Experimental Research on the Conductivity of a Fracture Influenced by Fiber

Abstract

The conductivity of fracture is significant for fractured well production. In order to study the influence of glass fiber, which is used for preventing proppant flowback on conductivity of proppant, the conductivities of various proppants were tested by applying FCES-100 device, thus grasping the law of proppant conductivity change with fiber and fracturing fluid residues. The experimental results indicate that the law is similar for various proppants. The fiber is nearly no influence on proppant conductivity under lower pressure. However the influence of fiber becomes prominent when increasing pressure. The conductivity of proppant decreases about 30–40% caused by fiber when the pressure reaches 70 MPa. Fracturing fluid residues can reduce the conductivity of proppant more than 50% and combined with fiber the conductivity of proppant can be reduced more than 70%. So it is suggested that fiber should not be used for preventing proppant flowback in high closure pressure reservoir.