Diagnostic platform for analyzing and optimizing well treatment fluids

A system for characterizing well treatment fluids, the system comprising:

• a microfluidic chip, the microfluidic chip comprising:
• at least one inlet and a plurality of outlets, and
• a channel array comprising plurality of microfluidic channels having different cross-sectional dimensions, wherein the at least one inlet is in fluid communication with the plurality of microfluidic channels, and wherein the plurality of microfluidic channels are in respective fluid communication with the plurality of outlets;
• a pump in fluid communication with the at least one inlet for passing the well treatment fluid to the plurality of microfluidic channels to partition the well treatment fluid into a plurality of different size classes based on a cross-sectional dimension of a respective microfluidic channel;
• an imaging sensor in optical communication with the microfluidic chip for obtaining imaging data of flows of the well treatment fluid in the plurality of microfluidic channels;
• and
• a computing system for analyzing the imaging data to characterize fluid properties for the well treatment fluid or for each of the different size classes.

A method for characterizing performance of well treatment fluids, the method comprising:

• providing a microfluidic chip, the microfluidic chip comprising:
• an inlet and an outlet, and
• a microfluidic channel, wherein the microfluidic channel is in fluid communication with and between the inlet and the outlet, and wherein the microfluidic channel is functionalized as a model for a wellbore and a reservoir;
• flowing a well treatment fluid into the inlet to pass the well treatment fluid to the microfluidic channel;
• obtaining imaging data of flow of the well treatment fluid in the microfluidic channel;
• and
• characterizing performance properties of the well treatment fluid in the microfluidic channel using the imaging data.

A system for characterizing performance of well treatment fluids, the system comprising:

• a microfluidic chip, the microfluidic chip comprising:
• an inlet and an outlet, and
• a microfluidic channel in fluid communication with and between the inlet and the outlet, wherein the microfluidic channel is functionalized as a model for a wellbore and a reservoir;
• a pump in fluid communication with the inlet for flowing a well treatment fluid to the microfluidic channel;
• an imaging sensor in optical communication with the microfluidic chip for obtaining imaging data of flow of the well treatment fluid in the microfluidic channel;
• and
• a computing system for analyzing the imaging data to characterize performance properties of the well treatment fluid in the microfluidic channel.