TY  - EJOU
AU  - Peng, Chengyong 
AU  - Wu, Jianshu 
AU  - Jiang, Mao 
AU  - Yin, Biao 
AU  - Lou, Yishan 

TI  - Study of the Transport Behavior of Multispherical Proppant in Intersecting Fracture Based on Discrete Element Method
T2  - Energy Engineering

PY  - 2025
VL  - 122
IS  - 1
SN  - 1546-0118

AB  - To analyze the differences in the transport and distribution of different types of proppants and to address issues such as the short effective support of proppant and poor placement in hydraulically intersecting fractures, this study considered the combined impact of geological-engineering factors on conductivity. Using reservoir production parameters and the discrete element method, multispherical proppants were constructed. Additionally, a 3D fracture model, based on the specified conditions of the L block, employed coupled (Computational Fluid Dynamics) CFD-DEM (Discrete Element Method) for joint simulations to quantitatively analyze the transport and placement patterns of multispherical proppants in intersecting fractures. Results indicate that turbulent kinetic energy is an intrinsic factor affecting proppant transport. Moreover, the efficiency of placement and migration distance of low-sphericity quartz sand constructed by the DEM in the main fracture are significantly reduced compared to spherical ceramic proppants, with a 27.7% decrease in the volume fraction of the fracture surface, subsequently affecting the placement concentration and damaging fracture conductivity. Compared to small-angle fractures, controlling artificial and natural fractures to expand at angles of 45° to 60° increases the effective support length by approximately 20.6%. During hydraulic fracturing of gas wells, ensuring the fracture support area and post-closure conductivity can be achieved by controlling the sphericity of proppants and adjusting the perforation direction to control the direction of artificial fractures.
KW  - Hydraulic fracturing; discrete element method; proppant; sphericity; CFD-DEM

DO  - 10.32604/ee.2024.056062