Effects of fracture fluid degradation on underground fracture dimensions and production increase

A detailed computer study has been conducted to determine the effects of fracture fluid rheological characteristics upon fracture growth, proppant transport and placement and ultimate gas recovery. Several examples presented in this paper illustrate that an effective fracture fluid quality control needs to be implemented in order to achieve the desired fracture dimensions and production performance as computed during design procedure. l actual cases show how the fracture fluid can degrade in quality due to variations in fluid additive concentrations, inefficient mixing procedures, and many other factors. This fluid degradation can lead to inadequate fracture dimensions, poor proppant transport, and loss in ultimate well recovery. The quality of fracture fluid can be effectively maintained by continuously measuring fluid characteristics in the field and controlling its viscous properties by modifying fluid additives, injection rate, etc., during the actual execution of a stimulation treatment. A three-dimensional hydraulic fracture model has been used to compute fracture and proppant characteristics for a wide range of field measured fluid properties in order to illustrate the impact of fracture fluid upon fracture dimensions and proppant transport. Using data computed by the fracturing model, a single-phase analytical model has then been used to predict gas production and ultimate recovery.