Influences of proppant concentration and fracturing fluids on proppant-embedment behavior for inhomogeneous rock medium: An experimental and numerical study

Abstract

Proppant plays a vital role in hydraulic fracturing in tight oil/gas production because it helps to keep the fractures open during the production process. However, it is common for proppant embedment, the main type of proppant degradation, to occur under high compression load, which greatly reduces the fracture conductivity, and consequently reduces the production rate. During the process of hydraulic fracturing, the fracturing fluid only has the chance to contact and infiltrate the fractures that are in the top surface of the rock medium because of ultralow rock permeability and the short time of fluid existence, whereas the condition of other parts of the rock remain unchanged, creating in..