Study of Bingham plastic flow for use as a temporary diverting agent in hydraulic fracturing
There has long been an interest in using the viscous friction of fracturing fluids along the fracture walls to effect diversion from one zone to another or to open adjacent fracture systems within the same zone. Such fluids were used in the past but they had serious drawbacks. These were the so-called gel block materials that consisted of oil-based metallic soap gels that, when fully formed, had an extremely viscous nature. The viscosity of these fluids was such that they were mixed for delayed gelation so that placement was effected before full yield was obtained. The holding ability of these materials was excellent in the pipe, but they apparently sheared quite readily in the fracture. Because of the difficulties in timing the gel set and the requirement that some of the materials remain in the pipe, the gel blocks were totally unsuited for continuous staging operations. Viscous water-based gels, both with and without solid blocking material, also have been used in an attempt to gain multiple fractures. However, these materials never received widespread use. This work uses laboratory data to compare a fluid used as diverting material with the theoretical Bingham plastic fluid model.
- OSTI ID:
- 5980960
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-781112-
- Journal Information:
- Am. Soc. Mech. Eng., (Pap.); (United States), Vol. 78-PET-36; Conference: ASME energy technology conference, Houston, TX, USA, 5 Nov 1978
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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