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New Experimental Methods to Study Proppant Embedment in Shales

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Abstract

Productivity in fractured wells typically declines when severe proppant embedment shrinks the fracture aperture and creates conductivity clogging fines. However, the mechanisms linking embedment to decline are poorly characterized. In the absence of this understanding, very few models take proppant embedment into account when predicting production decline. We developed new experimental techniques to characterize proppant embedment mechanisms and properties and combined these results with analytical analysis to quantify stress-dependent elastic and plastic deformation, as well as time-dependent creep deformation. We developed two novel experimental setups to tease apart the elastic, plastic, and creep deformation curves. A constant displacement vs. measured load embedment test generated the elastic and plastic data, and the constant load vs. measured displacement embedment test generated creep data. Results show that plastic and creep deformation dominated proppant embedment in shale, while the elastic deformation component is insignificant.

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Abbreviations

\(\Delta V\) :

Differential fluid volume

\(h\) :

Invaded depth

\(A\) :

Surface area

\(\phi\) :

Porosity

\(a\) :

Contact radius of indenter

\(R\) :

Indenter radius

\(h_{{\text{c}}}\) :

Contact depth

\(F\) :

Force

\(P\) :

Applied load

\(\mu\) :

Shear modulus

\(\nu\) :

Poisson’s ratio

\(S\) :

Stiffness

\(E\) :

Elastic modulus

\(E_{{\text{r}}}\) :

Reduced modulus

\(\sigma_{{{\text{ind}}}}\) :

Indentation stress

\(\varepsilon_{ind}\) :

Indentation strain

\(\varepsilon_{{\text{t}}} , \varepsilon_{{\text{e}}} , \;\varepsilon_{{\text{p}}} \;{\text{and}}\; \varepsilon_{{\text{c}}}\) :

Strain of elastic, plastic, and creep, respectively

\(t\) :

Time

\(K, \;m, \;C,\;n, \;{\text{and}}\; \omega\) :

Experimental fitting parameter

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge BP for providing funding for this work and the Utica shale samples.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Petroleum & Geosystems Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA

    Ekrem Alagoz, Haotian Wang, Rodney T. Russell & Mukul M. Sharma

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  1. Ekrem Alagoz
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  2. Haotian Wang
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  3. Rodney T. Russell
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  4. Mukul M. Sharma
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Correspondence to Ekrem Alagoz.

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Alagoz, E., Wang, H., Russell, R.T. et al. New Experimental Methods to Study Proppant Embedment in Shales. Rock Mech Rock Eng 55, 2571–2580 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00603-021-02646-1

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