Experimental Analysis of Proppant Embedment Mechanism.

Proppant embedment in hydraulic fracturing can reduce remarkably the fracture width and thus damage the fracture conductivity. This paper describes a study of the proppant embedment mechanism. Two groups of experiments were carried out. A proppant embedment mechanism was proposed. An analysis showed that proppant embedment is not an elastic process but could be a plastic or even failure process depending on the surface microstructure of the formation core. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]