Darcy-Forchheimer's Model: Application in Hydraulic Fracturing Design and Optimisation.

Abstract

Hydraulic fracturing is a proven stimulation technique for enhancing production and maximizing recovery from tight and unconventional reservoirs. The treatment improves the effective conductivity, enhances production and economic recovery of the reserves. This paper investigates the impact of in-situ closure pressure and bottom-hole temperature on the effective permeability of proppant-pack and inertial flow coefficient. Core samples from a sandstone formation were analyzed in this experiment; the samples were subjected to closure pressures between 1,000–10,000psi at 100°F–200°F. The corresponding proppant-pack permeabilities were measured across the core while the inertia flow co-efficient values were calculated with the Darcy-Forchheimer's model. The results show that the effective proppant-pack permeability reduces with increasing in-situ closure pressure and inertial flow coefficient.