Study of the pressure drop and the flow of loss circulation material suspensions in a physical simulator of fractures

Abstract The loss of fluid to the rock formation is one of the main problems encountered in oil well drilling operations. To mitigate this problem, particulate materials responsible for sealing fractures or for strengthening the well are used. The main objective of this work is to study the flow of Non-Newtonian suspensions through fractures, the pressure drop associated with this flow and the process of sealing fractures using particulate materials suspensions. The flow through fracture of Non-Newtonian suspensions was studied using an apparatus that allowed these fluids to flow through three different artificial fractures with widths of 2 mm, 5 mm and 10 mm and an average 1 cm depth. The suspensions were prepared by mixing water, viscosifying polymer and particulate materials based on laminar calcium carbonate. The particulate materials used are called fine and medium because they have different particle size distributions. The characterization of the solutions and suspensions was carried out from the rheological tests and the determination of the densities and the particle size distributions. The influence of factors such as flow rate, concentration and particle size distributions on the flow of the suspensions through fractures and its sealing capabilities were evaluated. The suspensions of the fine material particles were able to seal only the 2 mm fracture. The suspension composed of the particles of the medium material proved efficient in sealing the three fractures. A mathematical methodology was proposed with the objective of correlating the pressure drop and the flow rate of suspensions in fractures.