SPE

Society of Petroleum Engineers

SPE 18885

On the Design of Fracture Acidizing Treatments

by A.D. Gdanski* and W.S. Lee, Halliburton Services Research
*SPE Member

Copyright 1989, Society of Petroleum Engineers, Inc.

Tllis paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE Production Operations Symposium held in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, March 13-14, 1989.
This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE Program Committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper,
as presented, have not been reviewed by the Society of Petroleum Engineers and are subject to correction by the author(s). The material, as presented, does not necessarily reflect
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ABSTRACT
A fracture acidizing simulator has been written
which incorporates many of the recent advances in
fracture geometry and temperature calculations and
the acid spending process with the many complex
variables which affect acid spending.
All the
various effects have been coupled to reduce errors
and improve simulation.
A procedure which should
effectively
correlate
laboratory
acid-etched
conductivity tests with anticipated field results
has also been introduced.

The proper design of any stimulation treatment

should be based on at least a general understanding
of the interactions between the stimulation fluid
and the formation. Such designs allow producers to
reap the most benefits in terms of production,
costs, and treatment success.
In a non-acid
fracturing treatment the effect of a poor design can
be very evident by the column of sand left in the
wellbore. Such failures have helped prompt the many
advances in fracturing knowledge and treatment
simulation. Fracture acidizing lacks this feature
of instant embarrassment for a failed treatment
design. Many fracture acidizing simulators available have incorporated gross assumptions in modeling
the process in attempts to reduce execution time.
These assumptions include:
the notion of infinite reactivity,

2.

no heat of reaction,

3.

a single final temperature profile or even a

single average temperature,

turbulent mass transfer alone or laminar flow

with no convection,

5.

poor conductivity correlations,

6.

an over-simplified or single final geometry,

7.

and almost no coupling of the various factors

affecting acid spending rates.l-a

Fortunately, the recent times have caused concern

regarding the economic quality of fracture acidizing treatments.
Such a scrutiny has demanded
better treatment justification and, thereby, better
simulators. This paper introduces a simulator that
has most of the major rigid assumptions set free to
become dynamic variables.
The result is a simulator with a highly coupled acid spending process.
While the use of default or classical input values
is still possible, the improved use of laboratory
test data should allow more accurate simulations
and improved treatment designs.

INTRODUCTION

1.

4.

GEOMETRY CONSIDERATIONS
Lee and Daneshy 9 offer a method of simulating
two dimensional geometry when multiple fluids with
changing rheological properties are used in fracturing treatments with proppant. To implement this
technique in a computer simulation program, a data
base or empirical formula which can relate the
changing rheological properties of fluids with time
and temperature is required. LeelO has simplified
this method by allowing each fluid to have constant
but different rheological properties and then
applied this to acidizing.
In the examples
discussed in this paper, geometries were determined
with this latter method.
At present, we lack the broad data base and
empirical formulas which can relate how the

References and illustrations at end of paper.

539

On the Design of Fracture Acidizing Treatments

rheological properties of fluids used in fracture

acidizing vary with time and temperature. When they
become available, the method can be further refined.

calculated

Acid penetration distance is defined as the

distance travelled by the volume of acid at the
end of pumping.
It is equal to the leading
edge of the acid volume and can be determined
from geometry considerations alone.

2.

Live acid penetration distance is defined as

the farthest position of live acid at the end
of pumping. Live acid is defined as acid with
a minimum strength of 0.1%.
Any acid below
that strength is defined as spent. For plain
acid with no or ineffective reaction retarding
additives, the live acid distance could be
considerably less than the acid penetration
distance and geometry considerations alone are
not sufficient to determine this value.
It
must be coupled together with the acid reaction
mechanism. This matter will be discussed later
in the text.

3.

from

acid spending with a time and

temperature profile.
The reaction rate constants were varied with temperature
according to the Arrhenius equation using laboratory generated Ea as an input variable.

p~sition dependent

For fracture acidizing, three useful quantities

for proper treatment design are desired.
1.

SPE 18885

Mass transfer in transitional and turbulent

flow is dependent on the fracture width, fluid
velocity, kinematic viscosity, leak-off velocity
and proton dif fusi vi ty. 11' 12 In laminar flow the
mass transfer is also dependent on distance from
the wellbore, acid reaction rate, and convection
due to the density difference between live acid and
the spent acid at the fracture face. 13 Many of
these terms are temperature dependent.
The
fracture width is also a dominant term since it
appears in the calculation of many important terms,
such as the Reynolds number and the Rayleigh
number, used to describe mass transfer.
An accurate acid spending history must take
into account both a changing temperature profile
and a changing fracture width. Failure to couple
acid spending with a .width that changes with time
can result in a serious underestimation of the near
wellbore conductivity if a small preflush is.used.
If live acid reaches the fracture tip, either by
design or by the use of insufficient preflush, then
the use of the average fracture width can seriously
underestimate the rate of spending near the tip of
the fracture.
While the error in live acid
penetration may not be significant, again the
conductivity calculations can be in serious error.

Etching distance is defined as the maximum

distance any live acid has travelled by the end
of pumping. If only one acid stage has been
pumped, then the etching distance is equal to
the live acid penetration distance. However,
if more than one acid stage has been pumped,
the leading edge of a particular acid volume
may be live at previous time steps and become
spent at the end of pumping. In the case of
acid stages of different reactivity or of
alternating acid and water stages, the etching
distance could be greater than the final live
acid distance.

With the incorporation of dynamic fracture

conditions into the acid spending process, many of
the assumptions previously used to allow fast and
simple calculations must be discarded. Assumptions
about mass transfer control and infinite reactivity
become useless. The fracture model must now cover
the range of laminar to turbulent flow with
reactivity from slow to exceedingly fast.
To
accomplish this, the method of Roberts and Guin 12
was employed; this method uses a balanced mass
transfer and kinetic process, Eq. 1.

ACIDIZING THEORY
The rate at which hydrochloric acid spends on a
carbonate depends on a number of factors. The two
main factors are the reaction rate constants and
mass transfer.
The rate constants are rockdependent, and are strongly affected by temperature.
Temperature dependence is described by the energy of
activation, Ea, and is usually assumed to be about
15 kcal/gmole for limestones.~
However, careful
laboratory rotating disc tests have shown that Ea
can be as low as 1. 5 kcal/gmole. While this may
seem a moot point for a limestone, acid spending in
laboratory etching tests could not be predicted at
hig'her temperatures unless the proper value of Ea
was used. Proper prediction of acid spendi~g in a
fracture will depend on the ability to accurately
predict the temperature profile as a function of
time.
This profile will be dependent on fluid
cooling effects as well as on heating effects from
the heat of reaction of the acid with the carbo-

The range as meaningful values of n is from 0 to 1.

When the reaction order is either 0 or 1 the
solutio~ for C is exact. Other values required an
iterative solu~ion which generally converged within
five iterations. The wall concentration of acid,
Cw' is then used to establish the concentration
gradient from the center of the fracture followed
by numerical integration down the length of the
fracture to achieve acid spending and rock dissolution.
The numerical integration took into account the changing mass transfer, reactivity, and
leak-off.
CONDUCTIVITY METHOD

nate.1~

The response of a well to a fracture acidizing

treatment does not depend solely on the acid penetration distance, but depends also on the conductivity that results from the spending acid.
Prediction of the well response depends on knowing
the distribution of that conductivity as it relates
to acid spending. To this end a number of laboratory tests have been developed which try to relate

While the final temperature profile may be

useful for predicting the final acid penetration
distance, it is wholly inadequate for prediction of
the conductivity profile.
The error will underestimate near wellbore to mid-fracture conductivity.
In the simulator used, the accumulation of the
amo.unt of rock dissolved along the fracture was

540

SPE 18885

R. D. Gdanski and W. S. Lee

conductivity to acid spending. 15 ' 1 6 The test used

here has been described in the literature 17 and
generally employs the acid system to be pumped for
the treatment.

be that when the simulator compares the predicted

fracture weight loss to the predicted etching test
weight loss, a low conductivity will be observed.
Once the fracture conductivity profile has
been established by the simulator, one must use
some method of calculating an expected production
increase. 18 - 20 The method of Novotony 18 was used
in this simulator, though others are also available.
Comparison of the predicted production
increases then gives an indication of the quality
of the treatment design.
Optimum design as a
function of economics ~s a logical next step but is
beyond the scope of this work.

The acid ,is flowed across formation core at

bottomhole temperature for
20 to
40 minutes,
followed by a conductivity measurement under expected downhole closure stress.
This method has
provided improved selection of both proper fracture
acidizing fluids and techniques.
For example, the
buildup of insoluble organic residue from the core
can be observed to dramatically reduce treatment
effectiveness.
Various acid additives can then be
tested to alleviate the problem.
With weak cores,
reduction in conductivity from over-etching can
also be observed.
However, the modeling of this
response presents a difficult challenge as the
conditions of, say, live 15% HCl on formation
material at BHST may actually never occur due to the
dynamics of the fracture acidizing process.

TREATMENT TYPES
Conventional.
In the conventional acidizing
treatments at most three stages are pumped:
preflush, acid, and overflush. Preflush is used to
initiate a fracture and lower the temperature
around the fracture. When plain acid is used, acid
reaction is very fast, dissolving large amounts of
rock near
the
wellbore
but
creating
little
penetration distance. Reaction retarding additives
can be added to slow down the acid reaction rate.
However, if the reaction is slowed to the point
that the leading edge of the acid volume has
considerable remaining acid strength, long penetration distance is achieved at the expense of not
dissolving enough rock.
Thus, an optimum design
must compromise between penetration distance and
rock dissolving efficiency.
During acid stages,
fracture temperature could be raised considerably
due to exothermal reaction.

It is proposed that a correlation between

laboratory conductivity and weight loss per unit
area be used to relate to the field treatment.
In
this procedure the weight loss per unit area
predicted by the fracture acidizing simulator for
the treatment is
correlated back through the
laboratory measurements to predict conductivity.
The procedure assumes that the conductivity is a
strong function of weight loss and only a weak
function of changing acid strength and reactivity.
For example, the weight loss in the laboratory is
obtained with fully live acid at BHST under laminar
flow. Most of the weight loss in the fracture will
be with partially spent acid at less than BHST.
Even so, when the weight loss per unit area from the
simulator finally reaches that observed in the
laboratory, the conductivity of the fracture at that
point is assumed to be the observed laboratory
value.
The rest of the conductivity values are
obtained mostly by linear interpolation with some
values requiring reasonable extrapolation.

The function of overflush is to push the acid

volume forward, thereby increasing the penetration
distance and dissolving rock further from the
wellbore. For plain acid, a large overflush is not
needed because it can not efficiently increase
penetration
distance.
However,
if
the
acid
reaction is retarded, an overflush can be very
effective in increasing penetration distance.

Implementation of this procedure depends very

strongly on the ability of the fracture acidizing
spending simulator to also predict the spending of
acid in the laboratory acid etching test in the
absence of insoluble residues. While this may seem
straight forward, it could only be accomplished
above 200F (93 C) when the Ea from rotating disk
tests conducted below 150F (66C) was used.
The
rotating disk method has severe limitations above
200F
(93C)
where
a
controllable
surface
concentration of acid cannot be maintained due to
the low mass transfer rates. This leads one to the
assumption that the reactivity can be assumed to be
infinite.
This assumption was found to be inaccurate for predicting the weight loss in the acid
etching tests.

Viscous Fingering.
If a viscous preflush is
pumped prior to an acid with a viscosity difference
of at least 50 cp or with selective perforating,
considerable
viscous
fingering
effect
can
occur. 21 ' 22 By viscous fingering we mean that the
acid can channel through the viscous preflush and
move ahead; this effect is difficult to rigorously
model. The model used in Reference 10 assumes that
for a given gross height, the acid can channel
through only a fraction of this height.
This
fraction is called the fingering coefficient and
can be estimated from laboratory models based on
the viscosity
difference between
the viscous
preflush and the acid.
Thus, if the gross height
is 100 ft (30.5 m) and the fingering coefficient is
20%, then the acid is assumed to penetrate the
viscous preflush region through channels totaling
20ft (6.1 m) in thickness. Since the acid is less
viscous and goes forward through a narrow channel
created inside the viscous preflush region, it
moves forward with a speed much greater than the
viscous preflush.
It is assumed that once the
channels overtake the viscous preflush, they widen
to cover the complete gross height.
Since the
overflush usually has viscosity comparable to or
less than the viscosity of the acid, it is assumed

Reactivity of acid with cores which leave an

insoluble residue also presents an interesting
problem since reactivity will change with time or
amount of rock dissolved.
This reactivity problem
is not addressed in the simulator in terms of live
acid penetration distance, however the proposed
conductivity
correlation
method
does
somewhat
account for this in that the reduced reactivity
results in a lower measured conductivity at the
non-retarded predicted weight loss. The result will

541

On the Design of Fracture Acidizing Treatments

that it follows entirely through the channel created

by the acid and can eventually overtake the viscous
preflush (See Figs. 2 and 3 of Reference 10).
Because of the channelling effect, a long
penetration distance can be easily achieved with a
relatively modest amount of acid because (1) the
acid moves with a relatively high velocity and
reduces the time the acid can react with the rock;
(2) the acid fingers through the viscous preflush
region where the volume occupied by the acid in the
channel is not large. For example, if after pumping
acid the rema~ning viscous preflush volume is 10,000
gal (37.9 m3 ) and the fingering coefficient is 20%,
then the amount of acid required to overtake the
viscous preflush is equal to 2000 gal (7.6 m3 ) plus
leak-off endured by the acid during the channelling
process.

Alternating Stages. This treatment type is ,one

in which acid and gelled water are alternately
pumped. The gelled water serves several purposes.
Since the water is gelled, a greater fracture
width can be created due to its higher
viscosity.

2.

Since the acid reaction is highly exothermic,

the gelled water stage helps reduce the
temperature rise in the fracture.

3.

The
alternating
pumping
technique
helps
increase penetration distance if the acid is
retarded and helps control fluid loss.

Calculate the acid concentration profile along

the fracture using temperature and width
adjusted reactivity including effects from heat
of reaction and free convection.

Repeat steps 1-3 until all acid has been spent

or leaked off.

5.

At the end of the treatment calculate

etched width and
conductivity from
distribution of rock dissolved along
length of the fracture.

the
the
the

Energy of Activation.
The energy of activation is a term that describes the change in a rate
constant as a function of temperature, Eq. 2.
Ea
where:

(1. 987)

(2)

Ti is the temperature (K) for the rate

constant ki.

While the literature indicates a value for Ea

around 15 kcal/gmole for limestone, recent work in
our laboratory has shown that the value can be as
low as
1. 5 kcal/gmole.
To demonstrate the
importance of the proper Ea, Fig.
plots the
predicted etched width along the fracture as a
function of Ea.
For these simulations we used
10,000 gal (37.9 m3 ) of base gel (40 lb/Mgal
uncrosslinked gel) preflush, 20,000 gal (75. 7 m3 )
of 15% HCl and 5, 000 gal (18. 9 m3 ) of base gel
overflush. The treatment was pumped at 6 bbl/min
(0.95 m3 /min) into a 40 ft (12.2 m) zone having a
BHST of 180F (82C) to give an average fracture
width of 0.14 in. (0. 36 em).
The final wellbore
temperature was 94 F (34 C).
The input reaction
rate constant was 4.8E-5 em/sec at 180F (82C) and
the reaction order was 0. 35.
The curves clearly
show a dramatic difference in the etched width at
the wellbore. Formations with a large Ea would be
expected to possibly have serious conductivity
problems at the wellbore while formations with a
small Ea would not. It becomes apparent that the
energy of activation is an important formation
characteristic.

To model the acidizing treatment, the acidizing

process is divided into many time steps. The acid
movement is traced during these steps.
Thus, the
concentration of acid at a point at one time step
depends also on its concentration at the previous
location. From the concentration decreases between
the .time steps, the amount of rock dissolved can be
calculated. Thus, the algorithm is as follows:

2.

4.

Many of the factors that affect the acid

spending rate, such as heat of reaction, fracture
width, etc., have been discussed in the literature.
We will discuss here only the effect of the energy
of activation, the Rayleigh number and the proposed
conductivity correlation.

ALGORITHM

Pump a volume increment of acid and calculate

fracture
geometry,
fluid
leak-off
and
-temperature profile.

From the change in acid concentration across a

length increment and the volume of acid passed
across the increment, calculate the amount of
rock dissolved for each length increment.

SIMULATION RESULTS

Alternating Acids. In this technique two acids

with opposite characteristics can be alternately
pumped.
In one acid, reaction retarding additives
can be added such that longer penetration distance
can be achieved. The other acid is non-retarded and
can react faster in order to increase rock dissolving efficiency near the wellbore. To compare this
technique with the previous technique, the gelled
water stages are replaced by gelled acid.

1.

3.

If additional stages are pumped after a given

acid stage, the acid volume pumped in that acid
stage is still moving forward. It is important to
trace the leading and the trailing edges of that
acid stage until it has been either completely
leaked off or the acid strength in that volume has
diminished to a prescribed low limit such as 0.1%.
Unlike the condition of live acid at the wellbore,
the acid concentration at the trailing edge is no
longer fixed but both its strength and location
changes with time.
It was found that volume increments of 1000 gal (3.8 m3 ) and length increments
of 1 ft (0.30 m) gave excellent coupling.

Although the fingering effect is very effective

in creating long penetration distance, it decreases
the ability of acid to dissolve rock. However, it
creates a less uniform. etching pattern which
actually enhances flow capacity.

1.

SPE 18885

542

SPE 18885

R. D. Gdanski and W. S. Lee

Rayleigh Number. The Rayleigh number is a term

that describes the free convection that can occur at
a liquid-surface interface due to density differences. In our case the density difference is due to
the spent acid which forms at the fracture face.
The term is only important in laminar flow with
fluids thin enough to allow convection. As such,
convection can be observed with thin fluids in wide
fractures. Figure 2 demonstrates the importance of
convection on the predicted etched width along the
fracture. For these simulations we used 10,000 gal
(37.9 m3 ) of crosslinked gel preflush, 20,000 gal
(75.7 m3 ) of 15% HCl and 5000 gal (18.9 m3 ) of base
gel overflush.
The treatments were pumped at 6
bbl/min (0. 95 m3 /min) into a 40 ft (12. 2 m) zone
having a BHST of 180F (82C) to give an average
fracture width of 0. 21 in. (0, 53 em).
The final
wellbore temperature was 94F (34C). The reaction
rate constant was 4. 8E-5 em/sec at 180F (82C),
reaction order was 0. 35 and the energy of activation was 1. 5 kcal/gmole. The curves clearly show
the effect of convection on the etched width
profile and etched length. Without the extra mass
transfer caused by convection, one predicts 50%
more etched length in this particular case.
Although we have ignored for the present the
conductivity profile, it is readily apparent that
the calculation of production increase for these
two simulations would give very different results.

fracture conductivity in the farthest one-third of

the etched length. The near wellbore conductivity
was high enough in each case to be of little consequence. However, if the Ea had been 15 kcal/gmole
to give an etched width profile similar to Fig. 1,
then a severe restriction could exist in the near
wellbore area depending strongly on the fracture
conductivity that had been produced there. We can
now see that an accurate knowledge of the reactivity, mass transfer, temperature profile, and
conductivity response to etching is required to
properly predict the results of a fracture acidizing
treatment.

Conductivity Correlation. With an accurate

estimation of the etched width and etched length,
one is still unable to perform a production
increase calculation. The etched width must first
be related to a conductivity which essentially
describes the unevenness of rock removal.
As
discussed earlier, the simulator uses a laboratory
generated correlation between conductivity and
weight loss per unit area (or etched width) to
predict the fracture conductivity profile for the
treatment,
Figure 3 demonstrates the resulting
conductivity profile and production increase for
three simulations in which only the observed
laboratory conductivity values were changed.
For
these simulations we used 5,000 gal (18.9 m3 ) of
base gel pref lush, 10, 000 gal (3 7. 9 m3 ) of gelled
15% HCl and 5000 gal (18.9 m3 ) of base gel
overflush. The treatments were pumped at 6 bbl/min
(0,95 m3 /min) into a 40 ft (12.2 m) zone having a
BHST of 180F (82C) to give an average fracture
width of 0.13 in. (0. 33 em).
The final wellbore
temperature was 98F (37C).
The input reaction
rate constant was 4. 8E-5 em/sec at 180F (82C),
reaction order was 0. 35, and the energy of
activation was 1.5 kcal/gmole.

C
Cw
Ea
k
Kmt
n
T

CONCLUSIONS
1.

The dynamic coupling of fracture temperature,

leak-off, geometry, and acid spending has been
accomplished in a fracture acidizing simulator.

2.

Proper acid spending and conductivity profiles

require the laboratory measurement of the
energy of activation for acid spending.

3.

A method has been proposed which should improve

the use of laboratory generated conductivity
data for predicting fracture conductivity.

NOMENCLATURE
bulk concentration of acid, gmol/mL
wall concentration of acid, gmol/mL
energy of activation, cal/gmol
reaction rate constant, em/sec
= mass transfer coefficient, em/sec
reaction order
= temperature, K

CONVERSION FACTORS
bbl

OF

ft
gal
darcy

x 1.589 873 E-01

(F-32) /1.8
x 3.048 E-01
x 3.785 412 E-03
X 9.869 233 E-01

= ms

= oc

=m

= ms
. = llm2

REFERENCES

In Fig. 3 the dashed line is the predicted

etched width for all three simulations. Laboratory
conductivity values were arbitrarily defined after
20 and 60 min of acid etching at 180F (82C) with
gelled 15% HCl and are listed in Table 1.
The
weight losses per unit area correspond to etched
widths of 0. 072 and 0.194 in. (0.18 and O. 49 em),
respectively. For Case 1 we demonstrate the case
of diminishing improvement of acid etching.
For
Case 2 we demonstrate the case of a weak core which
is also susceptible to softening when overetched.
For Case 3 we demonstrate the case of a hard core
which at least initially etches fairly evenly. A
comparison of the curves reveals that the response
to the treatment was fairly dependent on the

543

1.

Williams, B. B. and Nierode, D. E.: "Design

of Acid Fracturing Treatments," J. Pet. Tech.
(July 1972) 849-859.

2.

Van Domselarr, H. R. and Schols, R. A.: "An

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239-250.

3.

Coulter, A. W., et al.: "Mathematical Model

Simulates Actual Well Conditions in Fracture
Acidizing Treatment Design," SPE Paper 5004
presented
at the 1974 SPE Annual Meeting,
Houston, October 6-9, 1974.

4.

Williams, B. B. et al." Acidizing Fundamentals,

SPE Monograph Volume 6, Society of Petroleum
Engineers of AIME, Dallas, (1979) 49.

5.

Nierode,
D.
E.
and
Williams,
B.
B.:
"Characteristics of Acid Reaction in Limestone
Formation," Soc. Pet. Eng. J. (Dec. 1971)
406-418.

On the Design of Fracture Acidizing Treatments

6.

Nierode, D.
E. et al.:
"Prediction of
Stimulation From Acid Fracture Treatments," J.
Cdn. Pet. Tech. (Oct.-Dec. 1972) 31-41.

7.

Barron,
D. R.:
in a
(April,

A. N., Hendrickson, A. R. and Wieland,

"The Effect of Flow on Acid Reactivity
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8.

Williams, B. B., Gidley, J. L., Guin, J. A. and

Schechter,
R.
S.:
"Characterization
of
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Acid/Calcium Carbonate Reaction," I. and E. c.
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9.

Lee, W. s. and Daneshy, A. A.: "Fracture

Geometry and Proppant Transport Computation for
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(November, 1987), 257-266.

10.

Lee, W. S.:
"Geometry Determination for
Multi-Stage Acidizing Treatment With or Without
Viscous Preflush," Paper SPE 14515 presented at
the 1985 Eastern Regional Meeting, Morgantown,
WV, Nov. 6-8, 1985.

SPE 18885

20.

Raymond, L. R. and Binder, G. G., Jr.: "Productivity of Wells in Vertically Fractured,

Damaged Formations," J. Pet. Tech. (January,
1967) 120-130.

21.

"MY-T-ACID Process," Halliburton Services

Technical Data Sheet No. f-3146 (June, 1976).

22.

"WISPER-Acid Fracturing Through Widely Spaced

Perforations,"
Shell
Int.
Research
Maatschappiji's European Patent
0.005.874
(1979).

TABLE 1
Conductivities Used for Figure 3
Conductivities (Darcx-ft)
20 min

60 min

Increase

10

15

5.6

5.4

4.8

Case
11.

12.

Roberts, L. D. and Guin, J. A.: "The Effect of

Surface Kinetics in Fracture Acidizing," Soc.
Pet. Eng. J. (Aug. 1974) 385-395.
-Roberts, L. D. and Guin, J. A.: "A New Method
for Predicting Acid Penetration Distance," Soc.
Pet. Eng. J. (Aug. 1975) 277-286.
--

13.

Chang, C-Y, et al.:

"Surface Reaction With
Combined Forced and Free Convention," AIChE
Journal (March 1976) 252-259.

14.

Lee, M. H. and Roberts, L. D.:

"Effect of
Heat of Reaction on Temperature Distribution
and Acid Penetration in a Fracture," Soc. Pet.
Eng. J. (Dec. 1980) 501-507.

15.

Broaddus, G. C. et al.:
"Dynamic Etching
Tests
and
Their
Use
in Planning Acid
Treatments," Paper SPE 2362 presented at the
Oklahoma Regional Meeting, Stillwater, OK,
Oct. 1968.

16.

Nierode,
D.
E.
and Kruk, K.
F.:
"An
Evaluation of Acid Fluid Loss Additives,
Retarded
Acids,
and
Acidize
Fracture
Conductivity," Paper SPE 4549 presented at the
1973 SPE Annual Meeting, Las Vegas, Sept.
1973.

17.

Anderson, M. S. and Fredrickson, S. E.:

"Dynamic Etching Tests and Fracture Acidizing
Treatment
Design,"
Paper
SPE/DOE
16452
presented
Low
Permeability
Reservoirs
Symposium, Denver, CO, May 18-19, 1987.

18.

Novotny, E. J.:
"Prediction of Stimulation
From Acid Fracturing Treatments Using Finite
Fracture Conductivity," J. Pet. Tech. (Sept.
1977) 1186-1194.

19.

Soliman, M. Y.:
"Numerical Model Estimate
Fracture Production Increase," Oil and Gas J.
(Oct. 13, 1986) 70-74.

544

Production

seE 18885
FIGURE 1
EFFECT OF ENERGY OF ACTIVATION
0.6,---,----,----,----r.:===:r:::::==::::;--,

Ea
15.0
7.5
1.5

0.0 +-.....,....-,--,--+---r-.....,-.....,--+---r--.----r----f.---.--.....-r--":-1
0
40
80
120
160

200

240

DISTANCE (feet)

FIGURE 2
EFFECT OF FREE CONVECTION

CONVECTION

50

100

150

200

250

300

DISTANCE (feet)

545

l:r-----f:::,.

WITH

cr----<:>

WITHOUT

350

450

500

seE 18885

FIGURE3
CONDUCTIVITY CORRELATION
25

~-------,.--------,-------r-----~----.----------r0.25

---er-a
D--O

WIDTH
CASE 1

0.20

CASE2

~ CASE3

+-----+----_J_------!~==~:::::!~=t:t~::~~~~----l-o.oo
300

DISTANCE (feet)

546