Proppant Distribution Prediction between Perforation Clusters Using Fresh Water in a Horizontal Wellbore

In multistage, multiclustertreatments, distributing the proppantevenly among the multiple perforation clusters is considered one ofthe key challenges. Uneven proppant distribution in multiple clusterscan significantly affect fracture conductivity, which in turn severelyaffects the well's productivity. Dimensional analysis usingthe Buckingham pi-theorem was utilized to develop the experimentalcorrelations using the experimental data. The laboratory tests dataof 100 mesh brown and 40/70 mesh white sands (SG of 2.65) at variousproppant concentrations, injection rates, and with various perforationconfigurations were combined and used to develop the correlation.This paper offers a newly developed experimental correlation for theproppant distribution that may be utilized to forecast the distributionof proppant between various clusters in the multistage, multiclusterstimulation. Such correlations are essential to be considered in futurehydraulic fracturing treatment designs, as they offer insightful informationand aid in optimizing the projected proppant distribution across severalperforation clusters within a single hydraulic fracturing stage. Thus,the multistage, multicluster horizontal wellbore achieves uniformproppant distribution between the various perforation clusters.