Stress arch effect on the productivity of vertical fractured well

Rock permeability impacts by effective stress. Permeability modulus is used to evaluate the level of permeability reduction due to effective stress change. And the permeability modulus is always obtained by the experiment which assumes that the overburden pressure is constant during production. Actually, the overburden pressure reduces during production due to stress arch effect and it is easy to form a stress arch in the overburden when the reservoir is small and soft compared with surrounding's rock. Based on the definition of the permeability modulus, we obtain an expression between permeability modulus bγ considering stress arch effect and permeability modulus b0 without stress arch. There lies a linear ship between bγ and b0, which is also proved by the experiment data. Based on the relationship between bγ and b0, a delivery equation for vertical fractured well is established. Compared with the absolute open flow with stress arch ratio of 0, the absolute open flow increases by 2.87 %, 6.79 %, 12.32 %, 20.12 % and 25.44 % for the stress arch ratio of 0.12, 0.28, 0.5, 0.8 and 1, respectively, with permeability modulus b0 of 0.0397 MPa-1. And it increases by 7.31 %, 18.1 %, 34.88 %, 61.02 % and 79.97 % for the stress arch ratio of 0.12, 0.28, 0.5, 0.8 and 1, respectively, when b0 = 1. So absolute open flow with high permeability modulus b0 is more sensitive to stress arch ratio. Stress arch also impacts the optimum fracture half-length. Vertical well has the maximum absolute open flow when it has the optimum fracture half-length. The maximum absolute open flow increases with the increasing of stress arch ratio, while optimum fracture half-length decreases with increasing of stress arch ratio for the same permeability modulus b0. Compared with case with no stress arch, the optimum fracture half-length reduces by 2.86 %, 5.7 %, 11.43 %, 17.14 % and 22.86 % for the stress arch ratio of 0.12, 0.28, 0.5, 0.8 and 1 respectively when b0 equals to 0.0397 MPa-1. While the maximum absolute open flow increases by 1.6 %, 3.8 %, 7.16 %, 12.02 % and 15.60 % for the stress arch ratio of 0.12, 0.28, 0.5, 0.8 and 1 respectively. Thus, vertical well considering stress arch needs smaller fracture half-length than that with no stress arch. Meanwhile, the maximum absolute open flow and optimum fracture conductivity both increase as stress arch ratio increases. Compared with the case without stress arch, the optimum fracture conductivity increases by 50 %, while the maximum absolute open flow increases by 21.40 % with stress arch ratio of 0.5 when b0 equals to 0.0397 MPa-1. The stress arch greatly impacts on the stress sensitive permeability, permeability modulus and well performance, which can't be neglected especially in the low and ultra-low permeability reservoir.