Patent ID: 8186431

Claim:
A method of hydraulic fracturing a subterranean formation by introducing a transport fluid containing a proppant into a fracture of defined generalized geometry within the formation, the method comprising: (a) determining the requisite apparent viscosity of the transport fluid, μ fluid , for a desired propped fracture length, D PST , in accordance with Equation (I): μ fluid =(1 /A )× q i ×(1 /D PST ) B ×( C TRANS )×( ΔSG PS )×( d 2 prop ) (I) wherein: A is the multiplier and B is the exponent from the Power Law equation of velocity of the transport slurry vs. distance for the fracture geometry; q i is the injection rate per foot of injection height, bpm/ft; C TRANS is the transport coefficient; ΔSG PS is SG prop −SG fluid , SG prop being the specific gravity of the proppant and SG fluid being the specific gravity of the transport fluid; and d prop is the median proppant diameter, in mm; (b) introducing the transport fluid into the formation; and (c) subjecting the formation to hydraulic fracturing and creating fractures in the formation defined by D PST .