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The research in this consortium is driven by field observations, focuses on hydraulic fracture and reservoir characterization, and lands on optimization of production and injection. The consortium develops theoretically sound but practical approaches to characterize created and effective fracture geometry, reservoir drainage volume, and fluid plume in subsurface formations and optimizes energy exploitation and fluid injection. We demonstrate the practical feasibility of our models and theories through a variety of field applications using datasets obtained from our sponsors and open sources. In the next three years, we are working on improving the interpretation and modeling of distributed fiber optic strain measurements during fracturing and production and utilizing hydraulic fracture modeling for completion design optimization.

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Research Spotlight
Our Sponsors
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The current active research topics include: 

  • Interpretation of in-well distributed fiber optic strain measurements

  • Interpretation of monitoring well strain during well interference test and during injection

  • Data interpretation of cross-well strain measurements during fracturing

  • Proppant transport modeling

  • Hybrid physics and data-driven modeling of hydraulic fracturing propagation

The current datasets we are working on include:

  • Dataset 1: Hydraulic Fracturing Test Site – 2, Delaware Basin

  • Dataset 2: Hydraulic Fracturing Test Site – 1 Phase III, Eagle Ford

Proposed and Ongoing Research projects 

Project 1: Production profile evaluation from in-well production strain

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Comparison of field observation and simulation result for in-well production strain change during shut-in ​

Project 2: Estimation of effective fracture geometry and drained reservoir volume based on monitoring well production strain during shut-in

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Simulation result of strain change along a monitoring well during well interference test ​

Project 3: Predict fluid migration and plume using monitoring well production strain during injection

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Sketch of injection well and monitoring well with fiber

Project 4: Investigate impacts of completion designs on cross-well strain and stress shadow

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Strain change and stress shadow monitored by low-frequency distributed fiber optic sensing

Project 5: Improve understanding of field observations of cross-well strain during fracturing

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Project 6: Efficient data interpretation of cross-well strain to analyze stage leakage and fracture geometry

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Fracture height prediction by matching cross-well strain using our inversion model

Comparison of field observation and modeling result for cross-well strain monitored by low-frequency distributed fiber optic sensing 

Project 7: Characterization of proppant distribution in complex fracture geometry 

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Proppant distribution (proppant concentration) in fractures with different geometries modeled by our high-fidelity proppant transport simulator

Project 8: Hybrid physics and data-driven modeling of hydraulic fracturing propagation

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Automatic history match treatment pressure during hydraulic fracturing

Research datasets

Dataset 1: Hydraulic Fracturing Test Site – 2, Delaware Basin

  • 4 horizontal wells with over 100 stimulated stages and varying completion designs

  • 2 existing parent wells

  • 2 new observation wells    

Map view of wells in HFTS 2
(Zhang et al.,2021) 

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Data list​

  • Cross-well LF DAS data during fracturing

  • In-well DTS and DAS data during fracturing

  • Well trajectories

  • Completion data

  • Pumping curves

  • Bottom hole and surface pressure data   

Dataset 2: Hydraulic Fracturing Test Site – 1 Phase III, Eagle Ford

  • 10 existing wells (re-frac two of them)

  • 3 infill wells: (one of them has wireline fiber installed)

  • 1 monitoring well with permanent fiber and 10 pressure gauges

Data list: ​

  • Completion data of all wells

  • Bottom hole pressure and wellhead pressure

  • Pumping curves

  • Well trajectories

  • Surface production data of all wells

  • A 14H external gauge pressure data, during preload period, refrac period, and during the interference test

  • Distributed Fiber optic sensing data of DTS, DSS, and DAS during pre-load, refracturing,  fracturing, and production  

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Map view of all wells in HFTS 1-phase III
 

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