Yinghao Shen

Experimental investigation of shale imbibition capacity and the factors influencing loss of hydraulic fracturing fluids

Spontaneous imbibition of water-based fracturing fluids into the shale matrix is considered to be the main mechanism responsible for the high volume of water loss during the flowback period. Understanding the matrix imbibition capacity and rate helps to determine the fracturing fluid volume, optimize the flowback design, and to analyze the influences on the production of shale gas. Imbibition experiments were conducted on shale samples from the Sichuan Basin, and some tight sandstone samples from the Ordos Basin. Tight volcanic samples from the Songliao Basin were also investigated for comparison. The effects of porosity, clay minerals, surfactants, and KCl solutions on the matrix imbibition capacity and rate were systematically investigated. The results show that the imbibition characteristic of tight rocks can be characterized by the imbibition curve shape, the imbibition capacity, the imbibition rate, and the diffusion rate. The driving forces of water imbibition are the capillary pressure and the clay absorption force. For the tight rocks with low clay contents, the imbibition capacity and rate are positively correlated with the porosity. For tight rocks with high clay content, the type and content of clay minerals are the most important factors affecting the imbibition capacity. The imbibed water volume normalized by the porosity increases with an increasing total clay content. Smectite and illite/smectite tend to greatly enhance the water imbibition capacity. Furthermore, clay-rich tight rocks can imbibe a volume of water greater than their measured pore volume. The average ratio of the imbibed water volume to the pore volume is approximately 1.1 in the Niutitang shale, 1.9 in the Lujiaping shale, 2.8 in the Longmaxi shale, and 4.0 in the Yingcheng volcanic rock, and this ratio can be regarded as a parameter that indicates the influence of clay. In addition, surfactants can change the imbibition capacity due to alteration of the capillary pressure and wettability. A 10 wt% KCl solution can inhibit clay absorption to reduce the imbibition capacity.

ANALYSIS OF SPONTANEOUS IMBIBITION IN FRACTAL TREE-LIKE NETWORK SYSTEM

Spontaneous imbibition in porous media is common in nature, imbibition potential is very important for understanding the imbibition ability, or the ability to keep high imbibition rate for a long time. Structure parameters have influence on imbibition potential. This work investigates the process of spontaneous imbibition of liquid into a fractal tree-like network, taking fractal structure parameters into consideration. The analytical expression for dimensionless imbibition rate with this fractal tree-like network is derived. The influence of structure parameters on imbibition potential is discussed. It is found that optimal diameter ratio β is important for networks to have imbibition potential. Moreover, with liquid imbibed in more sub-branches, some structures of parameter combinations will show the characteristic of imbibition potential gradually. Finally, a parameter plane is made to visualize the percentage of good parameter in all possible combinations and to evaluate the imbibition potential of a specific network system more directly. It is also helpful to design and to optimize a fractal network with good imbibition potential.

ANALYSIS OF CAPILLARY RISE IN ASYMMETRIC BRANCH-LIKE CAPILLARY

Transport in porous media is common in nature, attracting many attentions for a long time. Tree-like network model is often used as a simplification for porous space, expressing the complexity of pore spaces instead of capillary bundle. To investigate spontaneous imbibition characteristics in this network, a dynamic asymmetric branch-like capillary model is used to represent basic network structure, using fractal method to represent tortuosity. This work investigates the influence of parameters on imbibition process in the branch-like capillary model. An analytical equation for the imbibition mass versus time is derived. Parameters from capillary structures to liquid properties are taken into account and analyzed based on the numerical solution of the equation. It is found that the imbibition process in asymmetric branch-like capillary model can be recognized by four sections and brunching tubes are positive for imbibition process. Concomitantly, meniscus arrest event is simulated and discussed. Moreover, the influence of parameters on imbibition process is discussed. These parameters can be classified as static and dynamic. Static parameters mainly change the capillary force, which are related to the ultimate imbibition mass or imbibition ability, while dynamic parameters mainly have influence on resistance of flowing fluid, which are related to the imbibition speed in the imbibition process.

SPONTANEOUS IMBIBITION PROCESS IN MICRO–NANO FRACTAL CAPILLARIES CONSIDERING SLIP FLOW

An imbibition process of water into a matrix is required to investigate the influences of large-volume fracturing fluids on gas production of unconventional formations. Slip flow has been recognized by recent studies as a major mechanism of fluid transport in nanotubes. For nanopores in shale, a slip boundary is nonnegligible in the imbibition process. In this study, we established an analytic equation of spontaneous imbibition considering slip effects in capillaries. A spontaneous imbibition model that couples the analytic equation considering the slip effect was constructed based on fractal theory. We then used a model for various conditions, such as slip boundary, pore structure, and fractal dimension of pore tortuosity, to capture the imbibition characteristics considering the slip effect. A dynamic contact angle was integrated into the modeling. Results of our study verify that the slip boundary influences water imbibition significantly. The imbibition speed is significantly improved when slip length...

Impact of Petrophysical Properties on Hydraulic Fracturing and Development in Tight Volcanic Gas Reservoirs

The volcanic reservoir is an important kind of unconventional reservoir. The aqueous phase trapping (APT) appears because of fracturing fluids filtration. However, APT can be autoremoved for some wells after certain shut-in time. But there is significant distinction for different reservoirs. Experiments were performed to study the petrophysical properties of a volcanic reservoir and the spontaneous imbibition is monitored by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and pulse-decay permeability. Results showed that natural cracks appear in the samples as well as high irreducible water saturation. There is a quick decrease of rock permeability once the rock contacts water. The pores filled during spontaneous imbibition are mainly the nanopores from NMR spectra. Full understanding of the mineralogical effect and sample heterogeneity benefits the selection of segments to fracturing. The fast flow-back scheme is applicable in this reservoir to minimize the damage. Because lots of water imbibed into the nanopores, the main flow channels become larger, which are beneficial to the permeability recovery after flow-back of hydraulic fracturing. This is helpful in understanding the APT autoremoval after certain shut-in time. Also, Keeping the appropriate production differential pressure is very important in achieving the long term efficient development of volcanic gas reservoirs.

Impact of Capillary Imbibition Into Shale on Lost Gas Volume

We have investigated the features of the shale imbibition process for different drilling fluid parameters, using as an example Chang-7 shale in the Yanchang region of Erdos Basin, as is needed to study the effect of the mechanism for imbibition of drilling fluid filtrate on gas yield and on the lost gas calculation. It has been established that capillary imbibition of drilling fluid filtrate occurs in three stages: the early stage, in which the imbibition rate is high; the middle stage, which is controlled by the shale matrix and has low imbibition rate; and the late stage (diffusion stage), which lasts the longest. Capillary imbibition increases the gas dissipation rate from the rock sample, which results in 10%-20% error in the lost gas calculation. In order to maintain the gas-bearing properties of the formation and to reduce lost gas, we need to optimize the properties of the drilling fluid to reduce the impact of capillary imbibition.

Improving Decline-curve Analysis of Low-permeability Gas Wells Using Type Curves

The authors present a rigorous method to analyze and interpret production rate and pressure data of low-permeability gas wells using type curves. The method is based on the type curve analysis method presented by Blasingame et al. (1991), but imports the wellbore storage coefficient, which influences the flow behavior of low-permeability gas wells significantly, for the first time. This work fills a significant void in the inventory of decline curve type curves, and the method is applicable to production analysis for cases taken from low-permeability gas wells.

Research and Application of Deconvolution in Well Test Analysis of Extra-low Permeability Sandstone Reservoirs

Abstract For extra-low permeability sandstone reservoirs, traditional well test analysis techniques are always limited by wellbore storage coefficient and the low flow velocity in the porous media. Results derived using traditional well test analysis techniques are meaningless or useless. A deconvolution method based on the newly robust solution algorithms is applied for extra-low permeability sandstone reservoirs. Deconvolution codes were developed based on von Schroeter deconvolution algorithm and Levitan deconvolution algorithm. Though the study is based on synthetic cases and a field case, it is proved that the deconvolution algorithm works well in well test analysis of extra-low permeability sandstone reservoirs.

Spontaneous imbibition in fractal tortuous micro-nano pores considering dynamic contact angle and slip effect: phase portrait analysis and analytical solutions

Shales have abundant micro-nano pores. Meanwhile, a considerable amount of fracturing liquid is imbibed spontaneously in the hydraulic fracturing process. The spontaneous imbibition in tortuous micro-nano pores is special to shale, and dynamic contact angle and slippage are two important characteristics. In this work, we mainly investigate spontaneous imbibition considering dynamic contact angle and slip effect in fractal tortuous capillaries. We introduce phase portrait analysis to analyse the dynamic state and stability of imbibition. Moreover, analytical solutions to the imbibition equation are derived under special situations, and the solutions are verified by published data. Finally, we discuss the influences of slip length, dynamic contact angle and gravity on spontaneous imbibition. The analysis shows that phase portrait is an ideal tool for analysing spontaneous imbibition because it can evaluate the process without solving the complex governing ordinary differential equations. Moreover, dynamic contact angle and slip effect play an important role in fluid imbibition in fractal tortuous capillaries. Neglecting slip effect in micro-nano pores apparently underestimates imbibition capability, and ignoring variations in contact angle causes inaccuracy in predicting imbibition speed at the initial stage of the process. Finally, gravity is one of the factors that control the stabilisation of the imbibition process.

Ion Diffusion Behavior between Fracturing Water and Shale and Its Potential Influence on Production

Water imbibition, conductivity measurements, and ion identification were performed to investigate ion diffusion behavior between slick water and shale for large-scale hydraulic fracturing. The results indicated that there was strong ion exchange between water and shale. The ion concentration in water increases with fracture complexity and is dependent on the salinity of fracturing fluids. This implies that fracturing effects could be forecast from flow-back fluid ion concentrations after large-scale slick water fracturing. Higher levels of ion diffusion imply the presence of larger fracturing areas and higher level of fracture density for a similar reservoir. The mechanism of ion diffusion and the corresponding effects on IOR (increased oil recovery) based on a field example are discussed.