IP Library Granted Patent US 12692775
Granted Patent B2
US 12692775 · App. 19/039,669 · Granted Jul 28, 2026

Estimation of pipe friction and stage resistance based on pressure temporal gradient

Inventors: Derek Shelby Bale (Houston, TX); Zhijie Sun (Houston, TX)
Assignee: Halliburton Energy Services, Inc.
E21B43/26E21B47/06G01V1/50G01V2210/624
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12692775
App. No.
19/039,669
Granted
Jul 28, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

A method for evaluating one or more properties of a wellbore. The method may include generating a tube wave in a wellbore, measuring a pressure created by the tube wave at a wellhead and creating a time-domain model based at least in part on the pressure. The method may further include identifying a Darcy factor and a stage resistance based at least in part on the time-domain model.

Claims (76)

1 . A method comprising:

generating a tube wave in a tubular of a wellbore;

measuring a pressure created by the tube wave at a wellhead;

creating a time-domain model based at least in part on the pressure; and

identifying a Darcy factor, wherein the Darcy factor is found using

α

=

fLQ

0

2

V

w

DA

,

 where the α is a pipe friction, f is a friction factor, L is a length of one or more tubulars in the wellbore, Q o is a flow rate, V w is a speed of the tube wave in the tubular, D is a diameter of the tubular, and A is an a cross sectional area of the tubular:

and a stage resistance based at least in part on the time-domain model.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising altering frac operations based at least in part on the Darcy factor of the stage resistance.

3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising altering treatment parameters such as proppant concentration, pumping rate, or completions design, based at least in part on the Darcy factor or the stage resistance.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the pressure is measured by one or more transducers disposed on a wellhead of the wellbore.

5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising inverting the pressure.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the time-domain model is a best fit model.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the stage resistance is an aggregate resistance of one or more perforations in the wellbore.

8 . A non-transitory machine-readable medium having data stored therein representing a software executable by a computer, the software executable comprising instructions configured to:

recording from a transducer one or more measurements a pressure created by a tube wave in a tubular of a wellbore at a wellhead;

creating a time-domain model based at least in part on the pressure; and

identifying a Darcy factor and a stage resistance based at least in part on the time-domain model, wherein the stage resistance is found using

R

=

RA

ρ

0

V

w

,

 where R is the stage resistance, R is a resistance in a tubular, A is a cross sectional area of the tubular, ρ 0 is a fluid density, and V w is a speed of the tube wave in the tubular.

9 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 8 , further comprising altering frac operations based at least in part on the Darcy factor of the stage resistance.

10 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 8 , further comprising altering treatment parameters such as proppant concentration, pumping rate, or completions design, based at least in part on the Darcy factor or the stage resistance.

11 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the transducer is disposed on the wellhead of the wellbore.

12 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 8 , further comprising inverting the pressure.

13 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the time-domain model is a best fit model.

14 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the Darcy factor is found using

α

=

fLQ

0

2

V

w

DA

,

where the α is a pipe friction, f is a friction factor, L is a length of one or more tubulars in the wellbore, Q o is a flow rate, V w is a speed of the tube wave in the tubular, D is a diameter of the tubular, and A is an a cross sectional area of the tubular.

15 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the stage resistance is an aggregate resistance of one or more perforations in the wellbore.

16 . A system comprising:

a transducer to measure a pressure created by a tube wave at a wellhead; and

an information handling system connected to the transducer and configured to:

create a time-domain model based at least in part on the pressure; and

identify a Darcy factor and a stage resistance based at least in part on the time-domain model, wherein the stage resistance is found using

R

=

RA

ρ

0

V

w

,

 where R is the stage resistance, R is a resistance in the tubular, A is a cross sectional area of the tubular, ρ 0 is a fluid density, and V w is a speed of the tube wave in the tubular.

17 . The system of claim 16 , wherein the information handling system is further configured to alter a frac operation based at least in part on the Darcy factor of the stage resistance.

18 . The system of claim 16 , wherein the transducer disposed on the well head is configured to measure the pressure.

19 . The system of claim 16 , wherein the transducer disposed on the well head is configured to measure the tube wave.

20 . The system of claim 16 , wherein the information handling system is configured to alter frac operations based at least in part on the Darcy factor of the stage resistance.