Effects of Heterogeneous Fracture Aperture on Multiphase Production from Shale Reservoirs

Production simulation from fractured shale reservoirs is often performed by simplifying the hydraulic fractures as rectangular planes with homogeneous aperture. This study investigates the effects of heterogeneous fracture aperture and proppant distribution in realistic, non-rectangular fractures on the multi-phase production from shales. The heterogeneous hydraulic fractures are generated with the GEOS multiphysics simulator under realistic 3D stress field. These fractures are embedded into the TOUGH+ multi-phase flow simulator for production simulation. The results emphasize the importance of flow barriers within the hydraulic fractures, due both to low-aperture regions caused by the stress-shadow effect and the settling of proppant. The production rate is particularly sensitive to aperture heterogeneity if the flow barriers are close to the wellbore such that a great portion of fracture volume is isolated from the well. A stage-to-stage comparison reveals that production from different stages could vary significantly because the local stress field leads to different fracture area and aperture. The use of proppant prevents fracture closure, but if the propped regions are far from the well, they do not enhance production because flow barriers between these regions and the well act as bottlenecks. The present study highlights the importance of incorporating aperture heterogeneity into production simulation, provides insights on the relationship between flow barriers, proppant concentration, and well production, and proposes a practical method to mitigate numerical difficulties when modeling heterogeneous fractures.

     

岩体交叉裂隙水流分配特性研究

岩体交叉裂隙的水流分配特性对揭示水体运移规律、人工疏导地下水、优化水力压裂方案等具有指导作用。文章利用自制裂隙渗流实验装置测试了常见"一进两出""人"字裂隙开度、交叉角度变化时的流量分配特性。利用交叉控制体模型和雷诺输运方程分析了产生流量差异的原因。结果表明,偏流来自惯性力与裂隙壁面法向力作用产生的漩涡;流量分配只受进口和旁路裂隙开度的影响,与交角和水力梯度无关;旁路流量比(旁路流量与进口流量之比)与裂隙开度间存在实验幂次定量关系。     

Experimental Study of Fracture Permeability for Stimulated Reservoir Volume (SRV) in Shale Formation

“Stimulated reservoir volume”(SRV) makes shale gas production economic through new completion techniques including horizontal wells and multiple hydraulic fractures. However, the mechanism behind these treatments that provide sufficient permeability is not well understood. The effects of different stimulation treatments need to be further explored. To understand the effects of fracture surface roughness, fracture registration, confining pressure, proppant type and distribution mode, fiber and acidizing treatment on fracture permeability, a series of laboratory permeability experiments were performed on fractured cores from shale formation of Shengli Oilfield. The results of this study demonstrate that sedimentary bedding of shale has important influence on matrix permeability. At 35 MPa confining pressure, the permeability of aligned fracture (unpropped and without fracture offset) can increase about 1–3 orders of magnitude over shale matrix. The permeability of displaced fracture can increase about 1–2 orders of magnitude over the aligned fracture. The permeability of fracture propped with proppant can increase about 2–4 orders of magnitude over unpropped fracture. The greater the fracture surface roughness, the higher the permeability. The increasing degree of displaced fracture permeability is not proportional to the amount of fracture offset. In the microfracture of shale, the effect of ceramic proppant is still better than that of quartz sand, and the permeability of a centralized fairway distribution of proppant is about 1.2 times better than an even monolayer distribution of proppant. Under high pressure, proppant is easy to cause the break of fracture faces of brittle shale, and increase local fracture permeability to some extent. However, quartz sand are more easily broken to embed and block microcracks just made, which results in fracture permeability lower than that of ceramic proppant. At the same time, the argillation phenomenon is easy to happen on propped fracture faces of shale, which is one of the main factors that leads to a substantial decline in fracture permeability. The permeability of displaced fracture propped with proppant is greater than that of aligned fracture propped with proppant. Because of added fiber presence, the permeability of microfractures presented in SRV is greatly reduced. The pressure dependence of aligned fractures in shale obeys Walsh’s theory, but the pressure dependence of propped and displaced fractures in shale obeys Walsh’s law over a limited range of pressures. Deviations reflect proppant seating, proppant embedding and breaking. For shale formation with the high carbonate content, acidizing treatment should be carefully implemented. Experimental results may provide more valuable information for effective design of hydraulic fracturing in shale reservoir.     

Simulation of proppant transport at intersection of hydraulic fracture and natural fracture of wellbores using CFD-DEM

Proppants transport is an advanced technique to improve the hydraulic fracture phenomenon, in order to promote the versatility of gas/oil reservoirs. A numerical simulation of proppants transport at both hydraulic fracture (HF) and natural fracture (NF) intersection is performed to provide a better understanding of key factors which cause, or contribute to proppants transport in HF–NF intersection. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) in association with discrete element method (DEM) is used to model the complex interactions between proppant particles, host fluid medium and fractured walls. The effect of non-spherical geometry of particles is considered in this model, using the multi-sphere method. All interaction forces between fluid flow and particles are considered in the computational model. Moreover, the interactions of particle–particle and particle–wall are taken into account via Hertz–Mindlin model. The results of the CFD-DEM simulations are compared to the experimental data. It is found that the CFD-DEM simulation is capable of predicting proppant transport and deposition quality at intersections which are in agreement with experimental data. The results indicate that the HF–NF intersection type, fluid velocity and NF aperture affect the quality of blockage occurrence, presenting a new index, called the blockage coefficient which indicates the severity of the blockage.     

单裂缝中携砂液流动规律研究

裂缝中携砂液流动是一种固液两相流,携砂液的运移与支撑剂的铺置是水力压裂裂缝保持导流能力的关键.本文基于FLUENT流体计算软件,采用双流体模型,将颗粒看作拟流体,携砂液按照牛顿流体处理,分析了支撑剂体积分数α_s、阿基米德数Ar、颗粒雷诺数Re以及裂缝入口边界对流动规律的影响.研究结果表明:携砂液在裂缝中的流动过程中,发展成为支撑剂体积分数不同的四个区域,包括砂堤区、颗粒悬浮区、颗粒滚流区和无砂区;支撑剂的沉降程度随着支撑剂体积分数和阿基米德数的增加而增加,而随着雷诺数增加而降低;入口为网眼型时,进入裂缝后过流面积的增加导致流速突降,使得支撑剂更容易在入口处产生堆积,在同一入口流速下,较均匀入口的工况铺砂高度大.     

Experimental Study on the Pore Structure Fractals and Seepage Characteristics of a Coal Sample Around a Borehole in Coal Seam Water Infusion

In this study, a two-dimensional fully coupled computational model is developed for simulation of proppant settlement in hydro-fractures with the use of the extended finite element framework. The porous domain is governed by the well-known \((\mathbf{u}-p)\) formulation, which consists of the momentum balance equation of the bulk, in conjunction with the momentum balance and continuity equations of the pore fluid. The hydro-fracture inflow is modeled as a 1D flow on the basis of the Darcy law, in which fracture permeability is incorporated by means of the cubic law. Contact constraints are elaborated to eliminate the overlap of fracture edges and the leak-off flow. Proppant settlement is conducted on the basis of Stokes’ law for particle terminal velocity, in which the effects of fracture walls, concentration, viscosity and bridging are incorporated into the model. A fixed-point algorithm is introduced to achieve the optimum combination for the proppant injection. Using the extended finite element method, the strong discontinuity in the displacement field due to crack body, as well as the weak discontinuity in the pressure field due to leakage, is included in the model with the use of the Heaviside and modified level set enrichment functions, respectively. The robustness and versatility of the proposed numerical algorithm in determining the optimum proppant injection is examined through several numerical simulations.     

范德华力对磁头/硬盘系统气体润滑特性的影响

通过数值方法分析范德华力对磁头承载力的影响以及随飞行姿态的变化规律.结果表明,范德华力主要作用在磁头滑块尾部的凸台上,当飞行高度低于10 nm后,范德华力使得滑块的承载能力明显降低,从而导致飞行高度下降.范德华力主要与飞行高度和俯仰角有关,随着飞行高度和俯仰角减小,范德华力使承载能力和俯仰转矩明显减小.范德华力对侧翻角的影响不敏感,随着侧翻角的增加,范德华力使滑块的承载能力和侧翻转矩略微减小.在磁头设计时,通过增加俯仰角和减小尾部凸台面积可以减小范德华力的影响.     

Numerical analysis of the compressive and shear failure behavior of rock containing multi-intermittent joints

The failure behavior of intermittent jointed rocks is dependent on joint configurations. Joint inclination angle and continuity factor determined the joint arrangement in a rectangular numerical sample that was established by using the particle flow code approach. To identify the differences in the failure processes of identical intermittent jointed samples, uniaxial compressive and shear loads were applied on each sample. The crack growth path presented the four typical crack coalescence patterns identified via compressive and shear numerical tests. The crack coalescence pattern was associated with joint slant angle and continuity factor. The observed crack coalescence patterns of every sample with the same inclination angle and continuity factor were partially identical under compressive and shear loading. The differences in the crack patterns of the compressive and shear failure processes were described and compared. Typical compressive and shear failure processes were illustrated. Four compressive and three shear failure modes were identified. The cracking location and number of cracks in each failure mode were different. Additionally, the contact force evolution among particles during shear and compressive loading was different and likely accounted for the differences in cracking patterns. Under compressive or shear loading, the contact force concentration in each sample underwent the following stages: uniform distribution before loading, concentrated distribution, and scattered distribution after failure.     

CRACK INTERACTING WITH AN INDIVIDUAL INCLUSION BY THE FRACTURE CRITERION OF CONFIGURATIONAL FORCE

基于构型力概念提出一种可判断裂纹起裂以及裂纹扩展方向的新断裂准则.该准则假设当构型合力值达到一个临界值时裂纹开始扩展,而裂纹扩展的方向则为构型合力的矢量方向.基于此断裂准则,本文开发构型力的有限元计算方法,实现对裂纹扩展的数值模拟,并着重对工程中常见的含孔洞/夹杂结构的裂纹扩展问题展开研究.研究结果表明,基于构型力的裂纹扩展准则可以很好地预测裂纹与孔/夹杂的干涉作用,其数值模拟结果与实验结果相符,从而验证了该裂纹扩展模拟方法的有效性.通过对裂纹和夹杂（圆孔、软夹杂、硬夹杂）干涉问题的数值模拟表明,裂纹前端夹杂对裂纹的扩展具有重要影响.裂纹的扩展方向与裂纹和夹杂的相对位置、以及夹杂类型密切相关.软夹杂和圆孔会吸引裂纹向其扩展,而硬夹杂会排斥裂纹扩展,裂纹在扩展过程中会绕开硬夹杂.当裂纹与夹杂夹角较小时,夹杂对裂纹扩展的影响作用明显,当夹角较大时,夹杂对裂纹扩展的影响较小;特别当裂纹与夹杂夹角为45°时,软夹杂和圆孔可能会抑制裂纹的扩展,使裂纹扩展发生止裂.研究结果有助于认清含孔洞/夹杂结构中的裂纹扩展或止裂问题,对于工程中的断裂问题具有重要指导意义.     

含中心裂纹梯度纳晶金属的数值模拟

梯度纳晶金属由于其微观组织的梯度分布,力学属性也呈现梯度变化,这使得其表现出不同于传统均匀材料的断裂行为．利用材料力学参数的梯度分布来表征梯度纳晶金属中晶粒尺寸的梯度变化,并编写ABAQUS和MATLAB脚本程序建立分层有限元模型．通过数值模拟计算了含有初始中心裂纹的梯度纳晶金属在受远端均匀拉应力作用下的裂尖J积分,分别研究了屈服应力梯度、裂纹角度和裂纹长度对金属材料断裂韧性的影响,并与传统粗晶进行了对比．结果表明梯度纳米结构的存在导致梯度纳晶金属内部的中心裂纹两端表现出不同的断裂韧性,小晶粒一侧裂尖的抗裂韧性优于大晶粒一侧裂尖,且屈服应力梯度绝对值越大,两者差距越大．梯度纳晶金属的断裂韧性受中心裂纹角度和长度变化的影响与传统粗晶金属基本一致,同时在晶粒尺寸梯度的作用下梯度纳晶的裂尖J积分略低于粗晶,即整体上拥有更好的抗裂韧性．     

页岩气藏压裂缝网扩展数值模拟

为探究页岩气藏水力压裂复杂裂缝网络的形成机理,开展了缝网扩展的数值模拟研究.考虑应力阴影和天然裂缝作用,建立了井筒和裂缝中流体流动模型,利用位移不连续方法求解应力与位移不连续量,然后构建了压力与裂缝宽度的迭代方程,并采用牛顿迭代法求解.通过比较数值解经典模型解析解,验证了模型和迭代解法的正确性.多簇裂缝同步扩展时裂缝间距越小,压裂液分配到各条裂缝越不均匀,靠近井筒跟部的裂缝的分流量越大,从而裂缝宽度越大;考虑天然裂缝作用时,逼近角越小或者应力各向异性越弱,水力裂缝越容易发生转向扩展,裂缝网络越复杂.      

A New Mathematical Model for Force Gravity Drainage in Fractured Porous Media

In force gas/oil gravity drainage process in fractured porous media, gas is flowing in both matrix and fractures leading to produce a finite gas pressure gradient. Consequently, viscous force plays an important role for displacing matrix oil toward fractures in addition to gravity force that is required to be modeled appropriately. A new analytical model for estimation of steady state oil saturation distribution with assumption of fixed gas pressure gradient throughout the matrix is presented. Moreover, based on some results of this analytical model a different numerical formulation is developed to predict the performance of oil production process. Comparison of the results obtained from this numerical model with the results of a conventional simulator demonstrates that the newly developed model can be applied with satisfactory accuracy. Numerical simulations show that the viscous displacement in fractured porous media can reduce the capillary threshold height, and thus it suggests the force gravity drainage as a favorable production mechanism when the matrix length is close to the threshold height.     

梁在纯弯曲力矩作用下的动态塑性断裂

本文采用刚塑性分析方法,研究了带裂纹有限长韧性材料梁在纯弯曲力矩作用下的动态塑性断裂过程,本文考虑了由于断裂引起的附加轴向力对断裂过程的影响,并在分析中考虑了应变率对断裂过程的影响。文章给出了断裂过程中断裂截面上弯曲力矩和轴向力随时间的变化规律,以及裂纹长度,裂纹扩展速度和加速度随时间的变化规律。     

Filtration in a Porous Granular Medium: 1. Simulation of Pore-Scale Particle Deposition and Clogging

This paper presents a numerical model for simulating the pore-scale transport and infiltration of dilute suspensions of particles in a granular porous medium under the action of hydrodynamic and gravitational forces. The formulation solves the Stokes’ flow equations for an incompressible fluid using a fixed grid, multigrid finite difference method and an embedded boundary technique for modeling particle–fluid coupling. The analyses simulate a constant flux of the fluid suspension through a cylindrical model pore. Randomly generated particles are collected within the model pore, initially through contact and attachment at the grain surface (pore wall) and later through mounding close to the pore inlet. Simple correlations have been derived from extensive numerical simulations in order to estimate the volume of filtered particles that accumulate in the pore and the differential pressure needed to maintain a constant flux through the pore. The results show that particle collection efficiency is correlated with the Stokes’ settling velocity and indirectly through the attachment probability with the particle–grain surface roughness. The differential pressure is correlated directly with the maximum mound height and indirectly with particle size and settling velocity that affect mound packing density. Simple modification factors are introduced to account for pore length and dip angle. These parameters are used to characterize pore-scale infiltration processes within larger scale network models of particle transport in granular porous media in a companion paper. Articlenote: Currently at GZA GeoEnvironmental Inc., 1 Edgewater Drive, Norwood, MA 02062, U.S.A.     

Experimental investigation of parameters effect on heat transfer of spray cooling

The effects of spray height, nozzle spray angle, inlet pressure and spray incident angle on heat transfer of spray cooling were studied by an experimental method. Multi-points thermocouples and infrared imaging device were used to measure temperature distribution on heating surface. A Doppler anemometry and a camera were applied to study the spray flow field. The mechanism of heat transfer of spray cooling was concluded on the basis of experimental data and spray characteristics. It is showed that parameters affect heat transfer by way of changing the flow field on the heating surface. Heat transfer performance can be optimized by a smaller spray angle nozzle, which sprays at a smaller spray height and a higher inlet pressure. The effect of incident angle on heat transfer depends on nozzle spray angle and the definition of distance of nozzle to surface.     

定、变载弯曲疲劳钢丝绳失效机理对比研究

为对比揭示定、变载弯曲疲劳钢丝绳断裂机理及磨损演化特性，运用自制钢丝绳弯曲疲劳试验机开展钢丝绳定载、变载弯曲疲劳试验，通过人工拆股统计法和VW-9000系列高速度数码显微系统对比研究钢丝绳断丝分布、断丝数、断口和磨痕形貌等断裂机理，对比分析钢丝绳未断钢丝和断丝的磨痕尺寸演化特性. 结果表明:与钢丝绳定载弯曲疲劳相比，变载弯曲疲劳钢丝绳断丝出现较晚，芯股、螺旋股外层断丝数分别较多、较少，芯股外层钢丝断口挤压变形较大，芯股各层钢丝断口裂纹扩展区占比较低，芯股和螺旋股的各层钢丝磨痕尺寸总体较小，钢丝绳更易达到报废水平.      

进口预旋对离心叶轮气动性能影响机理的研究

将理论推导和数值模拟相结合,对典型离心压缩机Eckardt叶轮流场进行分析,探讨了不同进气预旋对叶轮气动性能的影响;从叶片进口攻角、叶尖相对马赫数和流向压力变化的角度,阐述了预旋对内部流动以及气动性能的影响机理。结果表明:预旋角对进口攻角和叶尖相对马赫数同时产生显著影响,正预旋会降低进口来流的攻角及相对马赫数,使叶片前缘载荷降低、叶轮效率及稳定性提升;负预旋会提升叶轮的做功能力,使总压比上升;正预旋由于降低了叶片前部做功能力,使低压流体堆积到叶片中后部,导致总压比下降;叶轮最高效率受叶尖相对马赫数与进口攻角共同影响,若提升效率必须合理协调预旋对二者的影响。     

STUDY OF NUMERICAL AND PHYSICAL FRACTURE WITH SPH METHOD

Two kinds of fractures can be observed in the SPH （smoothed particle hydrodynamics） simulations, which are the physical fracture and the numerical fracture. The physical one exists in reality, while the numerical one is fictitious. This paper presents the effects of both fractures and proposes a simple adding particle technique to avoid the numerical fracture. The real physical fracture is then figured out by using an applicable fracture criterion. Firstly, the effect of the numerical fracture on the computational accuracy is investigated by introducing the artificial fracture in a model of wave propagation. Secondly, a simple adding particle technique is proposed and validated by a three dimensional bending test. Finally, the experiments of penetration on the skin of aircrafts are simulated by both the initial SPH method and the improved method with the adding particle technique. The results show that the improved SPH method can describe the physical fracture very well with better accuracy.     

Damage Evolution and Crack Propagation in Semicircular Bending Asphalt Mixture Specimens

The damage and fracture behaviors of semicircular bending(SCB) asphalt mixture specimens with different orientation notches are experimentally and numerically investigated. In the numerical simulations, asphalt mixture is modeled as a two-phase material, namely a mix of coarse aggregates and asphalt mastic, and the mechanical behavior of asphalt mastic is characterized with the damage constitutive model and the damage-based fracture criterion. Some SCB experiments are performed on the asphalt mixture specimens with different orientation notches to validate the numerical method. Finally, the effects of notch orientation and aggregate distribution on crack path, damage distribution, and the load vs.displacement relation are numerically evaluated.     

Crack kinking in sandwich structures under three-point bending

Sandwich beams under three-point bending containing cracks in the core material very close to the upper skin interface are investigated. The cracks considered parallel or with an imperceptible inclination to the longitudinal beam axis and at different distances from the upper skin interface, are analyzed with static non-linear elastic two and three dimensional finite element analyses. From the proposed analyses stress intensity factors are calculated using linear elastic fracture mechanics. It is demonstrated that the crack propagation on the compression side of the core is mainly subjected in shear. The strain energy density criterion is used in order to determine the angle of kinking of the crack into the core.