Coupled thermo-hydro-chemical modeling of fracturing-fluid leakoff in hydraulically fractured shale gas reservoirs

Once the low-temperature, high-pressure and low-salinity water contacts the shale matrix through the hydraulic fractures during the treatment of hydraulic fracturing, both mass and energy transfer occur due to the significant temperature, pressure, saturation and salinity gradients. Although, many leakoff models have been published, none of the models coupled the transient fluid flow modeling with heat transfer and chemical-potential equilibrium phenomena. In this paper, a coupled thermo-hydro-chemical (THC) model based on the derivation of non-isothermal chemical-potential equations from Gibbs’ free energy is presented to simulate fluid/heat flow behaviors during the leakoff process of hydraulic fracturing. The THC model takes into account a two-phase flow and a triple-porosity medium, which includes hydraulic fractures, organic and inorganic shale matrix. The simulation of fluid flow and leakoff with the THC model accounts for all the important mass and heat transfer processes occurring in fractured shale system, including fluid transport driven by convection, adsorption and diffusion, and heat transport driven by thermal convection and conductivity. The dynamic temperature, pressure, saturation and salt concentration profiles within fractures and shale matrix are calculated, revealing a multi-field coupled invasion region of fracturing-fluids during the treatment of hydraulic fracturing. In sensitivity analyses, cases with different initial reservoir temperature, pressure, saturation and brine salinity are considered. The impacts of the temperature, pressure, saturation and salinity gradients between the shale formation and the pumped fluids on the well injection and leakoff volumes during the treatment of hydraulic fracturing are investigated. Results show that although hydraulic pressure is the most factor which affects the fracturing-fluid leakoff behavior, the combination of chemical-osmosis, thermal-osmosis and capillarity still has a non-negligible influence on the fracturing-fluid leakoff. This study provides a better understanding of the mass and heat transport mechanism of water-based fracturing-fluids in shale gas reservoirs.