What You Should Know About Hydraulic Fracturing

The method of generating fissures in subsurface rocks using high-pressure fluid, often known as fracking, is hydraulic fracture or hydraulic fracturing.

FREMONT, CA : The method of generating fissures in subsurface rocks using high-pressure fluid, often known as fracking, is hydraulic fracture or hydraulic fracturing. The fluid injection rate into the formation is great enough to cause it to fracture. Water, sand, and chemicals are usually poured into the bedrock formation under high pressure through the well.

This approach is widely employed in low-permeability rocks, including tight sandstone, shale, and some coal beds, to boost oil and gas flow to the well from formations. It's also utilized for tunneling, geothermal energy, groundwater remediation, water well development, and determining the in-situ stress of rocks.

Fracking is done by injecting a high-pressure fluid that contains 95% water, 0.5 percent additives, and 4.5 percent proppant. The created fractures grow as the proppant fills them and keeps them open when the fracture fluid is administered.

Hydraulic fractures propagate perpendicular to the least primary stress, often the overburden stress in some rocks, resulting in a horizontal hydraulic fracture. The least principal stress in very deep reservoirs will be horizontal, resulting in a vertical hydraulic fracture. Fractures always form perpendicular to the minimal in-situ stress, and the vertical stress almost always equals the overburdened weight per unit area.

Higher subsurface vertical strains can be caused by upward forces greater than the overburden weight in some instances. The vertical stress is the minimal stress at shallow depths, generating fractures in the horizontal direction. To keep the fractures open, proppants like sand or gritty material suspended in water-based or other drilling fluid forms are introduced.

Hydraulic fracturing is a technique used by the oil and gas sector to keep their wells operational. In addition, this method is often used by construction organizations to assess in-situ stress in the workplace. Companies can select the greatest choices for their purposes by considering fracture orientation, length, and fluid composition.