Experimental Investigation on the Factors Affecting Proppant Flowback Performance

Abstract

Proppant flowback is a significant issue in the field of fractured well production. In order to investigate the influencing relationships among the parameters affecting proppant flowback, the weight of proppant flowback within different conditions was tested by applying a fracture simulation experiment device. During the experiments, the flowback velocity of the fracturing fluid, the viscosity of the fracturing fluid, the proppant particle size, and the effective closure pressure were studied. The experimental results indicated that the flowback velocity of the fracturing fluid is critical for proppant flowback. The weight of the flowback proppant increases as the fracturing fluid flowback velocity increases. Proppant flowback mainly occurs in the early stage of fracturing fluid flowback; more than 75% of the flowback volume of the proppant was carried by 33.33% of the fracturing fluid flowback volume. The weight of the flowback proppant decreases as the flowback fracturing fluid viscosity decreases. Using a larger particle size proppant or upon increasing effective closure pressure also can decrease the weight of the flowback proppant.