IP Library Granted Patent US 12,331,623
Granted Patent B1
US 12,331,623 · App. 19/051,212 · Granted Jun 17, 2025

Methods for diagnosing control effectiveness of fracture heights in hydraulic fracturing by combining monitoring pressure signals

Inventors: Xiyu Chen (Chengdu, CN); Manqing Qian (Chengdu, CN); Yongming Li (Chengdu, CN); Jinzhou Zhao (Chengdu, CN); Xia Dan (Chengdu, CN); Linyao Yu (Chengdu, CN); Zhibo Yu (Chengdu, CN)
Assignee: SOUTHWEST PETROLEUM UNIVERSITY
E21B43/26E21B49/00
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,331,623
App. No.
19/051,212
Granted
Jun 17, 2025
Kind
B1
Abstract

The embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method for diagnosing control effectiveness of a fracture height in hydraulic fracturing by combining monitoring a pressure signal, comprising: obtaining engineering data and geological data; calculating a fracture slit fluid pressure, a double-logarithmic slope of the fracture slit fluid pressure, and a bedding fracture pressure; updating a growth time of the fracture height and a reference pressure based on the fracture height in hydraulic fracturing; based on determining whether a fracturing construction operation ends, updating the cumulative fracturing time or calculating a ratio of the growth time of the fracture height to the total time of hydraulic fracturing.

Claims (213)

1. A method for diagnosing control effectiveness of a fracture height in hydraulic fracturing by combining monitoring a pressure signal, comprising:

S1: obtaining engineering data and geological data of a target oil and gas well, denoting a cumulative fracturing time as t, and setting a time step for simulation computation as Δt, setting a reference pressure p r in an initial state as 0 Pa, and a growth time t p of the fracture height in the initial state as 0 s;

S2: calculating a fracture slit fluid pressure p frac at the cumulative fracturing time t and a double-logarithmic slope n of the fracture slit fluid pressure at the cumulative fracturing time, and calculating a bedding fracture pressure p e based on a bedding dip angle;

wherein the fracture slit fluid pressure p frac at the cumulative fracturing time t is calculated by a following equation:

p

frac

=

p

s

-

8

ρ

q

2

π

2

m

2

d

p

4

(

1

)

where p frac denotes the fracture slit fluid pressure at the cumulative fracturing time t in Pa; p s denotes a pressure inside a wellbore of a target fracturing section in Pa; ρ denotes a density of fracturing fluid in kg/m 3 ; q denotes a displacement of fracturing fluid of a perforation cluster in m 3 /s; m denotes a perforation number of the perforation cluster, which is dimensionless; and d p denotes a perforation diameter of the perforation cluster in m;

the double-logarithmic slope n of the fracture slit fluid pressure at the cumulative fracturing time is calculated by a following equation:

n

=

log

10

(

p

frac

-

p

r

1000000

)

log

10

(

Δ

t

)

(

2

)

where n denotes the double-logarithmic slope of the fracture slit fluid pressure, which is dimensionless; p r denotes the reference pressure in Pa; and Δt denotes the time step s;

the bedding fracture pressure p e is calculated by a following equation:

p

e

=

σ

min

+

σ

h

2

+

σ

min

-

σ

h

2

cos

(

π

-

2

α

)

+

R

t

(

3

)

where p e denotes the bedding fracture pressure in Pa; σ min denotes a minimum horizontal principal stress in Pa; σ h denotes a vertical stress in Pa; α denotes the bedding dip angle in rad; and R t denotes a bedding tensile strength in Pa;

S3: determining whether the fracture height in hydraulic fracturing grows at the cumulative fracturing time t based on the fracture slit fluid pressure p frac , the double-logarithmic slope n of the fracture slit fluid pressure, and the bedding fracture pressure p e :

in response to p frac >pe and |n|<0.1, determining the fracture height in hydraulic fracturing not growing at the cumulative fracturing time t; and

in response to p frac ≤pe or |n|≥0.1, determining the fracture height in hydraulic fracturing growing at the cumulative fracturing time t, updating the growth time t p of the fracture height to t p +Δt, and updating the reference pressure p r to p frac ;

S4: determining whether a fracturing construction operation ends based on the cumulative fracturing time t and a total time of hydraulic fracturing T a :

in response to t<T a , determining the fracturing construction operation not ending, updating the cumulative fracturing time t to t+Δt, and repeating step S2 to step S4; and

in response to t≥T a , determining the fracturing construction operation ending and proceeding to S5; and

S5: calculating a ratio G of the growth time t p of the fracture height to the total time of hydraulic fracturing T a , and diagnosing the control effectiveness of the fracture height based on the ratio G, wherein the smaller the ratio G is, the better the control effectiveness of the fracture height is.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step S3 further includes:

in response to determining the fracture height hydraulic fracturing not growing at the cumulative fracturing time t, determining an acquisition frequency of a pressure sensor based on a current fracture height in hydraulic fracturing and controlling the pressure sensor to reacquire a pressure at a wellhead based on the acquisition frequency.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step S5 further includes:

in response to determining the control effectiveness of the fracture height being less than a preset effectiveness threshold value, determining an updated injection rate; and

pumping the fracturing fluid to the wellbore at the updated injection rate by controlling a fracturing device to regulate a pumping pressure.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein in the step S1, the engineering data includes a length of the wellbore L w between an oil and gas wellhead and the target fracturing section, a hydrostatic pressure p g between the oil and gas wellhead and the target fracturing section, an inner diameter D of the wellbore, a number N of a perforation cluster of the target fracturing section, a perforation number m of the perforation cluster, and a perforation diameter d p of the perforation cluster, a total displacement Q of the fracturing fluid, a viscosity of μ the fracturing fluid, a density ρ of the fracturing fluid, a concentration G c of a thickening agent, a concentration G p of a proppant, and the total time of hydraulic fracturing T a ; and

the geological data includes the minimum horizontal principal stress σ min , the vertical stress σ h , the bedding dip angle α, and the bedding tensile strength R t .

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the pressure inside the wellbore of the target fracturing section p s is calculated by a following equation:

p s =p o −p f +p g   (4)

where p o denotes a pressure monitored at a wellhead in Pa; p f denotes a frictional resistance of the fracturing fluid flowing along the wellbore in Pa; and p g denotes the hydrostatic pressure p g between an oil and gas wellhead and the target fracturing section in Pa.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the frictional resistance p f of the fracturing fluid flowing along the wellbore is calculated by a following equation:

p f =σp c   (5)

where σ denotes a drag reduction ratio, which is dimensionless; and p c denotes a frictional resistance of clear water flowing along the wellbore in Pa.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the drag reduction ratio σ is calculated by a following equation:

ln

(

1

σ

)

=

2.20323

-

2.4457

u

-

0.6016

G

c

u

-

0.1639

ln

G

c

-

2.3367

*

10

-

4

G

p

e

0.11983

G

c

(

6

)

where u denotes a flow rate of the fracturing fluid in the wellbore in m/s; G c denotes a concentration of a thickening agent in kg/m 3 ; and G p denotes a concentration of a proppant in kg/m 3 ; and

the frictional resistance p c of the clear water flowing along the wellbore is calculated by a following equation:

p

c

=

2

f

ρ

u

2

L

w

2

D

(

7

)

where f denotes a Fanning friction factor, which is dimensionless; u denotes the flow rate of the fracturing fluid in the wellbore in m/s; L w denotes a length of the wellbore between the oil and gas wellhead and the target fracturing section in m; and D denotes an inner diameter of the wellbore in m.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the Fanning friction factor f is calculated by a following equation:

f

=

0.046

Re

-

0.2

(

8

)

Re

=

ρ

uD

μ

(

9

)

where Re denotes Reynolds number of flow of the fracturing fluid, which is dimensionless; and μ denotes a viscosity of the fracturing fluid in Pa·s.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the flow rate u of the fracturing fluid in the wellbore is calculated by a following equation:

u

=

1.2732

Q

D

2

(

10

)

where Q denotes the total displacement of the fracturing fluid in m 3 /s.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the displacement q of the fracturing fluid of the perforation cluster is calculated by a following equation:

q

=

Q

N

(

11

)

where Q denotes the total displacement of the fracturing fluid in m 3 /s; and N denotes a number of the perforation cluster of the target fracturing section, which is dimensionless.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein in the step S5, when diagnosing the control effectiveness of the fracture height based on the ratio G, setting a threshold value of the control effectiveness of the fracture height, including a threshold value I and a threshold value II which is greater than the threshold value I, and specific diagnostics criteria are as follows:

in response to determining that G is less than or equal to the threshold value I, determining the control effectiveness of the fracture height is effective;

in response to determining that G is greater than the threshold value I and less than or equal to the threshold value II, determining the control effectiveness of the fracture height is moderate; and

in response to determining that G is greater than the threshold value II, determining the control effectiveness of the fracture height is less effective.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Apr 25, 2025
From: CHEN, XIYU; QIAN, MANQING; LI, YONGMING; ZHAO, JINZHOU; DAN, XIA; YU, LINYAO; YU, ZHIBO
To: SOUTHWEST PETROLEUM UNIVERSITY
Reel/Frame 070940/0840 →
Priority Claims (1)
CN 202411165040.1 · Aug 23, 2024 · national
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