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Optimized Cluster Design in Hydraulic Fracture Stimulation

Conference Paper · January 2015

DOI: 10.2118/178681-MS

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8 authors, including:

Randolph Settgast Ghazal Izadi

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Baker Hughes Incorporated
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Scott Johnson Stuart Duncan Christopher Walsh

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Monash University (Australia)
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 URTeC: 2172691

Optimized Cluster Design in Hydraulic Fracture Stimulation

Randolph R. Settgast1, Ghazal Izadi2, Robert S. Hurt2, Hyunil Jo2,4, Scott M. Johnson1,4,
Stuart D. C. Walsh1, Daniel Moos2, Fredrick Ryerson1
1. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory; 2. Baker Hughes Incorporated; 3. BHP
Billiton; 4. Applied Numerics LLC
Copyright 2015, Unconventional Resources Technology Conference (URTeC) DOI 10.15530/urtec-2015-2172691

This paper was prepared for presentation at the Unconventional Resources Technology Conference held in San Antonio, Texas, USA, 20-22 July 2015.

The URTeC Technical Program Committee accepted this presentation on the basis of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). The contents of this paper
have not been reviewed by URTeC and URTeC does not warrant the accuracy, reliability, or timeliness of any information herein. All information is the responsibility of, and, is
subject to corrections by the author(s). Any person or entity that relies on any information obtained from this paper does so at their own risk. The information herein does not
necessarily reflect any position of URTeC. Any reproduction, distribution, or storage of any part of this paper without the written consent of URTeC is prohibited.

Introduction

Design decisions for the layout and properties of perforation clusters in a hydraulic fracture stimulation job are
typically based on idealizations that treat the fractures originating from each cluster identically. However,
simulations of multi-clustered hydraulic fracturing stages have shown that some perforation clusters may be
rendered ineffective due to an increase in confining stresses (i.e. stress shadow) induced by hydraulic fractures
originating from neighboring clusters. Two methods to counteract the effects the inter-cluster hydraulic fracture
interaction are using non-uniform cluster spacing, and varying the frictional properties of the perforation clusters
themselves as investigated in [1], [2].

In this work, the authors present a method for the evaluation of the effects that cluster spacing and frictional
properties of perforation clusters have on the propagation of hydraulic fractures during a stimulation stage. This
approach is done through the application of the hydraulic fracture simulation capabilities of the GEOS simulation
framework, developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. GEOS provides a hybrid Finite Element
Method/Finite Volume Method that fully couples the mechanics of rock deformation, the flow of fluid through the
crack, and fluid flow through the rock matrix. This capability allows for the development of a method for the
optimal design of hydraulic fracture stimulation staging that relies on basic engineering principles. For a given set of
site properties, multiple simulations are performed with variations in cluster spacing, cluster configuration, fluid
properties, and pumping pressure/rate.

Methods

In order to study the optimal design of a hydraulic fracturing stimulation, the interaction of hydraulic fractures
within a stage, including both the hydraulic competition in obtaining fluid from a common source and mechanical
competition/suppression through the stress shadowing effect, must be appropriately modeled. In this study, the
authors utilize LLNL’s GEOS, a fully coupled 3- dimensional finite element/finite volume simulation tool [1], [2].
The hydraulic fracture capabilities in LLNL’s GEOS have been verified against theoretical solutions for simple
geometries [3], [4] and validated against simple experiments [5] in previous publications [6]–[8].

In GEOS, the response of the solid rock matrix is modeled by applying a finite element method to the equations of
motion for a continuum as specified in

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