of regional and magmatic thermal metamorphisms. Field profiles show abundant fractures in sandstone beds but rare fractures in mudstone beds. Mechanical properties, determined by lithostratigraphy, confine the fractures in the sandstones, increasing the permeability of sandstone reservoirs and retaining the sealing capacity of the mudstone cap rocks. The modern ground stress conditions favor the opening of predominant natural fractures in the NNW–SSE and N–S directions. These conclusions are useful for exploring the potential tight sandstone gas field.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geological Controls on High Production of Tight Sandstone Gas in Linxing Block, Eastern Ordos Basin, China

Meng

et al. 2020

Acta Geologica Sinica (Eng)

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“…Fracture diversion phenomenon occurred in this sample, and the direction of fracture extension diverted to the direction perpendicular to the minimum principal stress (σ h ) due to influence of in-situ stresses. In fact, the fracture propagation and morphology are significantly influenced by a weak structural plane (bedding planes, joint planes, and natural fractures) and in-situ stresses [27,35,46,47], and the fracture propagation direction is controlled by combined effect of a weak structural plane and in-situ stresses. Comparing fracture propagation and morphology in SC-5 and W-3, the fractures created by SC-CO 2 fracturing were more complicated than fractures created by water fracturing, and the SC-CO 2 induced fractures were prone to connect with the weak structural plane (bedding plane and joint plane) to form a more complex fracture network than water induced fractures due to the low viscosity and high diffusivity of SC-CO 2 , which is consistent with the experimental study of Zhang et al [22].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The in-situ stress controls the breakdown pressure and propagation direction of fractures. The fracture is hard to be created by fracturing under a high in-situ stress field, and the hydraulic fractures tend to propagate along the directions perpendicular to the minimum principal stress [34,35]. The discontinuities, such as bedding planes and natural fractures, considerably affect the propagation and morphology of hydraulic fractures.…”

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confidence: 99%

Propagation Characteristics of Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Induced Fractures under True Tri-Axial Stresses

Liu

et al. 2019

Energies

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Supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) fracturing is a non-aqueous fracturing technology, which has attracted considerable attention on exploiting shale gas. In this study, shale specimens and artificial sandstone specimens were used to conduct SC-CO2 fracturing and water fracturing experiments to investigate the characteristics of SC-CO2 induced fractures. An acoustic emission (AE) monitoring device was employed to monitor the AE energy release rate during the experiment. The experiment results indicate that the breakdown pressure of SC-CO2 fracturing is lower than that of water fracturing under the same conditions, and the AE energy release rate of SC-CO2 fracturing is 1–2 orders of magnitude higher than that of water fracturing. In artificial sandstone, which is homogeneous, the main fracture mainly propagates along the directions perpendicular to the minimum principal stress, no matter if using SC-CO2 or water as the fracturing fluid, but in shale with weak structural planes, the propagation direction of the fracture is controlled by the combined effect of a weak structural plane and in-situ stress.

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“…It is a parameter that could reflect the properties of the rock sample. The breakdown pressure is the maximum pressure value in the pressure curve and it could be used to help to design the fracturing scheme, select a fracturing pump, and estimate the fracture range in field operation [57]. Therefore, it is necessary to separately analyze the initiation pressure and the breakdown pressure, whether for laboratory research or field scale engineering.…”

Section: The Effect Of Flow Rate On the Fracture Breakdown Pressurementioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental Study of Fracture Propagation: The Application in Energy Mining

Cheng

Zhang

2020

Energies

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Hydraulic fracturing has been widely used in recent years as a key technology to improve energy mining efficiency in petroleum and geothermal industries. Laboratory hydraulic fracturing experiments recently were completed in six large-scale 300 × 300 × 300 mm rock specimens to better understand this complex process of hydraulic fracturing. When injection flow rate increases from 5 to 30 mL/min. The fracture initiation pressures and breakdown pressures increase, the propagation times and post-fracturing pressures decrease. The fracture geometries are observed and analyzed, mean injection power is proposed and results show that it could be used to roughly estimate the fracture total lengths. Moreover, the fracture permeabilities based on the pressure data are calculated and linearly ascend with the increase of injection flow rates. These results can provide some reasonable advice for implementing hydraulic fracturing reservoir simulations and improving energy production efficiency on application to field-scale operation.Hydraulic fracturing usually relates complicated solid-fluid coupling processes. Due to the compactness and the low permeability of the granite, an intact large-size granite sample requires a high fracturing pressure to trigger the fracture. To better understand the characteristics of hydraulic fracturing process and fracture network after hydraulic fracturing. In this work, we carried out laboratorial hydraulic fracturing experiments with a true triaxial fracturing apparatus designed by Jilin University. Its cubic specimen fracturing capsule size is 300 × 300 × 300 mm. The granite samples were collected from the Songliao Basin petroleum reservoir field in the northeastern part of China. In order to investigate the injection flow rate on hydraulic fracturing chrematistics, we conducted hydraulic fracturing tests at different injection flow rates for six rocks. The initiation pressure, breakdown pressure, post-fracturing pressure, and propagation time were analyzed based on the fracturing pressure curves. The rock specimens were cut in half after test and the fracture geometry was observed. Based on recorded pressure data and curves, the fracture permeabilities of all specimens were calculated. Results in this study could provide some reasonable advice for implementing hydraulic fracturing reservoir simulations and improving energy production efficiency on application to field-scale operation. Laboratorial Tests BackgroundThe granite samples used in this study are taken from a place nearby YS-2 well (Figure 1) in the Songliao Basin [39]. The YS-2 well (127.25 • E, 52.36 • N) is in the Daqing Oilfield about 78 km from Daqing City, The YS-2 well is a geothermal energy exploration well, and exploration data shows that the geothermal resources here are abundant. As large size intact rock samples cannot be gotten from a wellbore. We use the outcrop rock samples as substitutes (Figure 2a). Three independent triaxial principal stresses are applied on cube-shaped samples to simulate the real field in-situ st...

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In-situ stresses controlling hydraulic fracture propagation and fracture breakdown pressure

Cited by 82 publications

References 33 publications

Geological Controls on High Production of Tight Sandstone Gas in Linxing Block, Eastern Ordos Basin, China

Geological Controls on High Production of Tight Sandstone Gas in Linxing Block, Eastern Ordos Basin, China

Propagation Characteristics of Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Induced Fractures under True Tri-Axial Stresses

Experimental Study of Fracture Propagation: The Application in Energy Mining

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