Title: Conductivity performance evaluation of fractures filled with proppant of different sizes in shale with LBM-DEM

Authors: Hong Zuo; Shouchun Deng; Zhenghong Huang; Chengxu Xiao; Yongqing Zeng; Jinlin Jiang

Addresses: State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 19(A) Yuquan Road, Shijingshan District, Beijing, 100049, China ' State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China ' State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 19(A) Yuquan Road, Shijingshan District, Beijing, 100049, China ' Hubei University of Technology, No. 28, Nanli Road, Hong-shan District, Wuchang, Wuhan, Hubei Province, China ' State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 19(A) Yuquan Road, Shijingshan District, Beijing, 100049, China ' State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 19(A) Yuquan Road, Shijingshan District, Beijing, 100049, China

Abstract: This paper proposes a coupled discrete element method (DEM) and lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) to compute the conductivity of fractures filled with proppant in shale as a function of the closure pressure. The particle discrete element was applied to model proppant-shale interaction process under variable closure stress, and the pore-scale simulation was carried out by LBM to model gas flow in the reconstructed digitised model (the deformed proppant-filled fractures). The laboratory bench-scale experiments were conducted in support of the numerical modeling examining the proppant embedment into the shale as a function of closure stress and measuring the conductivity of proppant-filled fractures as the proppant embedment experiments were conducted under different axial load conditions. The numerical results calculated by LBM-DEM were validated by a calibration test and the laboratory bench-scale experiments, and an agreement was achieved between them, indicating the effectiveness of this proposed method. [Received: June 28, 2017; Accepted: February 1, 2018].

Keywords: shale; lattice Boltzmann method; LBM; discrete element method; DEM; permeability; proppants; hydraulic fracturing; laboratory bench-scale experiments.

DOI: 10.1504/IJOGCT.2020.104972

International Journal of Oil, Gas and Coal Technology, 2020 Vol.23 No.1, pp.44 - 75

Received: 28 Jun 2017
Accepted: 01 Feb 2018
Published online: 10 Feb 2020 *

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