TY  - EJOU
AU  - Song, Yi 
AU  - Hu, Zheyu 
AU  - Shen, Cheng 
AU  - Ren, Lan 
AU  - Guo, Xingwu 
AU  - Lin, Ran 
AU  - Wang, Kun 
AU  - Zhao, Zhiyong 

TI  - Optimizing the Diameter of Plugging Balls in Deep Shale Gas Wells
T2  - Fluid Dynamics \& Materials Processing

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

AB  - Deep shale gas reserves that have been fractured typically have many relatively close perforation holes. Due to the proximity of each fracture during the formation of the fracture network, there is significant stress interference, which results in uneven fracture propagation. It is common practice to use “balls” to temporarily plug fracture openings in order to lessen liquid intake and achieve uniform propagation in each cluster. In this study, a diameter optimization model is introduced for these plugging balls based on a multi-cluster fracture propagation model and a perforation dynamic abrasion model. This approach relies on proper consideration of the multiphase nature of the considered problem and the interaction force between the involved fluid and solid phases. Accordingly, it can take into account the behavior of the gradually changing hole diameter due to proppant continuous perforation erosion. Moreover, it can provide useful information about the fluid-dynamic behavior of the considered system before and after plugging. It is shown that when the diameter of the temporary plugging ball is 1.2 times that of the perforation hole, the perforation holes of each cluster can be effectively blocked.
KW  - Deep shale gas; fracture propagation; fluid mechanics; fluid-solid coupling; perforation hole abrasion

DO  - 10.32604/fdmp.2023.030521