Fractal modeling of natural fracture networks
West Virginia University will implement procedures for a fractal analysis of fractures in reservoirs. This procedure will be applied to fracture networks in outcrops and to fractures intersecting horizontal boreholes. The parameters resulting from this analysis will be used to generate synthetic fracture networks with the same fractal characteristics as the real networks. Recovery from naturally fractured, tight-gas reservoirs is controlled by the fracture network. Reliable characterization of the actual fracture network in the reservoir is severely limited. The location and orientation of fractures intersecting the borehole can be determined, but the length of these fractures cannot be unambiguously determined. Because of the lack of detailed information about the actual fracture network, modeling methods must represent the porosity and permeability associated with the fracture network, as accurately as possible with very little a priori information. In the sections following, the authors will (1) present fractal analysis of the MWX site, using the box-counting procedure; (2) review evidence testing the fractal nature of fracture distributions and discuss the advantages of using the fractal analysis over a stochastic analysis; and (3) present an efficient algorithm for producing a self-similar fracture networks which mimic the real MWX outcrop fracture network.
- Research Organization:
- West Virginia Univ. Research Corp., Morgantown, WV (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- FG21-94MC31182
- OSTI ID:
- 72907
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/MC/31182--95/C0479; CONF-950494--10; ON: DE95012263
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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