Effects of variable perforation configurations on proppant trasport anddistribution in slickwater fluids

This paper investigates the effect of variable perforation configurations on proppant transport, settling, anddistribution across different perforation clusters in multistage horizontal wells. The results are compared toother previously published data (Ahmad and Miskimins, 2019) using different proppant sizes and densities.A 30-foot horizontal laboratory apparatus with three perforation clusters is used to simulate a multistagehorizontal well. Low viscosity fresh water is used as the carrier fluid to transport the proppant. This researchincorporates the influence of testing various injection rates and proppant concentrations on proppanttransport of 100-mesh brown sand. Different perforation configurations are used to test the perforation effecton proppant transport using similar injection rates and proppant concentrations. A 200-gallon tank is used tomix the proppant before injecting the slurry mixture using a slurry pump. The apparatus also incorporates avariable frequency drive, a flow meter and pressure transducers. Sieve analysis is then conducted to identifythe proppant distribution exiting from each cluster at different perforation configurations. It commonly assumed that the injected proppant is distributed evenly across the perforation clustersand that the distribution of fluid and proppant is identical. However, this research shows that this is notalways the case. The results show uneven fluid and proppant distributions between clusters when altering theperforation configurations, injection rates, and proppant concentrations. Sieve analysis also shows differentsize distribution of the settled and exited sand through different clusters and individual perforations. Suchinformation is beneficial to understanding transport in horizontal, multi-stage completions and how suchimpacts the overall treatment efficiency.