Modelling of transport of two proppant‐laden immiscible power‐law fluids through an expanding fracture

Hydraulic fracturing technology is one of the most popular and efficient reservoir stimulation techniques in oil and gas industry since it allows significant increase of the hydrocarbon production rate. A possible advancement of this technology involves consequent pumping of several immiscible fluids laden with solid particles (proppant) into a fracture. This technique has a potential for better control of the proppant placement and, thus, a better control of the fracture shape. The major result of the present work is a mathematical model and a computational code for investigation of a flow of two immiscible slurries inside an expanding fracture. © 2012 Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering