نشریه ژئومکانیک و ژئوانرژی

نشریه ژئومکانیک و ژئوانرژی

ارزیابی تأثیر شکست هیدرولیکی بر پتانسیل تولید ماسه در یک چاه نفتی با استفاده از روش المان مجزا

نوع مقاله : مقاله پژوهشی

نویسندگان
1 استاد مکانیک سنگ در دانشکده مهندسی معدن و متالورژی دانشگاه یزد.
2 استادیار مهندسی نفت و مهندسی معدن، دانشکده مهندسی معدن و متالورژی، دانشگاه یزد
3 دانشجو دکتری دانشگاه یزد
4 دانشگاه یزد، دانشکده معدن
چکیده
تولید ماسه از مخازن ماسه‌سنگی سست یکی از چالش‌های اساسی صنعت نفت است که منجر به فرسایش تجهیزات، کاهش بهره‌وری و افزایش هزینه‌های عملیاتی می‌شود. شکست هیدرولیکی، اگرچه عمدتاً برای افزایش تراواپذیری و تحریک مخزن انجام می‌شود، می‌تواند پایداری دیواره چاه و پدیده تولید ماسه را تحت تأثیر قرار دهد. با این حال، درک کمی از چگونگی تأثیر مشخصات هندسی شکست هیدرولیکی (مانند تراکم و طول ترک‌ها) بر میزان تولید ماسه، به ویژه در مخازن با درجه سیمان‌شدگی متوسط، همچنان محدود است. در این پژوهش، یک مدل دوبعدی مبتنی بر روش المان مجزا (DEM) در نرم‌افزار PFC2D توسعه داده شده است تا به صورت یکپارچه، فرآیند گسترش شکست هیدرولیکی و متعاقب آن تولید ماسه را در سه مقطع مختلف از یک چاه واقعی در میدان نفتی آزادگان شبیه‌سازی کند. مدل با استفاده از داده‌های آزمایشگاهی سه‌محوره کالیبره شد و خطای نسبی پیش‌بینی مقاومت فشاری تک‌محوره حدود ۵/۱۰ درصد حاصل گردید. پس از اعمال شرایط مرزی واقعی شامل تنش‌های برجا، فشار مخزن و فشار تولید، مدل برای سه مقطع با سابقه شکست متفاوت اجرا شد. نتایج کمی نشان داد که در مقطع ۱ با بیشترین تراکم و طول شکستگی (تعداد ترک و طول کل بیشتر)، میزان تولید ماسه تجمعی پس از دو روز به طور قابل توجهی کمتر از مقطع ۳ با کمترین شکستگی بود. یافته کلیدی حاکی از آن است که برخلاف تصور رایج در برخی مخازن سست، در شرایط ژئومکانیکی مورد مطالعه، وجود شکست هیدرولیکی گسترده و متراکم با کاهش تولید ماسه همراه است. این پدیده را می‌توان به تشکیل قوس‌های تنش پایدار در پشت نواحی شکسته نسبت داد که نیروی درگ سیال را خنثی کرده و از جدایش ذرات جلوگیری می‌کند. این رویکرد شبیه‌سازی یکپارچه، ابزاری توانمند برای بهینه‌سازی همزمان طراحی شکست هیدرولیکی و مدیریت تولید ماسه در اختیار مهندسان نفت قرار می‌دهد.
کلیدواژه‌ها
موضوعات

عنوان مقاله English

Evaluation of the Effect of Hydraulic Fracturing on Sand Production Potential in an Oil Wellbore Using the Discrete Element Method

نویسندگان English

Mohammad Fatehi Marji 1
Manouchehr Sanei 2
Masoud Yazdani 3
Mehdi Najafi 4
1 Department of Mining Engineering, Yazd University
2 Assistant Professor in Petroleum Engineering and Mining Engineering, Department of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering, Yazd University
3 PhD student Yazd University
4 Yazd University, Mining Engineering
چکیده English

Sand production from unconsolidated sandstone reservoirs is one of the fundamental challenges in the oil industry, leading to equipment erosion, reduced productivity, and increased operational costs. Hydraulic fracturing, although primarily performed to enhance permeability and stimulate the reservoir, can affect wellbore stability and the phenomenon of sand production. However, a quantitative understanding of how the geometric characteristics of hydraulic fractures (such as density and length of cracks) influence sand production rates, especially in moderately cemented reservoirs, remains limited. In this study, a two-dimensional model based on the Discrete Element Method (DEM) has been developed in the PFC2D software to integrally simulate the hydraulic fracture propagation process and the subsequent sand production in three different sections of a real well in the Azadegan oil field. The model was calibrated using triaxial laboratory data, and the relative error in predicting the uniaxial compressive strength was about 10.5%. After applying realistic boundary conditions including in-situ stresses, reservoir pressure, and production pressure, the model was run for three sections with different fracturing histories. Quantitative results showed that in Section 1, which had the highest fracture density and length, the cumulative sand production after two days was significantly lower than in Section 3, which had the least fracturing. The key finding indicates that, under the studied geomechanical conditions, the presence of extensive and dense hydraulic fracturing is associated with reduced sand production. This phenomenon can be attributed to the formation of stable stress arches behind the fractured zones, which counteract the fluid drag force and prevent particle detachment. This integrated simulation approach provides a powerful tool for petroleum engineers to simultaneously optimize hydraulic fracturing design and manage sand production.

کلیدواژه‌ها English

Sand Production
Hydraulic Fracturing
Oil Wellbore
Discrete Element Method
PFC2D Software
[1] Duran, O., Sanei, M., Devloo, P. R. B., et al. (2020).
An enhanced sequential fully implicit scheme
for reservoir geomechanics. Computational
Geosciences, *24*, 1557–1587. (DOI:
10.1007/s10596-020-09954-1)
[2] Sanei, M., Duran, O., Devloo, P. R. B., & Santos, E.
S. R. (2021). Analysis of pore collapse and
shear-enhanced compaction in hydrocarbon
reservoirs using coupled poro-elastoplasticity
and permeability. Arabian Journal of
Geosciences, *14*(7). (DOI: 10.1007/s12517-
021-07081-2)
[3] Dusseault, M. B., & Santarelli, F. J. A. (1989).
Conceptual model for massive solids
production in poorly-consolidated
sandstones. Rock at Great Depth, *2*(1), 789–
797.
[4] Fjaer, E., Holt, R. M., Horsrud, P., Raaen, A. M., &
Risnes, R. (1992). Petroleum related rock
mechanics. Elsevier.
[5] Sanei, M., Durán, O., Devloo, P. R. B., & Santos, E.
S. R. (2022). Evaluation of the impact of
strain-dependent permeability on reservoir
productivity using iterative coupled reservoir
geomechanical modeling. Geomechanics and
Geophysics for Geo-Energy and
Geo-Resources, *54*(2). (DOI:
10.1007/s40948-022-00390-2)
[6] Nouri, A., Kuru, E., & Vaziri, H. (2009). Elastoplastic
modelling of sand production using fracture
energy regularization method. Journal of
Canadian Petroleum Technology, *48*(4), 64–
71. (DOI: 10.2118/09-04-64)
[7] Bianco, L. C. (1999). Phenomena of sand production
in non-consolidated sandstones (Doctoral
dissertation). Penn State University.
[8] Bianco, L. C., & Halleck, P. M. (2001). Mechanisms
of sand production: An experimental
study. SPE International Symposium on
Oilfield Chemistry. (DOI: 10.2118/65009-MS)
[9] Geilikman, M. B., & Dusseault, M. B. (1997).
Dynamics of wormholes and enhancement of
fluid production. Proceedings of the 48th
Annual Technical Meeting of the Petroleum
Society, 8–11.
[10] Unander, T. E., Papamichos, E., Trovoll, J., &
Skjaerstein, A. (1997). Flow geometry effects
on sand production from an oil producing
perforation cavity. International Journal of
Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences, *34*(3),
1–15. (DOI: 10.1016/S1365-1609(97)00062-4)
[11] Papamichos, E., & Malmanger, E. M. (2001). A sand
production model. SPE European Formation
Damage Conference. (DOI: 10.2118/68957-
MS)
[12] Vaziri, H., Barree, B., Xiao, Y., Palmer, I., & Kutas,
M. (2002). What is the magic of water in
producing sand? SPE Annual Technical
Conference and Exhibition. (DOI:
10.2118/77683-MS)
[13] Willson, S. M., Moschovidis, Z. A., Cameron, J. R.,
& Palmer, I. D. (2002). New model for
predicting the rate of sand
production. SPE/ISRM Rock Mechanics
Conference. (DOI: 10.2118/78348-MS)
[14] Nouri, A., Vaziri, H., Kuru, E., & Islam, R. (2006).
A comparison of two sanding criteria in weak
and unconsolidated formations. SPE
Journal, *11*(3), 311–320. (DOI:
10.2118/89855-PA)
[15] Critical review of DEM simulation for sand
production during geo-energy development:
Models, parameters, and future directions.
(2024). ScienceDirect.
[16] Taiwo, A., et al. (2025). Modeling of sand
production in unconsolidated reservoirs: An
integrated framework for prediction, control,
and sustainable management. Journal of
Engineering Research.
[17] Liu, Y. (2025). A discrete element model for
simulating the coupled hydraulic-mechanical
dynamic mechanical behaviors of
rocks. ScienceDirect.
[18] He, Q., Suorineni, F. T., & Oh, J. (2016). Review of
hydraulic fracturing for preconditioning in cave
mining. Rock Mechanics and Rock
Engineering, *49*(12), 4893–4910. (DOI:
10.1007/s00603-016-1028-2)
[19] Nadimi, S., Miscevic, I., & McLennan, J. (2016). A
3D peridynamic simulation of hydraulic
fracture process in a heterogeneous
medium. Journal of Petroleum Science and
Engineering, *145*, 444–452. (DOI:
10.1016/j.petrol.2016.06.001)
[20] Carter, B. J., Desroches, J., Ingraffea, A. R., &
Wawrzynek, P. (2000). Simulating fully 3D
hydraulic fracturing. In [Book title not
provided] (pp. 525–557). John Wiley & Sons.
[21] Gandossi, L., & Von Estorff, U. (2015). An overview
of hydraulic fracturing and other formation
stimulation technologies for shale gas
production. European Commission, Joint
Research Centre. (DOI: 10.2790/348886)
[22] Economides, M. J., & Nolte, K. G. (2000). Reservoir
stimulation. John Wiley & Sons.
[23] Bakhshi, E., Golsanami, N., & Chen, L. (2020).
Numerical modeling and lattice method for
characterizing hydraulic fracture propagation:
A review of the numerical, experimental, and
field studies. Archives of Computational
Methods in Engineering. (DOI:
10.1007/s11831-020-09457-7)
[24] Zhao, H. J., Ma, F. S., & Guo, J. (2020).
Investigation of hydraulic fracturing
mechanism by using a coupled
continuous-discontinuous hydromechanical
model. IOP Conference Series: Earth and
Environmental Science, *570*, 042042. (DOI:
10.1088/1755-1315/570/4/042042)
[25] Shi, L.-Y. (2023). Hydraulic fracture propagation in
rock mass with XFEM. Soil Mechanics and
Foundation Engineering, *60*(5), 436–443.
(DOI: 10.1007/s11204-023-09915-1)
[26] Numerical modeling of hydraulic fracturing for
crack growth mechanism investigation in rocks
using XFEM with a BEM-based verification.
(2025). Journal of Mining and Environment.
Retrieved
from https://jme.shahroodut.ac.ir/article_3459.
html
[27] Ren, G., Jiang, J., & Younis, R. M. (2016). A fully
coupled XFEM-EDFM model for multiphase
flow and geomechanics in fractured
reservoirs. SPE Journal. (DOI:
10.2118/179695-PA)
[28] Fatehi Marji, M., Lak, M., & Sanei, M. (2023). The
explosive fracturing technique analysis for
highly low permeable reservoirs using
analytical, displacement discontinuity and
finite difference coupled method. Journal of
Petroleum Geomechanics, *6*(3), 43–57.
[29] Lak, M., Fatehi Marji, M., Yarahamdi Bafghi, A., &
Abdollahipour, A. (2018). Discrete element
modeling of explosion-induced fracture
extension in jointed rock masses. Journal of
Mining and Environment, Shahrood University
of Technology.
[30] Yazdani, M., Fatehi Marji, M., Najafi, M., & Sanei,
M. (2025). Simulating the hydraulic fracturing
mechanism around the hydrocarbon wellbores
with emphasizing its effects on the sand
production. Journal of Mining and
Environment, *16*(1), 241–258.
[31] Integrating mechanical and chemical perspectives:
Assessing and enhancing cement sheath
integrity in CO₂ geological storage wells.
(2025). ScienceDirect. (DOI:
10.1016/j.jrmge.2025.11.006)
[32] Underestimated risks for application of hydraulic
fracturing into hydrate exploitation: In the
perspective of formation deformation and sand
production. (2025). ScienceDirect.
[33] Numerical simulation of hydraulic fracture
propagation in unconsolidated sandstone
reservoirs. (2024). Processes (MDPI).
[34] Zeerak, M. R., Fatehi Marji, M., Sanei, M., Najafi,
M., & Abdollahipour, A. (2026). Numerical
modeling of hydraulic fracturing for crack
growth mechanism investigation in rocks using
XFEM with a BEM-based verification. Journal
of Mining and Environment, *17*(2), 717–742.
[35] Zeerak, M. R., Fatehi Marji, M., Sanei, M., Najafi,
M., & Abdollahipour, A. (2026). Application of
extended finite element method for simulating
crack initiation and propagation mechanism in
hydraulic fracturing process. Petroleum
Geomechanics.
[36] Gu, C., Li, X., Zou, Y., Feng, Y., Sanei, M., Yan,
W., & Mosleh, M. H. (2025). Integrating
mechanical and chemical perspectives:
Assessing and enhancing cement sheath
integrity in CO₂ geological storage
wells. Journal of Rock Mechanics and
Geotechnical Engineering. (DOI:
10.1016/j.jrmge.2025.11.006)
[37] Cundall, P. A. (1971). A computer model for
simulating progressive, large-scale movements
in blocky rock systems. Proceedings of the
International Symposium on Rock Mechanics,
Nancy, France, 129–136.
[38] Itasca Consulting Group, Inc. (2019). PFC —
Particle Flow Code, Ver. 7.0 [Computersoftware]. Itasca.
[39] Cundall, P. A., & Strack, O. D. L. (1979). A discrete
numerical model for granular
assemblies. Géotechnique, *29*(1), 47–65.
(DOI: 10.1680/geot.1979.29.1.47)
[40] Borges, B. S. (2012). Estudo da interação
solo-geogrelha pelo método dos elementos
discretos (Master’s thesis). Universidade de
Brasília.
[41] Kuhn, M. R., Suzuki, K., & Daouadji, A. (2020).
Linear-frictional contact model for 3D discrete
element (DEM) simulations of granular
systems. arXiv, arXiv:2002.10231.
[42] Itasca Consulting Group, Inc. (2023). PFC2D
Documentation — Contact Models — Linear
Model [User manual]. Itasca.
[43] Potyondy, D. O., & Cundall, P. A. (2004). A
bonded-particle model for rock. International
Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining
Sciences, *41*(8), 1329–1364. (DOI:
10.1016/j.ijrmms.2004.09.011)
[44] Itasca Consulting Group, Inc. (2019). PFC —
Particle Flow Code, Ver. 7.0 [Computer
software]. Itasca. (Parallel Bond Model
section).
[45] Cho, N., Martin, C. D., & Sego, D. C. (2007). A
clumped particle model for rock. International
Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining
Sciences, *44*(7), 997–1010. (DOI:
10.1016/j.ijrmms.2007.02.002)
[46] Potyondy, D. O. (2015). The bonded-particle model
as a tool for rock mechanics research and
application: Current trends and future
directions. Proceedings of the 49th US Rock
Mechanics/Geomechanics Symposium, San
Francisco, CA.
[47] Ergun, S. (1952). Fluid flow through packed
columns. Chemical Engineering
Progress, *48*(2), 89–94.
[48] Sanei, M., Durán, O., Devloo, P. R. B., & Santos, E.
S. R. (2022). Evaluation of the impact of
strain-dependent permeability on reservoir
productivity using iterative coupled reservoir
geomechanical modeling. Geomechanics and
Geophysics for Geo-Energy and
Geo-Resources, *54*(2). (DOI:
10.1007/s40948-022-00390-2)
[49] Hillerborg, A., Modéer, M., & Petersson, P. E.
(1976). Analysis of crack formation and crack
growth in concrete by means of fracture
mechanics and finite elements. Cement and
Concrete Research, *6*(6), 773–782. (DOI:
10.1016/0008-8846(76)90007-7)
[50] Itasca Consulting Group, Inc. (2019). PFC —
Particle Flow Code, Ver. 7.0 [Computersoftware]. Itasca.
[51] Joodi, B., Sarmadivaleh, M., Rasouli, V., &
Nabipour, A. (2012). Simulation of the cutting
action of a single PDC cutter using DEM. WIT
Transactions on Engineering Sciences, *81*,
143–150. (DOI: 10.2495/PMR120141)