Manifold Trailer Proppant Concentration Step-Change Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional methods for mixing proppants and clean fluids in hydraulic fracturing often result in a gradual transition rather than the desired abrupt step-change, which degrades the effectiveness of proppant placement in subterranean formations, leading to suboptimal conductivity and hydrocarbon production.
Innovation Solution
A manifold trailer system utilizing multiple parallel pumps is configured to maintain a common transit time across all flow paths, ensuring a sharp step-change in proppant concentration is maintained from the input to the output, thereby facilitating effective pillar fracturing by precisely controlling the proppant concentration in the fracturing fluid.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If conventional mixing methods are used to combine proppant and clean fluid, then the mixing process is simple, but the transition between clean fluid and proppant mixture is gradual rather than abrupt
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the flow into multiple parallel paths, each with independently controllable pumps. By segmenting the flow control, the system can precisely manage the transition from clean fluid to proppant mixture, achieving an abrupt step-change in concentration rather than a gradual transition.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts pump speeds and flow rates in real-time to control the proppant concentration transition. By varying operational parameters dynamically, the system maintains precise control over the mixing process and achieves the desired sharp transition in proppant concentration.
2Manufacturing precision
If multiple parallel pumps with different flow paths are used to control proppant concentration, then sharp step-change in proppant concentration is achieved, but the system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple parallel pumps are designed with identical or similar configurations, allowing them to perform the same function of transporting fluid and proppant. This universality simplifies the overall system design while maintaining the ability to achieve precise proppant concentration control through coordinated operation of the pumps.
Solution Approach 2:
The system incorporates flow meters and control systems that monitor the actual proppant concentration and pump performance. This feedback mechanism allows for real-time adjustment of pump speeds and flow rates, ensuring precise proppant placement despite the increased number of components.
3Reliability
If proppant concentration transitions gradually, then the mixing process is easier to control, but the conductivity of fractures is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-mixes proppant and clean fluid in separate lines before combining them in the parallel pump configuration. By performing preliminary mixing actions in controlled segments, the system ensures that when the fluids combine, they create the desired sharp transition in proppant concentration, thereby maintaining fracture conductivity.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed are systems and methods utilizing multiple parallel pumps to deliver a mixture of the proppant and clean fluid via a manifold trailer. One method of providing a step-change in proppant concentration includes selecting a first flow rate for a first pump connected between a first input node and first output node, calculating a first transit time for a flow of a fluid at the first flow rate through a first flow path extending from the first inlet node, through the first pump, and to the first outlet node, and calculating a second flow rate for a second pump connected between the first input node and the first output node such that a second transit time for a flow of the fluid through a second flow path extending from the first inlet node, through the second pump, and to the first outlet node is equal to the first transit time.