TY  - EJOU
AU  - Wang, Kunjian 
AU  - He, Ruibin 
AU  - Liao, Qianhua 
AU  - Xu, Kun 
AU  - Wang, Wen 
AU  - Chen, Kan 

TI  - A Gel-Based Solidification Technology for Large Fracture Plugging
T2  - Fluid Dynamics \& Materials Processing

PY  - 2024
VL  - 20
IS  - 3
SN  - 1555-2578

AB  - Fault fractures usually have large openings and considerable extension. Accordingly, cross-linked gel materials are generally considered more suitable plugging agents than water-based gels because the latter often undergo contamination via formation water, which prevents them from being effective over long times. Hence, in this study, a set of oil-based composite gels based on waste grease and epoxy resin has been developed. These materials have been observed to possess high compressive strength and resistance to the aforementioned contamination, thereby leading to notable increase in plugging success rate. The compressive strength, thickening time, and resistance to formation water pollution of these gels have been evaluated indoors. The results show that the compressive strength of the gel can reach 11 MPa; additionally, the related gelation time can be controlled to be more than 3 h, thereby providing a safe construction time; Invasion of formation water has a small effect on the gel strength and does not shorten the thickening time. All considered performance indicators of the oil-based gel confirm its suitability as a plugging agent for fault fractures.
KW  - Drilling loss; fault fracture; oil-based gel; compressive strength; gel plugging

DO  - 10.32604/fdmp.2023.030152