A review on proppant transport modelling

Proppant transport is a critical physical process in hydraulic fracturing which has been extensively used for reservoir stimulation in petroleum engineering. Proppants injected together with fracturing fluid provide structural support to the stimulated fracture network and prevent them from closing...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of petroleum science & engineering Vol. 204; p. 108753
Main Authors Barboza, Beatriz Ramos, Chen, Bin, Li, Chenfeng
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Elsevier B.V 01.09.2021
Subjects
Hydraulic fracturing
Multiphase flow
Numerical simulation
Proppant transport
Numerical simulation
Multiphase flow
Proppant transport
Hydraulic fracturing
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Proppant transport is a critical physical process in hydraulic fracturing which has been extensively used for reservoir stimulation in petroleum engineering. Proppants injected together with fracturing fluid provide structural support to the stimulated fracture network and prevent them from closing after flowback. Hence, the final proppant distribution in fracture networks affects directly the effectiveness of hydraulic fracturing. Owing to the limitation and high cost of well logging, computational modelling has been increasingly used to study proppant transport, where different assumptions and numerical models have been employed often without rigorous validation or justification. This work presents a comprehensive review on proppant transport modelling, from relevant physics to numerical approaches, aiming to provide an unbiased global picture of the-state-of-the-art studies, inspire new insights, and promote the development of innovative and reliable computational models for proppant transport.
ISSN:0920-4105
1873-4715
DOI:10.1016/j.petrol.2021.108753