Effect of proppant addition schedule on the proppant distribution in a straight fracture for slickwater treatment

The slickwater treatment is widely used in the unconventional fracturing. The proppant addition schedule is an important aspect of slickwater treatment. However, the effect of proppant addition schedule on the proppant distribution in a fracture for slickwater treatment is not well understood now. In this paper, we investigated the effect of proppant addition schedule on the proppant distribution in a straight fracture for slickwater treatment. First, we built the proppant model in a straight fracture based on the Eulerian-Lagrangian model, which can accurately simulate the proppant transport in the fluid. We validated this model by published experimental data. After the validation, we presented a base case to give a clear understanding of the proppant distribution in a straight fracture. Next, we designed a series of case studies to investigate the impacts of injection velocity, injection proppant concentration, multi-concentration proppant addition order and multi-size proppant addition order on proppant distribution in a fracture. This work can give a clear insight into the effects of proppant addition schedule on the proppant distribution. The results can help to optimize the pumping schedule in stimulation treatment in the unconventional reservoir.