Semi-analytical solutions for release of fluids from rock matrix blocks with different shapes, sizes and depletion

regimes
Ehsan Ranjbar, Zhangxing Chen, and Hassan Hassanzadeh Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering University of Calgary

1 BACKGROUND
The fluid flow and transport in fractured rocks is of great significance in many oil and gas reservoirs and groundwater environments [1]. Flow and transport in fractured porous media are often described using a dualporosity model. This model assumes that the porous medium includes two different regions, one related with the macropore or fracture network with high permeability and the other with a less permeable and more porous system of soil aggregates or rock matrix blocks. Dual porosity models assume that fluid transport can be described by two equations for matrix and fractures, which are coupled using a term describing the exchange of fluid or solutes between the two pore regions [2]. Flow of compressible and slightly compressible fluids (water or oil) in fractured reservoirs has been studied extensively with applications in prediction of production rates and well testing. The dual porosity approach has been used in numerical simulation of groundwater, oil, and gas flow in fractured porous media. However, for large-scale simulations the use of this approach is limited by the huge number of grid-blocks and small time steps that are often needed to accurately simulate the flow and are expensive in terms of computational time.
Fracture

3 METHODOLOGY & VALIDATION

A transfer function is utilized to characterize the matrix-fracture interaction and determine the mass transfer between the matrix blocks and the fractures. The rate of mass transferred from the matrix to the fractures is directly related to the shape factor. For modeling of naturally fractured reservoirs, an exact value of the shape factor is required to account for both the transient and pseudo steady-state behavior of the matrixfracture interaction and also the geometry of the matrix-fracture system [3]. Following Equation is used for the transfer function of a cylindrical and spherical block in terms of the shape factor:

kmTscVb m f qsc = Tpsc 2

The diffusivity equation for flow of compressible fluid for different geometries can be expressed as follows:

An integral method [4], [5], and the method of moments [6] are used to find the early and late time solutions of this equation respectively. This Equation was solved for three cases including: Constant fracture pressure Variable fracture pressure Variable block size distribution (multiple blocks).
Figure 2: Comparison of the presented model with the numerical simulation for 2D flow (cylindrical block approximation) Figure 3: Comparison of the presented model with the numerical simulation for 3D flow (spherical block approximation)

cmm m 1 I m (r )= I r km t r r

To determine the validity of the presented model we compare our results with the fine grid numerical simulation. Cumulative release of fluids from matrix to fractures is used to evaluate the accuracy of the presented model.
Fig. 1: Schematic representation of the problem for a cylindrical block

Matrix

Figures 2 and 3 compare the cumulative release of gas based on the presented semi-analytical model and the numerical results for two- and three-dimensional flow, respectively.

4 RESULTS 2 WHY / PURPOSE

Practically it is not feasible to model a large scale fractured reservoir based on a fine grid approach due to the requirement of large computational time. The presented semi-analytical model can be incorporated into numerical models for accurate modeling of the TEXT amount of transferred fluid between matrix and fractures using a DP approach. It is shown that the results calculated by the developed model match well with those from fine grid numerical simulations. The main objective of this study is to develop a new semi-analytical model for different matrix block geometries (cylindrical and spherical) for flow of compressible and slightly compressible fluids in fractured porous media. It is emphasized that it is not practical to model a large scale fractured reservoir based on a fine grid approach due to the requirement of large computational time. The presented semianalytical model can be incorporated into numerical models for accurate modeling of the amount of transferred fluids between matrix and fractures using available dual porosity formulation. In other words, this study is important to reduce the computational time for large scale simulations of gas flow in fractured porous media and can be nested in a numerical model to resolve subgridblock scale flows. For slightly compressible fluids the presented model is capable to model flow of water or oil in fractured media for different block geometries and different block size distributions. In the presented study the models for release of fluids from cylindrical (representative of two sets of fractures or 2D) and spherical (representative of three sets of fractures or 3D) blocks are derived. Fracture Depletion Regime Effect:
102
Constant fracture pressure

Block Size Distribution Effect:

3.5
16

1.0 0.9

101

Linear decline Exponetial Decline (k=0.0001) Exponetial Decline (k=1)

14

10

3.0

0.8
12 8

2.5 Slab-Shaped block Cylindrical block

Ideal Dis. Exponential Dis.(a=-20) Linear Increasing Dis. Normal Dis.

100

Exponetial Decline (k=1000) Linear Decline(k=0.01)

0.7 0.6

10

Slab-Shaped block Cylindrical block Spherical block

QD

QD/Q
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

QD

10-1

QD

Ideal Dis. Exponential Dis.(a=-20) Linear Increasing Dis. Normal Dis. Linear Decreasing Dis. Log-Normal Dis.

Dt

2.0

Spherical block

0.5 0.4

qD

10-2

Linear Decreasing Dis. Log-Normal Dis. Exponential Dis.(a=20)

1.5

4 10-3 2

Exponential Dis.(a=20) 2

1.0

0.3 0.2

10-4 0 0.0 10-5 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 0 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6

0.5

0.1
0.0

tD

tD

0.0 0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

4.0

4.5

5.0

10-6 10-3

10-2

10-1

100

101

102

103

104

105

tD

Figure 6: Dimensionless cumulative release versus dimensionless time for different block size distribution and cylindrical blocks Table 1: Different probability distribution function and their equivalent radius

tD

SQRT[]

Figure 4 : Dimensionless rate versus dimensionless time for different fracture depletion regimes for a cylindrical block

Figure 7 : Dimensionless cumulative release versus dimensionless time for different block geometries

Figure 8: Normalized cumulative fluid release versus square root of scaled time

101 100 10-1 10-2 10-3

101 100 10-1 10-2

-3

Distribution

Distribution Function
ae a R D f D ( RD ) = a F h e e a

Equivalent Radius

Exponential

RDe

10

(aFh + 1)e aFh (a + 1)e a = a(e aFh e a )

QD

10-4 10-5 10-6 10-7 10-8 10-9 10-3 Constant fracture pressure Linear Decline(k=0.0001) Exponetial Decline (k=0.0001) Exponetial Decline (k=1) Exponetial Decline (k=1000) Linear Decline(k=0.01)

QD

10-4 10-5 10-6 10-7 10-8 10-9 10-3 Constant fracture pressure Linear Decline(k=0.0001) Exponetial Decline (k=0.0001) Exponetial Decline (k=1) Exponetial Decline (k=1000) Linear Decline(k=0.01)

Figure 7 compares the dimensionless cumulative release for different matrix block geometries when the fracture pressure is constant. As illustrated in this figure the slab-shaped block has the maximum value of the cumulative release and the blocks are depleted more slowly than the cylindrical and spherical blocks. Figure 8 demonstrates the normalized cumulative release versus the square root of the scaled time. As a result of the scaling, the release curves become closer to each other for different geometries as illustrated in Figure 8.

Normal

f D ( RD ) =

1 2 2

1
2 e 2

( RD M ) 2

RDe

10-2

10-1

100

101

102

103

104

105

106

10-2

10-1

100

101

102

103

104

105

106

M Fh M 1 ) erf ( ) + M erf ( 2 2 2 2 1 = 2 ( M 1) 2 2 2 2 ( M F2h ) 2 e 2 e 2

Conclusions
An integral approximation method has been used to derive the solutions for nonlinear pressure diffusion in blocks with different geometries including cylindrical and spherical blocks. The results calculated by the approximate solutions are in good agreement with those calculated by the fine grid numerical models. It has been shown that the depletion time of a matrix block is a function of the fracture pressure depletion regimes. In the case of constant fracture pressure or exponential decline with a large exponent the block is depleted faster than that in the linear decline and the exponentially decline with a small exponent. Block size distribution is another important parameter that affects the matrix production during the transient state. The blocks with a smaller equivalent radius are depleted more quickly. For a large equivalent radius, distributions like ideal and exponential with a small exponent (i.e., a=20) the transient period is longer than that for the other distributions. Finally, the normalized cumulative release from all matrix block geometries is expressed as a function of the square root of the scaled dimensionless time, which may find application for irregular shape matrix blocks.

tD

tD

Linear
Figure 5: Dimensionless cumulative release versus dimensionless time for different fracture depletion regimes for a cylindrical (left) and spherical (right) block

f D ( RD ) = mRD + b
[ln( RD ) M ln ]2
2 2 ln

RDe =

m b (1 Fh3 ) + (1 Fh2 ) 3 2
2 ln

Figure 4 compares the dimensionless release rate versus the dimensionless time for different depletion regimes in the fracture for a cylindrical block. Figures 5 compare the dimensionless cumulative gas release for different fracture pressure depletion regimes for cylindrical and spherical blocks, respectively. The results show that the time required for the cumulative gas release from a matrix block to reach its plateau depends on the depletion regime in the fracture. Fast depletion regimes like constant fracture pressure and exponential decline with a large exponent reach their plateau more rapidly than those with the linear decline and the exponential decline with a small exponent.

Log-normal

f D ( RD ) =

1
2 RD 2 ln

RDe =

M ln +

2 M ln + ln ln( Fh ) [ ] erf 2 2 ln 2 erf [ M ln + ln ] 2 2 ln

Figures 7 compares the cumulative release for different distributions with cylindrical and spherical blocks, respectively. As demonstrated in these figures the time to reach the ultimate cumulative release is proportional to the equivalent radius of the distribution. Based on these figures the exponential distribution with a large exponent is depleted faster than the other distributions. The ideal distribution and exponential distribution with a small exponent behave similarly and deplete more gradually than other distributions.

1. Novakowski, K. S. and P. A. Lapcevic (1994), Field measurement of radial solute transport in fractured rock, Water Resour. Res., 30(1), 37-44 2. Gerke, H. H. and M. Th. van Genuchten (1993), A dual-porosity model for simulating the preferential movement of water and solutes in structured porous media, Water Resour. Res., 29(2), 305-319 3. Ranjbar, E., Hassanzadeh, H. and Z. Chen (2011), Effect of fracture pressure depletion regimes on the dual-porosity shape factor for flow of compressible fluids in fractured porous media, Adv. Water Res., 34(12), 1681-1693, doi: 10.1016/j.adwatres.2011.09.010

4. Zimmerman, R. W., and G. S. Bodvarsson (1989), Integral method solution for diffusion into a spherical block, J. Hydrol., 111, 213-224 5. Pooladi-Darvish, M., Torkite, W. S. and S. M. Farouq Ali (1994), Steam heating of fractured formations containing heavy oil: basic premises and a single-block analytical model, SPE Paper 28642 6. Ranjbar, E. Hassanzadeh, H. and Z. Chen (2012), One-Dimensional matrix-fracture transfer in dual porosity systems with variable block size distribution, Transp. Porous Media, 95(1), 185-212, doi: 10.1007/s11242-012-0039-4