Study On Proppant Settlement And Transport Rule In Shale Gas Hydraulic Fracturing

Shale gas is an important form of unconventional natural gas with tremendous potential for development.The reservoir of shale gas hasthe characteristics of low porosity and permeability which is different from conventional oil and gas reservoirs.Nowadays,horizontal well technology and hydraulic fracturing technology is an effective means to develop shale gas reservoir.The oil& gas production and recovery factor will be promotedsignificantly after hydraulic fracturing.The proppant placement in artificial fracture duringhydraulic fracturing is very important to the success of the measurement.Most of the studies about the settlement and transport rule of proppant are theoretical,and the field application always relies on the former experience or software simulation with only few experimental studies.Writing a program use Excel VBA as a platformwhich is basedonplentyof literature investigation and former theoretical model to study the impact of thedifferent conditionson the distribution ofproppant.Design physics experiments of single fracture and multi-fracture in differentconditions,which more in line with the characteristics of shale gas fracturing operation.The experimental method is implemented through the fracture physical model to study the impact of the pumping rate,the proppant types,the sand concentration and fracture angle on the proppant settling velocity and the sand bank shape.Based on these studies,this paper fully describes howthe proppant settlement and transport in the fracture of shale gas reservoir.Compared the results of physical experiment and Babcock's theory andsummarized themain influencing factors of affect the sand bank shape.It is significant for theestablishment of a more rational model of proppant transport and the design of fracturingtreatment in the shale reservoir.