Hydrofracture plugging mechanisms and evaluation methods during temporary plugging and diverting fracturing

Abstract

AbstractTemporary plugging and diverting fracturing (TPDF) technique shows great advantages in stimulating unconventional oil and gas reserves. Revealing the fracture plugging mechanism and establishing the evaluation method are beneficial for revealing the mechanism of forming multiple fractures during TPDF. This work revealed the processes of plugging the fractures based on the typical injection pressure curve of hydraulic fracturing operation and then applied the stress cage model, the fracture closure stress model, and the fracture propagation resistance model to reveal the fracture plugging mechanisms. Moreover, this paper establishes a 2D XFEM model to evaluate the fracture plugging effect, and the reliability of the model is verified against the finite element model. Based on the XFEM model, this work investigates the fracture plugging effects influenced by the uneven distribution of net pressure within the fracture. The results prove that fracture mouth plugging of TPF mainly enhances the wellbore circumferential stress, in‐fracture plugging mainly enhances fracture closure pressure, fracture tip plugging mainly hinders fracturing fluids flowing toward fracture tips, all of them aim at enhancing the reopen pressure of the existing fractures and prevent the propagation of the existing fracture. Diverter bridging and plugging can change the distribution of fracture net pressure and dramatically reduce the fracture tip stress factor, and thus, the existing fracture propagation can be efficiently stopped.