Models of natural fracture connectivity: Implications for reservoir permeability
- Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
- Purdue Univ., Lafayette, IN (United States)
Fluid transport through a fracture network in rock depends strongly on the nature of connections between fracture segments and between individual fractures. We propose to develop three dimensional models for natural fracture connectivity using an integrated field, laboratory, and theoretical approach. We will investigate the mechanisms responsible for fracture connectivity (or lack thereof) for single and multiple sets of fractures. The models will be based on detailed field mapping and observations from both massive and layered sedimentary rocks, typical of producing oil and gas reservoirs. The mechanisms responsible for connectivity will be determined using continuum and fracture mechanics principles to construct computer simulations of the fracture process, including initiation, propagation, interaction, and termination of fractures under natural loading conditions. By identifying these mechanisms we will relate the degree of connectivity to the geometry, state of stress, and material properties of the reservoir rocks and, in turn, be in a position to evaluate the influence of these factors on fracture permeability in oil and gas reservoirs. A new initiative within the project is to use physically-based fracture simulations to address the question: does a length scale exist at which the fractured rock mass has a definable representative elementary volume (REV) with respect to fluid conductivity The results of our research will be complimentary to and help to constrain geophysical imaging techniques and geostatistical models for fractured petroleum reservoirs and should have important applications to hydrologic problems of contaminant transport in fractured aquifers. 5 figs.
- Research Organization:
- Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- FG03-89ER14081
- OSTI ID:
- 5185551
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/ER/14081-T1; ON: DE91018970
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Models of natural fracture connectivity: Implications for reservoir permeability. Annual report for DOE Basic Energy Sciences, 1990
Models of natural fracture connectivity -- Implications for reservoir permeability. Final report