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A Numerical Investigation on the Hydraulic Fracturing Efficiency in Radial Well

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Abstract

In order to investigate the propagation behavior of radial well hydraulic fractures, a low-permeability reservoir in Shengli Oilfield was used as the geologic condition, and a series of numerical simulations of radial well guided hydraulic fracturing were carried out based on a numerical method named Rock Failure Process Analysis 3D. The concept of effective stimulation coefficient was proposed in this paper to illustrate the advantage of radial well fracturing. The results show that compared with the traditional hydraulic fracturing, the effective stimulation coefficient through radial well fracturing is increased by 8% and the effectively stimulated area is increased by 60.6%. The viscosity of the fluid has little effect on the effective stimulation coefficient and effective stimulation area, when compared with the injection rate. The effective stimulation coefficient decreases with the increase of injection rate. And the effectively stimulated area improves with the increase of injection rate. In the process of radial well fracturing, it is possible to reduce the ineffective stimulation and construction costs by reasonably reducing the construction injection rate.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51761135102).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Ministry Education on Safe Mining of Deep Metal Mines, Northeastern University, Shenyang, 110819, China

    Lujian Yao, Mingyang Zhai & Sixu Wang

  2. Center of Rock Instability and Seismicity Research, School of Resources and Civil Engineering, Northeastern University, Shenyang, 110819, China

    Lujian Yao, Mingyang Zhai & Sixu Wang

Authors
  1. Lujian Yao
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  2. Mingyang Zhai
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  3. Sixu Wang
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Correspondence to Mingyang Zhai.

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Yao, L., Zhai, M. & Wang, S. A Numerical Investigation on the Hydraulic Fracturing Efficiency in Radial Well. Geotech Geol Eng 37, 4503–4513 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10706-019-00924-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10706-019-00924-y

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