ABSTRACT
Current fracture designs are based on choosing fracture height and using a 2-D approximation to calculate fracture width. There are however, two approximations which can be used, leading to greatly different designs in terms of fluid volume, pad volume, etc. Given this discrepancy, accurate in-situ measurements of fracture width are needed to help define fracture geometry.
The purpose of this paper is to present measurements made with a downhole closed-circuit television camera during a fracture stimulation (without proppant) of an oil bearing sandstone formation in an effort to investigate the applicability of the two fracturing models. Data is presented showing fracture width as a function of height and pressure. The measured widths are briefly compared to different design theories.
