Steady flow towards a row of collinear hydraulic fractures

Abstract

Hydraulic fracturing is one of the most effective techniques for increasing the productivity of wells drilled in low permeability reservoirs and for alleviating near-wellbore formation damage. In the analysis of production schemes involving multiple fractured wells, the fracture is often assumed to be elliptical in shape or having a constant thickness. However, the shape of the hydraulic fracture can be more complicated and might significantly affect the productivity of the well system. In this paper, a simple production scheme consisting of a row of fractured wells is considered. The flow is assumed to be steady state and the governing equation is written in terms of the fluid flux entering the fractures. The Gauss-Chebyshev quadrature method is used to obtain a numerical solution for the fluid flux distribution along the fracture. The effects of fracture conductivity, well interference and fracture shape are investigated. It has been found that over a certain range of governing parameters, the shape of the fracture significantly influences the productivity of well system. The results justify the importance of modelling the shape of fractures to simulate the flow in a system of wells using numerical solvers.