Experimental investigation of shale imbibition capacity and the factors influencing loss of hydraulic fracturing fluids

Spontaneous imbibition of water-based fracturing fluids into the shale matrix is considered to be the main mechanism responsible for the high volume of water loss during the flowback period. Understanding the matrix imbibition capacity and rate helps to determine the fracturing fluid volume, optimize the flowback design, and to analyze the influences on the production of shale gas. Imbibition experiments were conducted on shale samples from the Sichuan Basin, and some tight sandstone samples from the Ordos Basin. Tight volcanic samples from the Songliao Basin were also investigated for comparison. The effects of porosity, clay minerals, surfactants, and KCl solutions on the matrix imbibition capacity and rate were systematically investigated. The results show that the imbibition characteristic of tight rocks can be characterized by the imbibition curve shape, the imbibition capacity, the imbibition rate, and the diffusion rate. The driving forces of water imbibition are the capillary pressure and the clay absorption force. For the tight rocks with low clay contents, the imbibition capacity and rate are positively correlated with the porosity. For tight rocks with high clay content, the type and content of clay minerals are the most important factors affecting the imbibition capacity. The imbibed water volume normalized by the porosity increases with an increasing total clay content. Smectite and illite/smectite tend to greatly enhance the water imbibition capacity. Furthermore, clay-rich tight rocks can imbibe a volume of water greater than their measured pore volume. The average ratio of the imbibed water volume to the pore volume is approximately 1.1 in the Niutitang shale, 1.9 in the Lujiaping shale, 2.8 in the Longmaxi shale, and 4.0 in the Yingcheng volcanic rock, and this ratio can be regarded as a parameter that indicates the influence of clay. In addition, surfactants can change the imbibition capacity due to alteration of the capillary pressure and wettability. A 10 wt% KCl solution can inhibit clay absorption to reduce the imbibition capacity.