Patent ID: 7314082

Claim:
A method of calculating the improvement in the pressure containment integrity of a well bore containing one or more fractures having wedges of a fracture sealing composition placed therein comprising the steps of: (i) dividing each of said one or more fractures into a first region adjacent to said well bore having a pressure equal to the well bore pressure, a second region comprised of one or more sub-regions all containing a wedge of said fracture sealing composition and a third region at the tip portion of the fracture having a pressure equal to the pore pressure of the formation; (ii) determining the pressure exerted on the faces of said fractures by said wedges of said fracture sealing composition in said second regions of said fractures; and (iii) calculating the improvement in the pressure containment integrity of said well bore by applying a failure criterion to determine if said wedges of said fracture sealing composition are stable or unstable.