Computer simulation of effective viscosity of fluid-proppant mixture used in hydraulic fracturing

Vitaly A. Kuzkin, Anton M. Krivtsov, Aleksandr M. Linkov

Published 2013-10-10Version 1

The paper presents results of numerical experiments performed to evaluate the effective viscosity of a fluid-proppant mixture, used in hydraulic fracturing. The results, obtained by two complimenting methods (the particle dynamics and the smoothed particle hydrodynamics), coincide to the accuracy of standard deviation. They provide an analytical equation for the dependence of effective viscosity on the proppant concentration, needed for numerical simulation of the hydraulic fracture propagation.