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SUMMARY:Hydraulic fracturing of artificially generated soft sandstones - C
 haralampos Konstantinou\, PhD Research Student at the Department of Engine
 ering\, University of Cambridge
DTSTART:20201126T160000Z
DTEND:20201126T164500Z
UID:TALK151147@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Magdalena Charytoniuk
DESCRIPTION:Fractures are considered to be both problems and opportunities
  for exploration and production from petroleum reservoirs. The main aim of
  fracturing an oil medium is the stimulation of oil and gas production by 
 inducing highly conductive channels leading to a well\, from which hydroca
 rbons will flow. Many applications of hydraulic fracturing take place in s
 oft sandstones using moderate to low viscosity fluids. Soft sandstones rep
 resent the host rock for a large portion of active aquifers and oil and ga
 s reservoirs because their high porosity both enhances storage and facilit
 ates extraction. The transitional nature of sandstones\, in particular\, p
 resents some challenges to the safety of these operations and the understa
 nding of the mechanical response of these materials under a variety of con
 ditions is still poorly understood.\n\nThe motivation of this research was
  to gain understanding of the fracture mechanics of soft media under low v
 iscosity fluid injection. Synthetic rock specimens were generated via micr
 obially induced carbonate precipitation (MICP)\, providing virtually limit
 less quantities and had customisable characteristics\, allowing relevant s
 tructural parameters to be varied independently\, and hence isolating thei
 r effects. Fracturing experiments were conducted with both cohesionless sa
 nds and bio-cemented samples at various confining conditions\, flow rates\
 , fluid viscosities\, cementation levels. The main aim was to get an insig
 ht into how each individual factor affects the fracture patterns and press
 ure response. For those experiments\, two experimental setups were develop
 ed explicitly for this project that were able to apply actively or passive
 ly stresses to the medium which was represented in three dimensions. The t
 ransitional behaviour of weakly cemented sandstones was clearly seen on bo
 th the fracture patterns and pressure responses obtained when conducting t
 he hydraulic fracturing tests. The work conducted in this research bridges
  previous works on two-dimensional media\, where visualisation of the frac
 ture was possible\, and three-dimensional media\, where only post-test obs
 ervations could be made.\n
LOCATION:Delivered online via Zoom
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