Title: A PKN hydraulic fracturing model with piecewise fluid rheology
Abstract: Viscoelastic surfactant (VES) based fracturing fluids have shown distinct rheological characteristics from conventional polymer based fluids. A nearly constant shear stress plateau is commonly observed in the shear stress versus shear strain rate curve of the VES fracturing fluids. In this paper, a piecewise power law model is first proposed to describe the rheology of these fluids. A solution of Poiseuille flow with the piecewise rheology is then derived and implemented into the PKN hydraulic fracturing model. The effect of rheology on the fracturing process is evaluated numerically by using an explicit moving mesh algorithm. The numerical solutions with the piecewise rheology are then compared with those from power law models with parameters deduced from different shear strain rate ranges. The results indicate that the conventional averaged power law model may be inadequate to yield an accurate prediction for the fracture geometry due to the limited shear strain rate range sampled.
Publication Year: 2004
Publication Date: 2004-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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Cited By Count: 5
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