Experimental and simulation study of foam stability and the effects on hydraulic fracture proppant placement

Foam has previously been used as fracturing fluid; however, there have not been enough study on foam stability and its effectiveness on proppant placement during hydraulic fracturing. In this paper, an experimental study was performed using free drainage method at 90 °C. Then, the rheological characterization of foam was produced based on dynamic foam quality change during foam drainage experiments and also based on viscosity breakdown by disproportionation. Subsequently, a 3-D hydraulically fracturing simulation was developed to evaluate the foam performance as a fracturing fluid using different vertical well scenarios. The results show that foam stability is dependent not only on the overall treatment time but also to fracture closure on proppant. For example, longer closure time accelerate proppant settling and accumulation at the bottom of the fracture, lowering propped area, and reducing productivity. The simulation results indicate that this lower productivity can be attributed to the final propped area, proppant distribution confirming the relationship between foam stability, foam rheology, proppant transport and fracture effectiveness