Introduction

The Hydraulic Fracturing and Sand Control project, established in 2006, consists of 14 projects (8 related to fracturing and 6 related to sand control). Each member company contributes $50,000 per year as a grant to the University and in return receives all the research results from the projects underway.

Projects

Hydraulic Fracturing

• F1 - Energized fractures in tight gas sands/gas shales (Sharma)
• F2 - Refracturing and stress reorientation in sand/shales (Sharma)
• F3 - Proppant placement/transport in fractures (Sharma)
• F4 - Removal of water blocks in ultra-tight rocks (Pope, Sharma)
• F5 - Improving the conductivity of Proppant packs (Sharma, Pope)
• F6 - Refracturing: Statistical analysis of field data (Sharma)
• F7 - Productivity of fractured wells (Sharma)
• F8 - Optimizing wellbore and fracture placement to maximize hydrocarbon recovery (Sharma)

Sand Control

• S1 - Fracture mechanics in poorly consolidated sands (Sharma)
• S2/S3 - For Mechanical, failure and flow properties of sands: Micro-mechanical models & experimental measurements (Olson, Sharma)
• S4 - Sand control strategies in water/waste injection wells (Sharma)
• S5 - Perforation stability in poorly consolidated sands (Sharma)
• S6 - Pressure transients and flow in wellbores and implications for sand-face failure and sand production (Sharma)

Sponsor Information

Please see the Sponsor Information Area (password required) for information available to Hydraulic Fracturing & Sand Control project sponsors.

Principal Investigators

• Mukul M. Sharma, msharma@mail.utexas.edu
• Jon E. Olson, jolson@mail.utexas.edu
• Gary A. Pope, gpope@mail.utexas.edu

How to Join

To become a sponsor of the Hydraulic Fracturing & Sand Control Project, notify Mukul Sharma, stating your interest or intent. We will then send you a research participation agreement to be executed by your company and The University of Texas. You can contact us by mail, phone, fax, or e-mail as follows:

Dr. Mukul M. Sharma
Center for Petroleum & Geosystems Engineering
The University of Texas at Austin
CPE 2.502
Austin, Texas 78712

Phone: (512) 471-3257
Fax: (512) 471-9605
E-mail: msharma@mail.utexas.edu