Study on particle plugging in propagating fractures based on CFD-DEM

In the drilling and completion process of fractured formations, wellbore stability is a key factor affecting the safety of drilling and completing engineering. Previous studies have demonstrated that propping moderately and plugging fractures with soluble particles can improve formation fracture pressure. When it comes to particle transport in 3D rough propagation fractures, the interactions between particle-fracture-fluid need to be considered. Meanwhile, size-exclusion, particle bridging/strain effects all influence particle transport behavior and ultimately particle plugging effectiveness. However, adequate literature review shows that fracture plugging, and fracture propagation have not been considered together. In this study, a coupled CFD-DEM method was put forward to simulate the particle plugging process of propagating fracture, and the effects of positive pressure difference, fracture roughness, particle concentration, and particle shape on the plugging mechanism were examined. It is concluded through the study that: 1) Positive pressure difference too large will lead to excessive fracture aperture, making the particles unable to form effective plugging in the middle of the fracture; positive pressure difference too small will lead to fracture aperture too small, making particles unable to enter into and plug the fracture. 2) No matter how the concentration, particle size and friction coefficient change, they mainly affect the thickness of the plugging layer, while the front end of the particle is still dominated by single-particle bridging, and double-particles bridging and multiple-particles bridging are hardly ever seen. For the wellbore strengthening approaches, such as stress cages, fracture tip sealing, etc., specific analysis should be carried out according to the occurrence of extended fractures. For example, for fractures with low roughness, the particles rarely form effective tight plugging in the middle of the fracture, so it is more suitable for fracture tip sealing; For the fracture with high roughness, if the positive pressure difference is controlled properly to ensure reasonable fracture extension, the particle plugging effect will be good, and the stress cage method is recommended for borehole strengthening.