@Article{sl.2013.009.001,
AUTHOR = {Xinpu Shen},
TITLE = {Numerical Analysis on the Interaction between Two Zipper Frac Wells with Continuum Damage Model},
JOURNAL = {Structural Longevity},
VOLUME = {9},
YEAR = {2013},
NUMBER = {1},
PAGES = {1--22},
URL = {http://www.techscience.com/sl/v9n1/42901},
ISSN = {1944-6128},
ABSTRACT = {Zipper fracturing (‘zipper frac’) is a popular reservoir stimulation method
used to develop unconventional resources, particularly for tight sand oil, shale oil,
and shale gas. Adequately understanding the influence of neighboring stimulation
stages on generating the desired stimulated reservoir volume (SRV) has significant
impact on fracturing design. To discover the mechanism of interaction between
neighboring stimulation stages, numerical simulation was performed on the stimulation process step-by-step using the coupled hydro-mechanical Finite Element
Method. A continuum damage model is used to simulate fracture phenomena created by fluid injection used for reservoir stimulation.<br/>
Numerical results presented here include: 1) distribution of the fracture volume
shown with a contour of the continuum damage variable resulting from the injection flow; 2) pore pressure distribution corresponding to the end of a given stimulation stage; 3) contours of the horizontal stress components S-x and S-y.<br/>
A comparison of the numerical results of SRV indicates that for the zipper frac
method, the SRV generated by sequential injection is narrow and significantly less
than that generated by simultaneous injection. Numerical results also indicate that
due to the changes in geostress field caused by the neighboring injection, the SRV
created by stimulation in the central area of the submodel is much larger than that
created at the corner locations. Calibration and modeling of the initial damage field
also has significant impact on accurately modeling this multi-physics phenomenon
and will be the major subject of the next step of this study.},
DOI = {10.3970/sl.2013.009.001}
}