FLUID-FLOW INTO VERTICAL FRACTURES FROM A POINT-SOURCE

Flow into a fracture from a point source recently has been the focus o f attention in the petroleum industry. The suggestion has been made th at, in this flow configuration, convection (gravity-driven flow) would dominate Stokes'-type settling for determining final proppant distrib ution. The theory is that when a dense fluid flows into a fracture fil led with a less dense fluid from a point source, the density of the fl uid will force it to the bottom of the fracture. This clearly happens when the two fluids have low viscosity. However, viscosity of both the fluid in the fracture and the displacing fluid and nonuniformities in the fracture influence displacement process significantly. Results pr esented in this study clearly show the effects of viscosity and fractu re nonuniformity on the convective settling mechanism.