A new approach for flow simulation in complex hydraulic fracture morphology and its application:Fracture connection element method

Efficient flow simulation and optimization methods of hydraulic fracture morphology in unconventional reservoirs are effective ways to enhance oil/gas recovery.Based on the connection element method(CEM)and distribution of stimulated reservoir volume,the complex hydraulic fracture morphology was accurately described using heterogeneous node connection system.Then a new fracture connection element method(FCEM)for fluid flow in stimulated unconventional reservoirs with complex hydraulic fracture morphology was proposed.In the proposed FCEM,the arrangement of dense nodes in the stimulated area and sparse nodes in the unstimulated area ensures the calculation accuracy and efficiency.The key parameter,transmissibility,was also modified according to the strong heterogeneity of stimulated reservoirs.The finite difference and semi-analytical tracking were used to accurately solve the pressure and saturation distribution between nodes.The FCEM is validated by comparing with traditional numerical simulation method,and the results show that the bottom hole pressure simulated by the FCEM is consistent with the results from traditional numerical simulation method,and the matching rate is larger than 95%.The proposed FCEM was also used in the optimization of fracturing parameters by coupling the hydraulic fracture propagation method and intelligent optimization algorithm.The integrated intelligent optimization approach for multi-parameters,such as perforation number,perforation location,and displacement in hydraulic fracturing is proposed.The proposed approach was applied in a shale gas reservoir,and the result shows that the optimized perforation location and morphology distribution are related to the distribution of porosity/permeability.When the perforation location and displacement are optimized with the same fracture number,NPV increases by 70.58%,which greatly improves the economic benefits of unconventional reservoirs.This work provides a new way for flow simulation and optimization of hydraulic fracture morphology of multi-fractured horizontal wells in unconventional reservoirs.

Experimental investigation of propagation mechanisms and fracture morphology for coalbed methane reservoirs

Fracture propagation mechanisms in coalbed methane(CBM) reservoirs are very complex due to the development of the internal cleat system. In this paper, the characteristics of initiation and propagation of hydraulic fractures in coal specimens at different angles between the face cleat and the maximum horizontal principal stress were investigated with hydraulic fracturing tests. The results indicate that the interactions between the hydraulic fractures and the cleat system have a major effect on fracture networks. "Step-like’’ fractures were formed in most experiments due to the existence of discontinuous butt cleats. The hydraulic fractures were more likely to divert or propagate along the butt cleat with an increase in the angles and a decrease in the horizontal principal stress difference. An increase in the injection rate and a decrease in the fracturing fluid viscosity were more conducive to fracture networks. In addition, the influence on fracture propagation of the residual coal fines in the wellbore was also studied. The existence of coal fines was an obstacle in fracturing, and no effective connection can be formed between fractures. The experimental investigation revealed the fracture propagation mechanisms and can provide guidance for hydraulic fracturing design of CBM reservoirs.

Influences of clean fracturing fluid viscosity and horizontal in-situ stress difference on hydraulic fracture propagation and morphology in coal seam

The viscosity of fracturing fluid and in-situ stress difference are the two important factors that affect the hydraulic fracturing pressure and propagation morphology. In this study, raw coal was used to prepare coal samples for experiments, and clean fracturing fluid samples were prepared using CTAB surfactant. A series of hydraulic fracturing tests were conducted with an in-house developed triaxial hydraulic fracturing simulator and the fracturing process was monitored with an acoustic emission instrument to analyze the influences of fracturing fluid viscosity and horizontal in-situ stress difference on coal fracture propagation. The results show that the number of branched fractures decreased, the fracture pattern became simpler, the fractures width increased obviously, and the distribution of AE event points was concentrated with the increase of the fracturing fluid viscosity or the horizontal in-situ stress difference. The acoustic emission energy decreases with the increase of fracturing fluid viscosity and increases with the increase of horizontal in situ stress difference. The low viscosity clean fracturing fluid has strong elasticity and is easy to be compressed into the tip of fractures, resulting in complex fractures. The high viscosity clean fracturing fluids are the opposite. Our experimental results provide a reference and scientific basis for the design and optimization of field hydraulic fracturing parameters.

SOLIDIFICATION MICROSTRUCTURE AND FRACTURE MORPHOLOGY OF SiCp/ZA27 COMPOSITE

Solidification microstructure and mechanical property are explored.Furthermore,tensile fracture and microstructure are analyzed by using SEM and JXA 840A electron probe.The results indicate that SiC particles in SiCp/ZA27 composite are mainly distributed on interfaces or between dendrites and surrounded by primary α phase.The dendrite of α phase is fined by SiCp.The tensile strength at room temperature decreases with the increasing of SiCp addition.The tensile strength at elevated temperature increases with the addition of SiCp.The fracture of SiCp/ZA27 composites is the mixture of tough and brittle fracture.The carck is prone to extend along the interface and the region of dispersed shrinkage.

Morphology and Propagation of Hydraulic Fractures for CBM Wells

Objective As the most widely used and effective technique in reservoir reconstruction of unconventional natural gas,hydraulic fracturing has been achieved good effect in CBM development.It is important to note that coal seam is both source rock and reservoir,

Thermally-induced cracking behaviors of coal reservoirs subjected to cryogenic liquid nitrogen shock

The benefits of using cryogenic liquid nitrogen shock to enhance coal permeability have been confirmed from experimental perspectives.In this paper,we develop a fully coupled thermo-elastic model in combination with the strain-based isotropic damage theory to uncover the cooling-dominated cracking behaviors through three typical cases,i.e.coal reservoirs containing a wellbore,a primary fracture,and a natural fracture network,respectively.The progressive cracking processes,from thermal fracture initiation,propagation or cessation,deflection,bifurcation to multi-fracture interactions,can be well captured by the numerical model.It is observed that two hierarchical levels of thermal fractures are formed,in which the number of shorter thermal fractures consistently exceeds that of the longer ones.The effects of coal properties related to thermal stress levels and thermal diffusivity on the fracture morphology are quantified by the fracture fractal dimension and the statistical fracture number.The induced fracture morphology is most sensitive to changes in the elastic modulus and thermal expansion coefficient,both of which dominate the complexity of the fracture networks.Coal reservoir candidates with preferred thermal-mechanical properties are also recommended for improving the stimulation effect.Further findings are that there exists a critical injection temperature and a critical in-situ stress difference,above which no thermal fractures would be formed.Preexisting natural fractures with higher density and preferred orientations are also essential for the formation of complex fracture networks.The obtained results can provide some theoretical support for cryogenic fracturing design in coal reservoirs.

Effects of laser heat treatment on the fracture morphologies of X80 pipeline steel welded joints by stress corrosion

The surfaces of X80 pipeline steel welded joints were processed with a CO2 laser, and the effects of laser heat treatment （LHT） on H2S stress corrosion in the National Association of Corrosion Engineers （NACE） solution were analyzed by a slow strain rate test. The fracture morphologies and chemical components of corrosive products before and after LHT were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive spectroscopy, respectively, and the mechanism of LHT on stress corrosion cracking was discussed. Results showed that the fracture for welded joints was brittle in its original state, while it was transformed to a ductile fracture after LHT. The tendencies of hydrogen-induced corrosion were reduced, and the stress corrosion sensitivity index decreased from 35.2% to 25.3%, indicating that the stress corrosion resistance of X80 pipeline steel welded joints has been improved by LHT.

Fracture propagation and induced strain response during supercritical CO_(2)jet fracturing

To investigate fracture generation and strain variation during SC-CO_(2)(supercritical carbon dioxide)jet fracturing,the model of induced strain is established and the experiments are comprehensively studied.The influence factors are comprehensively explored,such as jet pressure,ambient pressure,etc.With the increasing jet pressure,the fracture morphology changes from parallel cracks to oblique cracks.Both the mass loss of specimen and CO_(2) absorption increase significantly,and the growth rate and minimum value of strain also rise exponentially.Under a high ambient pressure of 8.0 MPa,the main fractures mostly propagated from the surface to the bottom surface of the specimen.The maximum strain and the stable duration under higher ambient pressure are 1.5 times and 10 times,respectively,of the case under the ambient pressure of 5.0 MPa.The comparison shows that the optimal jet distance is 5-7 times the nozzle diameter,resulting in massive mass loss,large CO_(2)absorption,and peak strain.Moreover,the nonlinear variation of strain curve during jet pressurization is related to the type of rock and ambient pressure.These studies clearly show the relationship between the fracture morphology and induced strain,which are crucial for SC-CO_(2)fracturing in shale gas reservoirs.

Low temperature impact toughness and fracture mechanism of cast QT400-18L ductile iron with diferent Ni additions

Different contents of Ni(0.3wt.%to 1.2wt.%)were added to the QT400-18L ductile iron to investigate the effect of Ni addition on the impact toughness of cast ductile irons at low temperatures.The impact toughnesses of the samples at room and low temperatures were tested.The microstructures and fractographs were observed.Results show that with the increase of Ni addition there is a general trend of refinement of the ferrite matrix while the nodule density shows no obvious change.When the Ni content is 0.7wt.%,the matrix structure is the refined ferrite with a very small fraction(about 2%)of pearlite near the eutectic cell boundaries.When the Ni content is further increased,the fraction of pearlite increases significantly and reaches more than 5%when 1.2wt.%Ni is added.The impact toughness at room temperature increases as the content of Ni increases from 0.3 wt.%to 0.7 wt.%,but decreases as the Ni content further increases to 1.2wt.%due to the increase of pearlite fraction.The maximum value of the impact work is 18.5 J at room temperature with 0.7wt.%Ni addition.The average value of the impact work is still more than 13 J even at-30℃.In addition,the fracture mechanism changes from ductile manner to brittleness as the testing temperature decreases from 20℃to-60℃.

EFFECT OF RARE EARTH ADDITIONS ON FRACTURE PROPERTIES OF 2.25Cr-1Mo STEELS

The inclusion parameters,fracture surface morphology and void growth characteristics of ten- sile and fracture toughness specimens of 2.25Cr-1Mo steels with and without rare-earth (RE)additions have been investigated by quantitative metaltography(QTM),scanning elec- tron microscopy(SEM)and energy dispersive spectroscopy(EDS).There is a substantially higher density of inclusions in the RE-treated steel,which has lower values of fracture proper- ties including critical values of COD and J integral(δ_c and J_(IC)),fracture strain(ε_f) and Charpy V-notch energy(CVN).The fracture surface of the RE-treated steel comprises equiaxed dimples of diameters comparable with its inclusion spacing,whereas for the non-RE-treated steels,a wide range of dimple sizes is found with average diameter much smaller than the corresponding inclusion spacing.The investigation indicates that the lower values of fracture properties for the steel with RE at room temperature may be ascribed to its large content of RE-containing inclusions.

Tension fracture behaviors of welded joints in X70 steel pipeline

The surface of welded joints in X70 steel pipeline was processed by laser shock wave, its mechanical behaviors of tension fracture were analyzed with tension test,and the fracture morphologies and the distributions of chemical element were observed with scanning electron microscope and energy dispersive spectrum,respectively.The experimental results show that the phenomenon of grain refinement occurs in the surface of welded joints in X70 steel pipeline after the laser shock processing,and compressive residual stress is formed in its surface strengthened layer.There is no yield stage but a continuous yield behavior in the welded joints in X70 steel pipeline after the laser shock processing,and its extensibility has decreased by 20%.The welded joints in X70 steel pipeline in primitive state exhibits brittle fracture with less tearing edges,while the fracture of welded joints in X70 steel pipeline processed by laser shock is ductile fracture with a lot of tearing edges.

Effect of Strain Ratio on Fatigue Model of Ultra-fine Grained Pure Titanium

The ultra-fine grained(UFG)pure titanium was prepared by equal channel angular pressing(ECAP)and rotary swaging(RS).The strain controlled low cycle fatigue(LCF)test was carried out at room temperature.The fatigue life prediction model and mean stress relaxation model under asymmetrical stress load were discussed.The results show that the strain ratio has a significant effect on the low cycle fatigue performance of the UFG pure titanium,and the traditional Manson-coffin model can not accurately predict the fatigue life under asymmetric stress load.Therefore,the SWT mean stress correction model and three-parameter power curve model are proposed,and the test results are verified.The final research shows that the threeparameter power surface model has better representation.By studying the mean stress relaxation phenomenon under the condition of R≠-1,it is revealed that the stress ratio and the strain amplitude are the factors that significantly afiect the mean stress relaxation rate,and the mean stress relaxation model with the two variables is calculated to describe the mean stress relaxation phenomenon of the UFG pure titanium under different strain ratios.The fracture morphology of the samples was observed by SEM,and it was concluded that the final fracture zone of the fatigue fracture of the UFG pure titanium was a mixture of ductile fracture and quasi cleavage fracture.The toughness of the material increases with the increase of strain ratio at the same strain amplitude.

High-temperature mechanical properties of as-extruded AZ80 magnesium alloy at different strain rates

The mechanical properties of as-extruded AZ80 magnesium alloy at temperatures of 450-525℃ and strain rates of 3.0 s^(−1)and 0.15 s^(−1)were investigated by tensile tests.Zero ductility of alloy appeared at 500℃ with a strain rate of 0.15 s^(−1),while the zero strength and zero ductility of the alloy were obtained nearly simultaneously at 525℃ with a strain rate of 3.0 s^(−1).The results indicated that the lower strain rate accelerated the arrival of zero ductility.As the temperature increased,the failure mode of the alloy developed from trans-granular fracture to cleavage fracture and then to inter-granular fracture with the feature of sugar-like grains and fusion traces.The existence of the low-melting composite ofβ-Mg_(17)Al_(12) and Al_(8)Mn_(5) particles segregated near the Mg_(17)Al_(12) phase along grain boundaries were demonstrated to be the reason for the brittle fracturing of the AZ80 alloy at high temperatures.Furthermore,microstructural evolution at temperatures approaching the solidus temperature was discussed to clarify magnesium alloy’s high temperature deformation mechanism.

Characterization of W80Cu20 alloy sheet prepared by hot-rolling

Multi-pass hot-rolling technique was used to fabricate W80Cu20 alloy,and its properties were characterized in this paper.Results show that the W-Cu alloy sheets with a thickness of 0.5 mm and a relative density of99.87%can be successfully made using this new technique at 800℃.In hot-rolling process,Cu phases are closely surrounded by W particles under the rolling stress to form a network microstructure,thus making significant increase in electrical and thermal conductivity up to53.00%and 24.44%,respectively.Transverse and longitudinal hardness of the W–Cu sheets significantly increase due to the enhanced densification and deformation strength.Similar to that of the raw materials,three fracture types were observed in the hot-rolled materials,i.e.,ductile fracture of Cu binding phases,trans-granular fracture of W phases,and W–W interfacial fracture.

Effect of weld reinforcement on fatigue properties of A6N01 aluminum alloy welded joint

Fatigue properties of smooth and reinforcement A6N01 aluminum alloy welded joints were characterized in this paper. Based on measured S-lgN curves and fatigue fracture morphologies, effect of weld reinforcement on the fatigue property of the welded joint was studied. Results show that the weld toe is the weakness region of the reinforcement welded joint due to the stress concentration in this area, thus the fatigue fracture occurred at the weld toe for all the reinforcement welded joints; while the fatigue property of the smooth welded joint was improved due to remove of the weld reinforcement, and the welding defect was the key factor of the fatigue fracture, thus its fracture zones mainly located at welding zone and fusion line.

Effect of thermal aging on the fatigue crack growth behavior of cast duplex stainless steels

The effect of thermal aging on the fatigue crack growth（FCG） behavior of Z3CN20？09M cast duplex stainless steel with low ferrite content was investigated in this study. The crack surfaces and crack growth paths were analyzed to clarify the FCG mechanisms. The microstructure and micromechanical properties before and after thermal aging were also studied. Spinodal decomposition in the aged ferrite phase led to an increase in the hardness and a decrease in the plastic deformation capacity, whereas the hardness and plastic deformation capacity of the austenite phase were almost unchanged after thermal aging. The aged material exhibited a better FCG resistance than the unaged material in the near-threshold regime because of the increased roughness-induced crack closure associated with the tortuous crack path and rougher fracture surface; however, the tendency was reversed in the Paris regime because of the cleavage fracture in the aged ferrite phases.

Effects of Strain Rate on Stress Corrosion of S355 Steel in 3.5% NaCl Solutions

The stress corrosion of S355 steel in 3.5% NaCl solution under the different strain rates was analyzed with the slow strain rate test（SSRT）, the stress corrosion cracking（SCC） behaviors of S355 steel under the different strain rates in the solution were investigated, and the fracture morphologies and compositions of corrosion products under the different strain rates were analyzed with scanning electron microscopy（SEM） and energy dispersive spectrometerry（EDS）, respectively. The experimental results show that the SCC sensitivity index is the highest when the strain rate is 2×10-6, and the medium corrosion is the main reason resulting in the highest SCC sensitivity index. The SCC sensitivity index is the least when the strain rate is 5×10-6, and the stress is the main reason resulting in the stress corrosion. The SCC sensitivity index is the middle when the strain rate is 9×10-6, the interaction of stress and medium is the stress corrosion fracture mechanism.

Fracture Morphologies of Advanced High Strength Steel During Deformation

The fracture morphologies of several advanced high-strength steels （DP590, DP780, DP980, Ml180, and M1300） formed in uniaxial tension and piercing were observed by scanning electron microscope, and then quantitatively analyzed by image processing technique. The tension-induced fractographs are dominated by obvious uniform or bimodal size dimples, while shearing-induced fractographs have smooth surfaces and few dimples. The fracture zone of higher grade DP steels is smoother. As for M1180 and M1300, the fracture zones consist of very small dimples and smooth brittle surfaces. The dimple size of M1300（ ,- 1.2 tm） is smaller than that of M1180（ 1.6 tm）. Moreover, in the tensile fracture, the quantitative correlation between average dimple diameter （d） and tensile strength （a） can be represented by d = 10,502.32a-121. However, the relation between dimple density and tensile strength is not monotonic due to the appearance of bimodal size dimples with increase of tensile strength. For shearing-induced fracture during piercing, the fitted empirical model between the percentage of burnish zone （f） and tensile strength can be described asf --- 239.9a-＇36.