Proppant Transport with Varying Injection Points and Its Impact on Proppant Development Inside a Fractur

This study presents experimental work which examines the effect of perforation placement and density on proppant placement within a hydraulic fracture. The study also investigates the effect of proppant angularity.;Experiments were conducted with ceramic proppant injected in a fracture slot model consisting of three injection points at the bottom, middle and top of the fracture slot, and two outlets, at the bottom and top of the fracture model. The effect of single point injection height was investigated by injecting solely at the bottom, middle or top of the apparatus, for both bottom and top outlet conditions. Multiple injection points were investigated with dual and triple injection experiments. Results of these experiments were reported as equilibrium dune height (EDL) and length (EDX) as well as proppant surface area.;Results show that for single point injection, proppant surface area increases with the increase in the injection point height relative to the bottom of the fracture. Reduced slurry velocities for multiple injection points reduces proppant transport. Multipoint injection cases were most similar to single point injection at the middle of the slot.;The effect of proppant angularity was investigated by comparing transport behavior of brown sand to ceramic proppant using single point injection. It has been shown that the shape of the dune is dependent on the friction angle of proppant. Proppant with high sphericity and roundness creates a low angle dune whereas sand creates a greater EDL and EDX.