Tight conglomerate reservoirs commonly develop tortuous fractures with pronounced three-dimensional geometric heterogeneity during hydraulic fracturing. Fracture-surface undulation and spatial tortuosity exert significant control on fluid distribution and proppant deposition within fractures. However, most existing studies are based on two-dimensional or idealized fracture models, which fail to capture the true geometric characteristics of conglomerate fractures. Large-scale true triaxial hydraulic-fracturing physical simulation experiments were conducted to obtain the three-dimensional fracture-surface morphology of the Mahu tight conglomerate reservoir, and the spatial distributions of fracture tortuosity and relative undulation were quantified. Based on these experimental observations, a three-dimensional tortuous fracture numerical model incorporating wellbore-multi-cluster coupling and fracture-surface undulation was established. Proppant transport and placement behavior within fractures were simulated using an Euler-Euler two-phase flow approach. Model reliability was verified by comparison with published experimental results of sand-pile morphology and height distribution, yielding a combined relative error of 6.3% for the main-fracture sand-pile height. The results indicate that fracture tortuosity significantly alters the local flow field, promoting the formation of low-velocity and proppant-retention zones at tortuous segments and leading to segmented proppant deposition. In multi-cluster fracture systems, tortuous structures modify local flow resistance and pressure gradients, intensifying inter-cluster flow competition and resulting in pronounced nonuniform proppant intake. When the tortuosity ranges from 1.0 to 1.5, proppant distribution among clusters becomes most uneven. These findings provide technical guidance for multi-cluster fracturing design and proppant placement optimization in tight conglomerate reservoirs.
XU Zhi-han, ZHANG Jing-chen, GUO Xiao-dong, QIU Shi-xin, LIN Han-xiong, XI Xiang-rui, CHENG Xin-wang.
Proppant Transport and Placement in Multi-cluster Tortuous Fractures of Mahu Tight Conglomerate Reservoir[J].
Science Technology and Engineering, 2026, 26(17): 7209-7221 DOI:10.12404/j.issn.1671-1815.2503729
为揭示支撑剂运移行为,中外学者开展了大量物理模拟试验、计算流体动力学-离散单元法(computational fluid dynamics-discrete element method,CFD-DEM)数值模拟、欧拉两相模型模拟以及试井/微地震反演等研究。Kong等[19]通过 DEM 或 CFD-DEM 方法研究颗粒沉降、滚动及碰撞行为,较好反映了粒子之间的微观动力学作用,但其计算代价巨大、网格尺度受限,难以实现米级复杂裂缝的工程尺度模拟。欧拉-欧拉模型由于能够有效降低计算量、对颗粒浓度场与流场耦合描述较好,被广泛用于工程尺度支撑剂运移分析[20]。然而,现有研究普遍存在一个共性问题:大部分模型基于规则平行板裂缝、理想分支裂缝或简单折线裂缝构建,裂缝壁面粗糙度与迂曲度采用简单函数描述,无法真实反映砾岩中“由砾石主导的天然几何不规则性”[21]。
常用的多相流求解方法主要包括三类:用于描述均质流体界面的流体体积法(volume of fluid,VOF)模型、基于混合平均思想的Mixture模型,以及能够处理非均质多相体系的欧拉(Eulerian)模型。本文研究关注支撑剂颗粒在压裂液中的迁移规律,属于固-液及固-固耦合条件下的典型多相流过程,颗粒可能发生上浮、悬浮、相互碰撞及局部聚集等复杂行为。相比之下,VOF与Mixture模型难以准确刻画此类强非均匀性与多尺度相互作用。基于上述需求,选择更适用于处理颗粒运动、相间动量交换和非均匀分布特征的欧拉模型作为求解方法,表达式为
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