Brittleness and Fracability Evaluation of Unconventional Reservoirs

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dc.contributor.advisorChen, Zhangxing (John)
dc.contributor.authorHu, Yuan
dc.contributor.committeememberHuang, Haiping
dc.contributor.committeememberWang, Xin
dc.contributor.committeememberHejazi, Seyed Hossein
dc.contributor.committeememberNouri, Alireza M.
dc.date2018-06
dc.date.accessioned2018-05-15T13:59:39Z
dc.date.available2018-05-15T13:59:39Z
dc.date.issued2018-05-10
dc.description.abstractBrittleness and fracability evaluation plays an important role in recovery of unconventional oil and gas; it directly influences the effect of hydraulic fracturing. The definition of brittleness is controversial and the existing analytical/semi-analytical models have no unified theory to support them. Brittleness and fracability evaluation is currently unreliable. Unconventional reservoirs have different confining pressure, pore pressure and temperature. Models that do not consider these influences lack accuracy in the brittleness index (BI) calculation, resulting in failure during hydraulic fracturing. This research is focused on establishing new methods for brittleness and fracability evaluation. First, analytical/semi-analytical models are proposed considering the influence of confining pressure, pore pressure and temperature, respectively. The influence of calcite on rock mechanics parameters and brittleness is compared to quartz and clay. The weight of each parameter in models based on elastic modulus and mineralogy is analyzed. Finally, a numerical method to evaluate rock brittleness in terms of energy is developed. This novel method is applied to evaluate rock brittleness and fracability in more complicated conditions by considering hydro-mechanical (HM) interaction. By defining brittleness in terms of energy, rock brittleness from different sources can be compared. The influence factors ignored by other models of brittleness evaluation: pressure, temperature and rock texture can be addressed at the same time. By combining the analytical method and the numerical method for brittleness and fracability the resulting evaluations are more applicable because they reflect a more realistic unconventional oil and gas reservoirs environment.en_US
dc.identifier.citationHu, Y. (2018). Brittleness and Fracability Evaluation of Unconventional Reservoirs (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/31917en_US
dc.identifier.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/31917
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1880/106636
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisher.facultyGraduate Studies
dc.publisher.facultySchulich School of Engineering
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Calgaryen
dc.publisher.placeCalgaryen
dc.rightsUniversity of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.
dc.subjectbrittleness
dc.subjectfracability
dc.subjectunconventional reservoirs
dc.subjectEnergy
dc.subject.classificationGeologyen_US
dc.subject.classificationEngineering--Petroleumen_US
dc.titleBrittleness and Fracability Evaluation of Unconventional Reservoirs
dc.typedoctoral thesis
thesis.degree.disciplineChemical and Petroleum Engineering
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of Calgary
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophy (PhD)
ucalgary.item.requestcopytrue
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