CHAPTER SEVEN

Hydra-Jet Fracturing Bottom-Hole

Assembly
Contents
7.1 The Bottom-Hole Assembly: Outline and Functions 205
7.2 Jet Sub and Slide Sleeve 206
7.3 Nozzle 207
7.4 The Accessary Parts 209

Abstract
As the critical components of this technology, the bottom-hole assembly, including its
structure and the material, is very important to guarantee a successful hydra-jet multi-
stage fracturing operation. This chapter presents the detailed structure and function of
each part of the tool. First, the overall structure and the corresponding function are
described in general. Then, the detailed structure of the jet sub and the slide sleeve in-
side is illustrated considering the possible risks in practical operations, like the pin’s
strength, sleeve’s surface smoothness, and the jet sub or sleeve shoulder wear that re-
sults from proppant flowing, etc. Third, as the most important part of the technology,
the nozzle inner structure and material are analyzed to get an effective jet for pene-
trating the casing and formation. A nozzle made of ceramics with a comparatively sim-
ple inner structure is adopted. Finally, the accessary parts, including the centralizer and
one-way valve, guide, etc. are described briefly.

Keywords: BHA; Jet sub; Nozzle; Slide sleeve; Structure.

7.1 THE BOTTOM-HOLE ASSEMBLY: OUTLINE

AND FUNCTIONS
As shown in Fig. 7.1, the bottom-hole assembly (BHA) consists of
multi-stage jet guns, whose number and positions are determined by the
well bore length, reservoir characteristics, the cost, etc. Considering the
risk of sand-sticking, a safety sub should be connected between the tubing
string and the BHA. At the end of the BHA, a guide is installed as usual,
to lead the tool tripping in smoothly. The screen pipe functions as a filter
to prevent solid particles from entering the tool while reverse circulating.

Abrasive Water Jet Perforation and Multi-Stage Fracturing

© 2018 Elsevier Inc.
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ISBN: 978-0-12-812807-7
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-812807-7.00007-8 All rights reserved. 205
206 Abrasive Water Jet Perforation and Multi-Stage Fracturing

Figure 7.1 The bottom-hole assembly structure.

The centralizer can keep the nozzle’s standoff distance equal to the casing.
Except for the first jet sub, there is a slide sleeve in each jet sub. Therefore
the balls should be bigger to open the corresponding sleeve in practical
fracturing performance. For a horizontal well, the operation will start
from the toe to the heel stage by stage. The following discussion presents
the detailed structure of each component.

7.2 JET SUB AND SLIDE SLEEVE

The jet sub, as shown in Fig. 7.2, is the main part of the BHA. Around
the circumstance of the sub, there are distributed several nozzles, whose
number is determined by the practical requirement and the pump power.
Its maximum diameter determines the nozzle’s standoff distance. For

Figure 7.2 The detailed structure of jet sub.

Hydra-Jet Fracturing Bottom-Hole Assembly 207

different nozzle structures, this distance will influence the hole diameter
jetted by the abrasive water jet (AWJ) on the casing wall. A slide sleeve, fixed
by some pins with the sub body, is set inside the sub to seal the nozzles inlet.
Once needed, a ball will be cast into the tubing to open the sleeve after
cutting off the pins. Then the sleeve will slide to the seat at the downstream
end of the jet sub and the nozzles can work normally.
Note that the sleeve outside should be smooth enough and coaxial with
the sub inside the hole, to avoid sticking when the sleeve is moving. Also,
the pin’s strength should be tested ahead of time. If it is too strong, it will
be difficult to get cut off; if it is weak, the peak signal transmitted to the
surface will be ambiguous and it will be hard to judge whether or not the
sleeve is activated successfully. In addition, at the end of the jet sub, there
is a shoulder to bear the sleeve when the ball activates it. One fact cannot
be neglected, that is, when the proppant volume is big, the shoulder may
be worn off. If so, the sleeve will have no support and fall into the tubing
string. When this accident happens, the typical phenomenon is that the
tubing pressure shows obvious reduction even under the same flow rate as
the previous stage. Under this situation, the present stage has to be given
up. Another place of possible wearing off is the sleeve mouth, especially
for the sleeves close to the heel of a horizontal well. If such wearing happens,
the ball will not be able to seal the sleeve’s inner hole, showing the same
phenomenon as mentioned earlier. In summary, at the inner passage of
the tool, any place where the inside diameter varies will have the hazard
of wearing. When designing and manufacturing these parts, we should
consider the structure and material optimization.

7.3 NOZZLE
The nozzles are the critical parts to generate the AWJ for penetrating
the casing and formation, and to pass the proppant-laden fluid in fracturing.
Its basic principle is through contraction section along the flow direction to
accelerate the fluid, transforming the high-pressure fluid into a high-speed
jet. So, the inner passage structure will be very important to get an effective
jet, that is, the jet should be able to keep the initial speed as long as possible
and reduce the energy loss when fluid passes through it.
Normally, the nozzle inside structure mainly includes the parameters such
as inlet contraction angle, inlet section shape, outlet shape, and exit diameter,
influencing the jet shape and the impacting force. In this technology, we
208 Abrasive Water Jet Perforation and Multi-Stage Fracturing

need a jet with a longer section keeping the initial velocity to penetrate the
casing and formation, and the nozzle material should be strong enough to
stand the abrasive wear. In addition, the flow rate coefficient, related with
the material matrix, wet-face smooth finish, flow passage profile, etc., should
be as high as possible to reduce the fluid power loss. Till date, ceramic com-
posite is the most feasible material, although it is difficult to manufacture. So,
the nozzle inside structure should not be very complex for easy fabrication.
The frequently applied nozzle inside structures, used in petroleum industry,
are cone, cone þ straight section, and streamline þ straight section, as shown
in Fig. 7.3. Considering the aforementioned factors comprehensively, we
adopted the nozzle with an inside structure of cone þ straight section. As
for its detailed design method, there are many professional books that can
be referenced. Fig. 7.4 shows the finished nozzles made of ceramic
composite.

Figure 7.3 The general nozzle structures.

Figure 7.4 Ceramic nozzles.

Hydra-Jet Fracturing Bottom-Hole Assembly 209

7.4 THE ACCESSARY PARTS

The accessary parts mainly include the centralizer, one-way valve,
screen pipe, and the guide. The centralizer, with a greater diameter than
the jet sub, is set on a short tubing sub and can move freely. The reason
for such design is to avoid sand-sticking. That is, if there is down-hole
BHA sand-sticking, we must try to move the tubing string first. As the
centralizers are not fixed with the jet sub, it will be easy to release the
BHA when sand-stuck. The one-way valve functions as a reverse circulation
passage. When necessary, we can pump fluid from the annulus with a higher
flow rate, opening the one-way valve. This operation is mostly to solve
BHA accidents. Furthermore, the screen pipe plays the role of filtering
bigger particles from entering the BHA under reverse circulation. Naturally,
the guide, set at the end of the BHA, leads the tool tripping into a well
smoothly.