Concepedia

Publication | Closed Access

Active and passive imaging of hydraulic fractures

DOI

48

Citations

0

References

1992

Year

P. Wills, D. C. DeMartini, Harold J Vinegar, J. Shlyapobersky, Wolfgang Deeg, J. C. Woerpel, James E. Fix, G. G. Sorrells, R.G. Adair
The Leading Edge

Abstract

Hydraulic fracturing is a method commonly used to stimulate production in low-permeability reservoirs. With this method, a viscous polymer-based fluid is injected into the formation, opening a fracture perpendicular to the direction of least principal stress. This is followed by injection of a suspension of sand in liquid (proppant) which prevents the fracture from closing after the fluid pressure is allowed to bleed off. After a fracture treatment, the reservoir can be produced from the vicinity of a fracture surface which is substantially larger than the surface of the borehole.