Fracturediagnostictechniques

Fracturediagnosticsinvolvesanalyzingthedatabefore,during,andafterahydraulicfracturetreatmenttodeterminetheshapeanddimensionsofboththecreatedandpropped
fracture.Fracturediagnostictechniquesaredividedintoseveralgroups.[1]

Contents
1Directfarfieldtechniques
2Directnearwellboretechniques
3Indirectfracturetechniques
3.1Limitationsoffracturediagnostictechniques
4Netpressureanalysis
5Nomenclature
6References
7NoteworthypapersinOnePetro
8Externallinks
9Seealso
10Category

Directfarfieldtechniques
Directfarfieldmethodsconsistsoftiltmeterfracturemappingandmicroseismicfracturemappingtechniques.Thesetechniquesrequiresophisticatedinstrumentationembeddedin
boreholessurroundingthewelltobefracturetreated.Whenahydraulicfractureiscreated,theexpansionofthefracturecausestheeartharoundthefracturetodeform.Tiltmeterscan
beusedtomeasurethedeformationandtocomputetheapproximatedirectionandsizeofthecreatedfracture.Surfacetiltmetersareplacedinshallowholessurroundingthewell.
Downholetiltmetersareplacedinverticalwellsatdepthsnearthezonetobefracturetreated.Aswithsurfacetiltmeters,downholetiltmeterdataareanalyzedtodeterminethe
orientationanddimensionsofthecreatedfracture.
Microseismicfracturemappingreliesonadownholereceiverarrayofaccelerometersorgeophonestolocatemicroseismsormicroearthquakesthataretriggeredbyshearslippagein
naturalfracturessurroundingthehydraulicfracture.Fig.1illustratestheprincipleofmicroseismicfracturemapping.[1]Inessence,noiseiscreatedinazonesurroundingthe
hydraulicfracture.Withsensitivearraysofinstruments,thenoisecanbemonitored,recorded,analyzed,andmapped.

(/File%3AVol4prt_Page_355_Image_0001.png)
Fig.1Principleofmicroseismicfracture
mapping.

Althoughdirectfarfieldtechniquescanbeusedtomaphydraulicfractures,thetechnologyisstillunderdevelopment.Whenthetechnologyisusedinafield,thedataandknowledge
gainedareoftenusedonsubsequentwellstospreadoutthecosts.Knowingthefractureorientationisusefulinplanningfielddevelopmentandinoptimizingfuturefracture
treatments.

Directnearwellboretechniques
Directnearwellboretechniquesareruninthewellthatisbeingfracturetreatedtolocateorimagetheportionoffracturethatisverynear(withininchesof)thewellbore.Directnear
wellboretechniquesconsistoftracer,temperature,production,boreholeimage,downholevideo,andcaliperlogs.Ifahydraulicfractureintersectsthewellbore,thesedirectnear
wellboretechniquescanbeofsomebenefitinlocatingthehydraulicfracture.
However,thesenearwellboretechniquesarenotuniqueandcannotsupplyinformationonthesizeorshapeofthefractureoncethefractureistwotothreewellborediametersin
distancefromthewellbore.Innaturallyfracturedreservoirs,inwhichmultiplefracturesarelikelytoexist,thereliabilityofdirectnearwellboretechniquesareevenmorespeculative.
Assuch,directnearwellboretechniquesareusedonlytofindwherethehydraulicfractureexitedthewellboreandtomapthefracturethatisessentiallyconnecteddirectlytothe
wellbore.

Indirectfracturetechniques
Indirectfracturetechniquesconsistof:
Hydraulicfracturemodelingofnetpressures
Pressuretransienttestanalyses
Productiondataanalyses
Becausethefracturetreatmentdataandthepostfractureproductiondataarenormallyavailableoneverywell,theindirectfracturediagnostictechniquesarethemostwidelyused
methodstodeterminetheshapeanddimensionsofboththecreatedandtheproppedhydraulicfracture.

Thefracturetreatmentdatacanbeanalyzedwithapseudothreedimensional(P3D)fracturepropagationmodel(/Fracture_propagation_models)todeterminetheshapeand
dimensionsofthecreatedfracture.TheP3Dmodelisusedtohistorymatchthefracturingdata,suchasinjectionratesandinjectionpressures.Data,suchastheinsitustressand
permeabilityinkeylayersofrock,canbevaried(withinreason)toachieveahistorymatchofthefielddata.
Postfractureproductionandpressuredatacanbeanalyzedwitha3Dreservoirsimulatortoestimatetheshapeanddimensionsoftheproppedfracture.Valuesofformation
permeability,fracturelength,andfractureconductivity(/Propping_agents_and_fracture_conductivity#Factors_affecting_fracture_conductivity)canbevariedinthereservoirmodel
toachieveahistorymatchofthefielddata.
Themainlimitationsoftheseindirecttechniquesarethatthesolutionsmaynotbeuniqueandmayrequireasmuchfixeddataaspossible.Forexample,iftheengineerhasdetermined
theformationpermeabilityfromawelltestorproductiontestbeforethefracturetreatment,sothatthevalueofformationpermeabilityisknownandcanbefixedinthemodels,the
solutionconcerningvaluesoffracturelengthbecomemoreunique.Mostoftheinformationintheliteratureconcerningpostfractureanalysesofhydraulicfractureshasbeenderived
withtheseindirectfracturediagnostictechniques.

Limitationsoffracturediagnostictechniques
Warpinskidiscussedmanyofthesesamefracturediagnostictechniques.[2]Table1listscertaindiagnostictechniquesandtheirlimitations.[2]Fracturediagnostictechniquesdowork
andcanprovideimportantdatawhenenteringanewareaoranewformation.Inmostcases,however,fracturediagnosticsisexpensive,whichlimitsitswidespreaduseinindustry.
Inthefuture,ifcostsarereduced,fracturediagnosticsmaybecomemorewidelyapplied.

(/File%3AVol4prt_Page_357_Image_0001.png)
Table1LimitationsofFractureDiagnostic
Techniques

Netpressureanalysis
Netpressureisdefinedasthepressureinthefractureminustheinsitustress.NolteandSmith[3]publishedaclassicpaperthatcanbeusedtointerpretnetpressurebehaviorinthe
fieldorafterthetreatmenttodetermineestimatesoffracturegrowthpatterns.TheiranalysismethodusesthePerkinsKernNordgren(PKN)theory,whichassumesthataslongasthe
fractureheightiscontained,thenetpressurewillincreasewithtimeaccordingto
(/File%3AVol4_page_0356_eq_001.png)....................(1)
where1/8<e<1/5,andslopee=1/5forlowleakoffand1/8forhighleakoff.
WhenNolteandSmithbegananalyzingbottomholepressuredatacollectedduringfracturetreatments,theyfoundthatthePKNtheoryheldforcertainsituations,butotherfracture
propagationmodeswereobserved.Fig.2[4]summarizestheirfindings.InFig.2,ModeIconformstoEq.1however,threeothermodeswereidentifiedbyanalyzingfielddata.

(/File%3AVol4prt_Page_358_Image_0001.png)
Fig.2Interpretationoffracturingpressures.[4]

ModeIIconformstoeitherstableheightgrowthorincreasedfluidloss.ModeIIfracturingisnotunusual,norisitcauseforconcern.LateralfracturegrowthduringModeIIisless
thanModeI,butthefractureisstillbeingpropagatedandcanbefilledwithproppant.
Whentheslopeofthegraphoflog(pn)vs.log(t)increasestoaunitslope(ModeIII),thenthefracturehasstoppedpropagatinginlength,andthefractureisbeinginflatedasthenet
pressureincreases.Thisisthedesiredbehaviorifatipscreenouttreatmenthasbeendesigned.DuringModeIII,itisstillpossibletopackthefracturewithproppanthowever,the
pressurehastobemonitoredcloselytobecertainthemaximumallowablesurfaceinjectionpressureisnotexceeded.ModeIVoccurswhenthefractureheightisincreasingrapidly.
Normally,rapidheightgrowthisnotdesirable,andthefracturetreatmentshouldbeflushedandterminatedifModeIVisreachedduringthetreatment.
Thepressuresanalyzedina"netpressuregraph,"suchasFig.2,arebottomholepressuresandshouldbecorrectedfornearwellborepressuredrops.Fig3showsthepressuresinthe
entiresystem.Duringeveryfracturetreatment,thesurfacepressurecanbemeasured.Oncertainwells,thebottomholetreatingpressure(BHTP),whichisthepressureinsidethe
wellboreattheperforations,canbemeasured.IftheBHTPisnotmeasureddirectly,thenthatvaluemustbecomputedwiththesurfacepressureandtheestimatesofpipefrictionand

hydrostatichead.Thehydrostaticheadcanbeestimatedaccurately,evenwhenproppingagentsarebeingadded,becauseadensitometerisusedtomeasurethedensityoftheslurryas
itispumped.Problemsmayoccurintryingtoestimatethepipefrictionwhenusingcrosslinkedpolymerfluidscontainingproppingagents.Significanterrorscanoccurinthepipe
frictionestimateswhenhighproppantconcentrations(>
4ppg)arebeingpumped.

(/File%3AVol4prt_Page_359_Image_0001.png)
Fig.3Wellboreandnearwellborehydraulics.

IftheBHTPiscomputedormeasuredsuccessfully,thenearwellborepressuredropmustbesubtractedtodeterminethepressureinthefracturenearthewellbore,pf.Thepressurein
thefracturenearthewellboreisthevaluethatmustbeknownandanalyzedtodeterminethewidth,height,andlengthofthefracturewitheithernetpressuretheoryorP3Dfracture
propagationmodels.Thenearwellborepressuredropiscomposedoftwoparts:theperforationfrictionandtortuosity.Byrunningastepdowntestbeforethemainfracturetreatment,
thenearwellborepressuredropoftencanbeestimatedaccurately.Oneproblemisthattheperforationfrictionandthetortuositypressuredropcanchangeduringthetreatmentasthe
proppingagentisintroduced.Theproppingagentcanerodeperforationsorplugsomeofthepathwaysthatarecausingthetortuositypressuredrops.Attheendofthetreatment,the
pressuredataneedtobeanalyzedasthepumpsareshutdowntodetermineifthenearwellborepressuredrophaschangedduringthetreatment.

Nomenclature
'pn = criticalnetpressure,m/Lt2
t = changeintime,t

References
1. 1.01.1Cipolla,C.L.andWright,C.A.2000.StateoftheArtinHydraulicFractureDiagnostics.PresentedattheSPEAsiaPacificOilandGasConferenceandExhibition,
Brisbane,Australia,1618October.SPE64434MS.http://dx.doi.org/10.2118/64434MS(http://dx.doi.org/10.2118/64434MS).
2. 2.02.1Warpinski,N.R.1996.HydraulicFractureDiagnostics.SPEJournalofPetroleumTechnology48(10):907910.SPE36361MS.http://dx.doi.org/10.2118/36361MS
(http://dx.doi.org/10.2118/36361MS).
3. Nolte,K.G.andSmith,M.G.1981.InterpretationofFracturingPressures.JPetTechnol33(9):17671775.SPE8297PA.http://dx.doi.org/10.2118/8297PA
(http://dx.doi.org/10.2118/8297PA).
4. 4.04.1Williams,B.B.,Gidley,J.L.,andSchechter,R.S.1979.AcidizingFundamentals,55.NewYork:SPE/AIME.

NoteworthypapersinOnePetro
SPE84491PAP_ClosingtheGapFractureHalfLengthfromDesign,Buildup,andProductionAnalysis(Barree,Cox,Gilbert,Dobson)
SPE77442MS_APracticalGuidetoHydraulicFractureDiagnosticTechnologies(Barree,Fisher,Woodroof)
SPE168603MS_IntegratedadvanceddiagnosticsofHydraulicFracturing

Externallinks
RecentAdvancesInHydraulicFracturing(http://store.spe.org/RecentAdvancesInHydraulicFracturingP66.aspx)
http://www.barree.net/images/documents/c5prefracinjectiontests.pdf(http://www.barree.net/images/documents/c5prefracinjectiontests.pdf)

Seealso
Hydraulicfracturing(/Hydraulic_fracturing)
Fracturemechanics(/Fracture_mechanics)
Fracturetreatmentdesign(/Fracture_treatment_design)
Proppingagentsandfractureconductivity(/Propping_agents_and_fracture_conductivity)
Postfracturewellbehavior(/Postfracture_well_behavior)
PEH:Hydraulic_Fracturing(/PEH%3AHydraulic_Fracturing)

Category
Categories(/Special%3ACategories): 2.5Hydraulicfracturing(/Category%3A2.5_Hydraulic_fracturing) YR(/Category%3AYR)

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