New tools for modeling fracture networks and simulating gas flow in low-permeability sand and shale reservoirs
- EG&G Technical Services of West Virginia, Inc., Morgantown, WV (United States)
The U.S. Department of Energy, Morgantown Energy Technology Center, has an on-going project to model and simulate gas flow in low-permeability sands and shales that contain irregular, sometimes discontinuous, fracture networks (i.e., the types of networks not adequately represented by existing models/simulators). A FORTRAN code and methodology for modeling and simulating flow in these fracture networks has been developed. The goal was to convert the locations and orientations of fractures, as observed along a horizontal well bore, into two-dimensional, geometrically and hydraulically equivalent networks, which can be used to study variability in yield and drainage pattern. The fracture network generator implements four models of increasing complexity through a Monte Carlo process of selecting fracture network attributes from fitted statistical distributions. A process of shifting fracture end-point locations along the axes of fractures provides a partial control of fracture intersection/termination frequencies. Output consists of fracture end-points and apertures. The flow simulator divides each fracture-bounded matrix block into subregions that drain to the midpoint of the adjacent fracture segment in accordance with a one-dimensional, unsteady idealization. The idealization approximates both the volume and the mean flow path length of each subregion. Volumetric flow rate in the fractures is modeled as a linear function of the pressure difference between the recharge points and the fracture intersections. The requirement of material balance between all intersections couples the individual recharge models together, and the resulting equations are solved by a Newton-Raphson technique.
- OSTI ID:
- 411942
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9610180-; ISSN 0149-1423; TRN: 96:005901-0074
- Journal Information:
- AAPG Bulletin, Vol. 80, Issue 9; Conference: American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) gulf coast association of geological societies meeting, San Antonio, TX (United States), 2-4 Oct 1996; Other Information: PBD: Sep 1996
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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