New Approach For Describing Transient Pressure Response Generated by Horizontal Wells of Arbitrary Geometry

Applied Numerical Mathematics 40 (2002) 433449
www.elsevier.com/locate/apnum
New approach for describing transient pressure response
generated by horizontal wells of arbitrary geometry
Reinaldo J. Gonzlez-Requena
a,
, Juan M. Guevara-Jordan
b
a
Escuela de Ingeniera de Petrleo, Facultad de Ingeniera, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Caracas, Venezuela
b
Escuela de Matemticas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Caracas, Venezuela
Abstract
This paper is aimed at developing a methodology for studying the transient pressure behavior of horizontal wells
with any curvilinear trajectory in an isotropic/anisotropic arbitrarily shaped reservoir. This methodology employs
generalized functions to represent the tortuous horizontal well. A particular way of removing the singularities
involved in the partial differential equation is based on reducing the original problemto the conventional solution of
the homogeneous diffusivity equation under any given initial and boundary conditions. The Green function method
and any standard numerical technique are combined in a single computational strategy to obtain the transient
pressure response generated by a curved and twisted horizontal well in reservoirs with irregular boundaries.
Analytical methods can be also used, whenever possible, to solve the reduced problem. This proposal can be
easily broadened to analyze the performance of the pressure transient of any kind of reservoir sources or sinks that
can be modeled using generalized functions. Some models are presented. 2001 Published by Elsevier Science
B.V. on behalf of IMACS.
Keywords: Horizontal well; Sources; Mathematical modeling; Finite elements method; Diffusivity equation;
Transient pressure; Generalized functions; Curved/twisted trajectory
1. Introduction
The number of horizontal wells has increased considerably since the early 1980s within the petroleum
industry. Over the past twenty years, the advances in drilling and production techniques have paved the
way to the development, study, and adoption of new models for representing horizontal wells which are
more appropriate for the analysis of the well performance.
This work presents a mathematical model of the transient pressure response generated by a horizontal
and/or tortuous well which explicitly considers the modeled well as a generalized function in the
*
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: reygonzalez@cantv.net (R.J. Gonzlez-Requena).
0168-9274/01/$22.00 2001 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. on behalf of IMACS.
PII: S0168- 9274( 01) 00094- 0
434 R.J. Gonzlez-Requena, J.M. Guevara-Jordan / Applied Numerical Mathematics 40 (2002) 433449
non-homogeneous diffusivity equation [2,19,35]. This modeling procedure is not naturalsince a well
should be represented as a boundary condition [12,13,35]. For instance, when uids are subtracted
from reservoirs using production wells, they are characterized by intensive convergent ow patterns and
pressure eld singularities. This has led to the representation of wells by means of generalized functions
or distributions. One of the purposes of the present paper is the explicit use of this type of functions
in the diffusivity equation when representing a well of arbitrary trajectory. Evidence of the implicit use
of such generalized functions for representing vertical, horizontal, and fractured wells can be found
in the petroleum literature. For instance, the pressure distribution solutions in innite and rectangular
reservoirs can be seen in [38,21,3134,37]. Likewise, Ligget and Liu [28] have used conveniently
redened Dirac delta functions to represent vertical wells, at the expenses of certain level of rigorousness
in the generalized function model. On the other hand, Raghavan and Ozkan [35] provide solutions to
many reservoir cases (in rectangular coordinates) based on a similar distributional approach.
A specially designed numerical method is necessary to solve the well model developed in the case of
2D or 3D reservoirs with arbitrary boundaries due to the inherent difculties involved in representing
generalized functions using traditional numerical methods like nite differences or nite elements [27].
Therefore we hereby propose an algorithm that combines the removal of singularities (singularity
programming), Green functions, and the nite elements method in a single computational strategy to
numerically solve the Initial and Boundary Value (IBV) problem. This numerical method, hereafter called
the Singularity Programming Method (SPM), is not new in its applicability. Different authors have used it
to solve elliptic equations [1,15,18,23,36,38]. For the purposes of the diffusivity equation, the singularity
removal method is not as direct due to the additional time nature of the Dirac delta function used in the
partial differential equation, and therefore it must be reformulated. Astudillo and Gudez [2] originally
applied this reformulated methodology in the case of vertical wells in rectangular domains. They used
the nite differences method as a numerical approach. In this sense, one of the major contributions of the
present paper is to extend and validate the applicability of SPM to the mathematical model proposed for
horizontal or tortuous wells in arbitrarily shaped reservoirs. The authors can assure that this extension of
the SPM has not been previously recorded in the specialized literature.
The pressure distribution created by a ctitious horizontal well with a trajectory given by a circular
helix will be ascertained in this paper. Such potential use is another contribution of this methodology.
So far the cases of the most tortuous trajectory well found by the authors in the specialized literature are
that of a curved, torsionless horizontal well proposed by Koh and Tiab [26], and those, also torsionless,
wells, reviewed by Azar-Nejad et al. [3]. In addition to its potential for really addressing arbitrary well
geometries, this methodology can be extended to represent other reservoir anomalies such as fractures.
Section 2 presents some basic mathematical and physical considerations necessary to use generalized
functions when modeling the pressure response of horizontal wells. Section 3 considers the fundamental
solution of the diffusivity operator together with the associated source term solutions. They will be used to
program the singularity removal algorithm in Section 4. Section 5, probably the most important, presents
numerical issues used to account for the usual wellbore conditions. Section 6 focuses on examples and
their analysis. Section 7 presents the conclusions and nal considerations.
R.J. Gonzlez-Requena, J.M. Guevara-Jordan / Applied Numerical Mathematics 40 (2002) 433449 435
2. Mathematical model
According to the standard considerations [3] about rock/uid conditions, and taking its dimensionless
form, the basic equation describing the continuous pressure distribution generated by a well of arbitrary
trajectory can be simplied as follows [19,35,40]:
p
t
p =
b
_
a
q
_
(u), t
_
_
x (u)
__
_
(u)
_
_
du (1)
where p is pressure, t is time, q is production rate at the wellbore per length unit and per unit of time [25],
is the Dirac delta function [25,4143], and the line integral is calculated along the curve used for
modeling the well trajectory. The analytical representation of this curve is (u) = (
1
(u),
2
(u),
3
(u)).
Here,
(u) is the Euclidean norm of the velocity vector, which is tangent to the curve at (u).
1
It is worth pointing out that for the dimensioning of (1), the gravity term was considered through the
Hubbert potential [36]. For simplicitys sake, the symbols used in Eq. (1) are also used to represent
dimensionless variables, such as time, space and Hubbert potential. In rigor, p is the dimensionless form
of the potential, but from this point on we will refer to it just as pressure.
Modeling and simulating the behavior of pressure generated by a tortuous well in a reservoir
requires Eq. (1) to be solved subject to certain conditions at the reservoir boundary with a given
initial condition. For the purposes of the present paper, we shall take into consideration only the absence
of ow in , i.e., a zero Neumann condition. Nevertheless, the method is perfectly applicable to the
cases of constant pressure condition (dirichlet condition) or mixed conditions. Therefore, the following
problem with initial and boundary value (IBV) is assessed:
p
t
p =
b
_
a
q
_
(u), t
_
_
x (u)
__
_
(u)
_
_
du in (0, ), (2a)
p
n
(x, t ) = 0, in (0, ), (2b)
p(x, 0) =0, in , (2c)
where the semi-innite interval is associated to time and the zero initial condition is consistent with the
dimensioning used for these studies.
The source term in Eqs. (1) and (2a) is an idealization of the real condition of the wellbore, which
can be proposed as an inner boundary condition. In this approach, the well, D
, is conceived as a tube
of diameter around the axis trajectory , and the boundary condition equals the ow rate of the uid
through the tube surface D
with the known production rate of the well. This representation of the well
is very close to the physical reality, but is not used in reservoir simulation. Engineers prefer to neglect the
well tubing because its diameter is very small in comparison with the eld size and the grid sizes used for
numerical computations. It can be shown [11], that the tubular well with a small diameter is approached,
in its limit shape, as a line source.
1
(u) is a vector function with values in R
3
dened over the interval a u b. It must fulll certain conditions of
differentiability in order to assure proper curve modeling and the existence of the trajectory torsion [14,30].
From the physical point of view, the integral in the right side of (2a) has been used to represent the
density of a continuous and longitudinal source [35] and it can be interpreted as the limit of point densities
discretely distributed along the curve when this is partitioned without any limit [41,42].
On the other hand, only the total production rate of the well, Q(t ), is known for general applications.
This type of condition for the production rate is known as the uniform ow condition [21] and it is
obviously related to the production rate per length unit and per unit of time q through the formula [35]
Q(t )
b
_
a
q
_
(u), t
__
_
(u)
_
_
du. (3)
3. Source term solution
A very concise mathematical framework is exposed here in order to second the use of generalized
functions (distributions) when modeling source terms in differential equations, and their corresponding
source term solutions. It is assumed that most of these concepts are known by the reader.
From the mathematical viewpoint, the integral in the right side of (2a), or more briey denoted by the
integral
_
q( , t )(x ) d,
symbolizes the generalized function that operates under the rule [43]
__
( , t )(x ) d, (x)
_
=
_
q( , t )( ) d (4)
for all test or good functions (x) which, in essence, are innitely differentiable functions on R
n
with
compact support. Now, the equation
p(x, t )
t
p(x, t ) =
_
q( , t )(x ) d (5)
can be interpreted as a differential equation in a distributional sense and only requires the generalized
functions
p
t
p and
_
( , t )(x ) d
to be equal in the reservoir domain for each t >0 [25,35,43].
This distributional approach allows a natural interpretation of the physical situation and the use of the
Fourier transform to obtain the solution of Eq. (5).
The solution of Eq. (5) will be referred to as a source term solution, without consideration of boundary
conditions. The expression fundamental solution will be used to denote the function traditionally known
as free Greens function. Using Fourier transform, Vladimirov [41,42] showed that a fundamental
solution of the diffusivity operator is given by (3D case)
FS(x, t ; , ) =
1
(4(t ))
3/2
exp
_
x
2
4(t )
_
. (6)
On the other hand, the Fourier transform of the function f (x) is dened by the integral (provided it exists
for every )
FT
x
[f ]
_

_
R
n
f (x) exp
_
i( x)
dx
1
dx
n
=F(). (7)
The subscript x indicates that the Fourier transform has been applied to the variable x in R
n
.
The Fourier transforms of test functions are also test functions, which are adequately used to dene the
Fourier transforms of generalized functions [25,4143]. In addition, if g(x, ) is a generalized function
of x for all along the curve , it can be shown [25] that
FT
x
__
g(x, ) d
_
=
_
FT
x
_
g(x, )
d. (8)
To solve Eq. (5), we apply the Fourier transform to both sides and use expression (8). This generates an
easy differential equation on t which solution is given by
P(, t ) =
t
_
0
_
exp
_
2
(t ) i( )
q( , ) d d. (9)
This last expression is really the Fourier transform of the solution p of Eq. (5), so the solution p can be
obtained using the inverse Fourier transform and is given by
p(x, t ) ST(x, t ) =
t
_
0
_
q( , )
(4(t ))
3/2
exp
_
x
2
4(t )
_
d d. (10)
4. Singularity programming
The solution of (2) for a regular domain such as a parallelepiped or a rectangle is easily found through
analytical methods [19]. When the frontier is arbitrarily shaped, it is inevitable to resort to numerical
methods, which, in general, are unable to adequately handle the Dirac delta-type function involved in the
diffusivity [27]. According to the method here exposed, the solution p is considered as the addition of
the source term solution ST, associated to the generalized function, and a smooth function, P
reg
, that can
be solved through conventional numerical methods:
p =P
reg
+ST. (11)
It can be shown that P
reg
satises the following IBV problem
R
reg
t
P
reg
= 0 in (0, ), (12a)
P
reg
n
(x, t ) =
ST
n
(x, t, ) in (0, ), (12b)
P
reg
(x, 0) = 0, in . (12c)
The major advantage of (12) is that it represents a very conventional IBV problem for the diffusivity
equation. It can be solved through any numerical method selected, or, given the case, by means of a
proper analytical method or a combination of both. In the present work, the Finite Element Method
(FEM) was used to solve the reduced problem given by (12). Once P
reg
has been calculated, the pressure
p solution of (2) is uniquely determined by (11). Lastly it is worth pointing out that using this method it
possible to accept a trajectory for the horizontal well as curved and/or as twisted as can be mathematically
handled.
5. Wellbore condition features
The most important parameters used for the system of wells in reservoir simulation are ow rate and
wellbore pressure. Consequently, two different conditions for the wellbore can be considered to address
the problem under study (2).
First, the uniform ux condition that assumes that the total production rate of the well is known,
implying that the factor q( (u), t ) in (10) is a known constant. Although the production rate is probably
the best known information about oil wells, these kind of studies must be completed by including the
capability of handling the wellbore pressure condition [36,24]. Here, the well production is conceived
under the condition of uniform wellbore pressure, implying that the strength q( (u), t ) of the production
rate of the well is unknown. This pressure is dened as the reservoir pressure measured at the well radius
and it is used in all cases to compute the unknown production rate of the well.
As mentioned before, the proper solution of the reduced problem and the contribution of the
corresponding source term solution give the required solution. However, the source term solution also
deserves numerical treatment. For computational purposes, the spatial and time integrations involved in
the source term solution (10) are discretely approximated. The following expression is then established:
ST
_
x, t ; (u
i
),
j
_
=
N
T
j=1
N
U
i=1
q
_
(u
i
),
j
_
C
_
x, t ; (u
i
),
j
__
_
(u
i
)
_
_
u
i
j
. (13)
Here, {u
i
}
N
U
i=1
is a convenient partition of the interval [a, b]. Parameter u takes its values within this
interval for generating each point of the well trajectory and is associated with the chosen numerical
method of integration. The set of times {
j
}
N
T
j=1
is the corresponding subdivision of [0, t ] linked to the
selected method of numerical integration, with a last time step
N
T
equal (or very close) to t . Finally,
C(x, t ; (u
i
),
j
) denotes the fundamental solution (6) evaluated at ( (u
i
),
j
). The discrete form (13) is
used in Eq. (11) to obtain the numerical approximation of the pressure solution at any reservoir location x
and at any instant t . Evidently, a corresponding numerical approximation is also used to treat the normal
derivative of the source term that is present in the boundary condition of the reduced problem (12).
When the uniform ux condition is imposed, the numerical solution given by (13) can be directly
calculated due to the knowledge of q( (u
i
),
j
). When the wellbore pressure condition is used, the
strength q( (u), t ) of the production rate of the well is unknown and must be previously established in
order to nd the solution using (13). Consequently, a different scheme must be proposed.
Let {x
w
n
}
N
U
n=1
denote the wellbore positions (at the well radius) associated with the well trajectory, then,
the necessary system of N
U
equations is given by
p
wf
_
x
w
n
, t
_
=P
reg
_
x
w
n
, t
_
+
N
T
j=1
N
U
i=1
q
_
(u
i
),
j
_
C
_
x
w
n
, t ; (u
i
),
__
_
(u
i
)
_
_
u
i
j
(14)
for n = 1, 2, . . . , N
U
; at each instant t , and where p
wf
(x
w
n
, t ) denotes the wellbore pressure at x
w
n
.
Since the production rates q( (u
i
),
j
) are known for j = 1, 2, . . . , N
1, the double summation

associated with these indexes is called (x
w
n
,
N
T
1
) and the pressure differential is denoted by
p(x
w
n
, t ) = p
wf
(x
w
n
, t ) p
reg
(x
w
n
, t ). Under these new variables, the system of equations (14) can be
written as
N
U
i=1
q
_
(u
i
), t
N
T
_
C
_
x
w
n
,
N
T
; (u
i
),
N
T
1
__
_
(u
i
)
_
_
u
i
N
T
=p
_
x
w
n
, t
_
_
x
w
n
,
N
T
1
_
(15)
for n = 1, 2, . . . , N
U
and at each instant t .
These equations represent a generalized wellbore model for the horizontal well , because they relate
the production rates with the pressure differential along the well. If wellbore pressures are given as input
data, then this model is a linear system for the rates q( (u
i
),
N
T
). Its solution provides the production
rates needed by the diffusivity equation solver in order to compute the pressure at the following time
step. In this way, the extension of the new method to handle the wellbore pressure condition is achieved.
In addition, the wellbore model can be used in reverse direction allowing the calculation of the wellbore
pressure based on the rates.
The wellbore model developed in this section is explicit. It means that the ow rate is determined
before invoking the diffusivity solver on each time step. This kind of model is very simple but it may
pose stability problems if long time steps are taken or strong changes in pressure and rate are observed.
In these cases, shorter times steps could avoid this problem. If the times steps needed are too small then
a more complex or implicit wellbore model is required. However, such development is not needed to
extend and validate the numerical method presented in this article. More complex models for wells can
be always developed following similar arguments to those presented in this section.
Additional considerations will be presented to end this section. The discrete form of parameter u
induces a corresponding subdivision of points, { (u
i
)}
N
U
i=1
, on the well trajectory. These points can be
considered as gravity centers of small arc elements composing the whole well trajectory. Moreover, the
arc elements are here conceived as arc sources with respective wellbore pressures (concentrated at points
(u
i
)) and production rates (given by q( (u
i
), t )). This interpretation can be compared with the concept
of Discrete Flux Elements (DFE) introduced by Azar-Nejad et al. [36] for modeling the potential
(pressure) distribution generated by 2D nite sources: straight lines and curved lines. However, when
these authors derive their denitions, they do it from results obtained for cases with straight horizontal
wells parallel to coordinate axes, and in rectilinear reservoirs. Azar-Nejad et al. [3,5] assure that the
source conguration must be straight to do the integral over the wellbore length. However, integrating
over straight sources parallel to a coordinate axe implies that factor
(u) in Eq. (10) is constant.

Consequently, when the DFE concept is extrapolated to wells with arbitrary geometry (not twisted), the
factor
(u) is omitted, and it should be present in those integrals representing the curvilinear line
sources. This length factor does not necessarily have to be constant for curved and twisted trajectories
where, in fact, integration can also be done under adequate postulates of mathematical modeling. As
has been seen, the factor
(u) depends on the trajectory shape, and it has a different value at each
point (u). Its absence could distort the accuracy of results, particularly when curved and twisted well
trajectories are modeled.
6. Results and analysis
6.1. Finite element method
The nite element method (FEM) [27,39] was used as the chosen numerical technique for solving the
diffusivity equation in the numerical implementation of the SPM addressed by this paper. The PDE2D
nite element software [39] was used to this end. It allows the solution of general systems of partial
differential equations using polynomial bases of up to fourth order into 2D domains of arbitrary shape.
FEM was selected because it is better to handle boundary conditions, since this is a major factor in
implementing the SPM. Moreover, the FEM could be accommodated to tortuous (twisted) trajectories of
horizontal wells using large and complex grid renements [29], but the computational cost inherent to
such procedure could render it unusable, particularly in 3D runs, unsteady ow cases, and domains with
an arbitrary boundary.
The polynomial base in all 2D examples was restricted to be of rst order, which, under very general
conditions [18], is equivalent to a scheme of nite differences. In 3D cases, the PDE2D software can only
allow polynomial bases of third order into orthoedric-shaped boxes. This reects the limited number
of allowed blocks for studying 3D problems mostly due to restrictions in the available hardware (Sun
Sparc II).
The discretization caused in any dimension by PDE2D is completely implicit, preventing restrictions
to the length of time steps based on the CourantFriedrichLewy condition [27]. A more detailed FEM
exposition lies beyond the purposes of this paper, as it focuses on showing the potential and exibility of
this approach for the tortuous well modeling, and to solving the selected cases.
6.2. Examples
Four specic examples are presented below to validate the mathematical model, as well as the SPM
used for the simulation of the pressure distribution generated by horizontal wells. A trapezoidal rule was
used for the numerical integrals involved in these examples.
6.2.1. Example 1 (Validation against an analytic solution)
For validation purposes, a rectangular reservoir given by = [0, 2] [0, 1] was selected. It contains
a straight horizontal well of unit length parallel to the x axis and its center coincides with that of ,
i.e., the coordinates (1, 0.5). An unitary uniform ux was assumed.
Under these conditions, an analytical solution [19] and several numerical solutions obtained with two
different methodologies were developed for solving the IBV problem (2). The numerical methodologies
are the direct application of the FEM
2
to an equivalent problem, and the Singular Programming
Methodology (SPM) proposed in this article, which also includes the use of the FEM.
When using the direct application of the FEM, an approximation to the distributional representation
of the horizontal well is considered, and the original differential equation (2a) becomes the following
associated equation
p
a
t
p
a
=
_
256, if (x, y) [0.5, 1.5]
_
0.5
1
512
, 0.5 +
1
512
,
0, otherwise.
(16)
2
The methodology that applies the FEM directly without removing singularities will be denoted by dFEM.
In this equation, the generalized function has been approximated by the indicator function shown at the
right side of (16). It is well known [11] that these kinds of functions can be used at the limit process to
approximate the singular function associated to the horizontal well representation. The validity of this
function was veried by means of grid renements and comparison with the analytical solution.
Special grids were tted to take into account the presence of the horizontal well, because the integration
formulas can bypass the small band representing the well on uniform grids. The best approximation to
the analytical solution using dFEM was found on a grid of, approximately, ve thousand elements, at the
dimensionless times 0.001, 0.01, 0.1 and 1.
SPM was implemented using the same grids designed for dFEM. Although SPM does not need
this kind of gridit would work ne on global uniform gridsit was used just to match the dFEM
working conditions and facilitate the comparison of the corresponding solutions. The best solution for
the SPM was produced on a grid of, approximately, four hundred elements when it was compared with
the analytical solution at the same times considered for dFEM.
To obtain the convergence rate of the numerical methods in this test problem, the L
2
() error of the
difference between the numerical and analytical solutions was determined at the dimensionless time t 1.
The pseudo-steady condition has been achieved at this moment, so no further changes in the solution are
expected. Table 1 summarizes the errors for both cases and the grid dimension.
Table 1
Errors in L
2
() norm
SPM dFEM
Log(h) Loganalytic numerical Grid Log(h) Loganalytic numerical Grid
1.0986 8.0102 72 2.3979 9.0612 968
1.6094 9.2567 200 2.7081 9.3093 1800
1.9459 9.6800 392 3.2189 9.7180 5000
Fig. 1. Example 1: L
2
error vs. grid length. Logarithm values.
Table 2
CPU times for SMP and dFEM
Number of points where solution is required Normalized CPU times: time_SPM/time_dFEM
10 points 0.60
50 points 0.62
150 points 0.74
315 points 0.98
The contents of the table are shown in Fig. 1, where the slopes of the straight lines allow to conjecture
the order of convergence for each method. The magnitude h represents the maximum length of all
elements in the grid. Notice that the dFEM and the SPM, respectively, present almost rst and second
order of convergence.
For each method, the CPU times were computed on a Sun workstation (Sparc II) on the respective
ner grid. CPU times were found to be almost equal for both methods, in spite of the fact that dFEM was
applied in a grid twelve times bigger than the one used in the SPM. However, if the solution is needed in
a reduced number of points then SPM may be twice as fast as FEM as observed in Table 2.
In any case, CPU times should be carefully analyzed because this is really a comparison between an
efcient commercial code [39], and a domestic mixed algorithm developed for research purposes.
6.2.2. Example 2 (Applying the SPM to 2D irregular reservoirs)
The SPM will be used in this example to numerically simulate the pressure behavior created by a
horizontal well in a reservoir of irregular boundary. To this end, region in Fig. 2(a) was considered
with the same initial and boundary conditions given in (2). As in the previous example, well length is
unity, and its total rate production is of magnitude one. Following the same procedure as before, we
will also solve the associated equation to (2) where the generalized function is approximated by an
indicator function. The solution of the associated problem will be obtained by directly using the FEM.
This associated equation is given by
p
a
t
p
a
=
_
256 if (x, y) [0.5, 1.5]
_
0.602
1
512
, 0.5 +
1
512
,
0 otherwise.
(17)
Here, the well center is at the point (1, 0.602). Figs. 2(a) and (b) show the grids used for the application of
SPM and dFEM, respectively. Both solutions converge to the correct solution. In this case, a numerical
method has been assumed to converge on a certain grid if the difference between numerical solutions
obtained in successive renements are not punctually bigger than 10e6. Again, it is worth mentioning
that this kind of grids, which takes into account the presence/location of the horizontal well, are required
only when using the FEM to solve the associated problem (17), but they are unnecessary with the
application of the SPM for solving (2). This feature will be highlighted in the 3D example.
The following gures represent a sequence of the pressure distribution obtained by application of
SPM. Fig. 3(a) shows the drainage area generated by the horizontal well at dimensionless time t = 0.01.
It can be observed in this case that pressure close to the well behaves as if the reservoir was unlimited.
Additionally, the elliptical pressure isolines unambiguously dene the geometric location of the well in
the reservoir. Fig. 3(b) shows the nal drainage area, which reects pressure distribution at dimensionless
(a)
(b)
Fig. 2. Example 2: (a) Coarse grid system for numerical solutions by SPM. (b) Rened grid system for numerical
solutions by dFEM.
time t = 1.0 when the pseudo-stationary condition is reached. At this time, the drainage area is the whole
reservoir and it has thus ceased to expand. Also, it can be observed that the contour lines close to the well
are not concentric ellipses around the horizontal well, but rather around its center, which is a consequence
of the adopted modeling condition, i.e., uniform production rate.
For this constant ux case, a pressure gradient along the well is present because the ow has to enter
the well uniformly along its length [9]. Such pressure behavior is also typical for fractured vertical wells,
where uid extracted through the fracture tends to move towards the center, onto the position where the
vertical well is supposed to be pumping uid to the surface. This is the reason why many of the available
results for fractured wells are frequently applicable to horizontal wells. It is worth noting that uid is
not always pumped out of horizontal wells through their centers, but rather through one of its ends or
using producing sub-intervals. Clearly, these situations require different sets of hypotheses for modeling
purposes, but they can be also addressed by the SPM.
In conclusion, this example shows the SPMcapability to simulate the unsteady behavior of the pressure
generated by a horizontal well in an arbitrarily shaped 2D reservoir. In addition, using the SPM in less
(a)
(b)
Fig. 3. Example 2: (a) Pressure isolines around the horizontal well at time t = 0.01. (b) Isopressure lines around
the horizontal well at time t = 1.0.
rened grids solutions were obtained which were comparable to those obtained with the dFEM for the
equivalent problem in a more rened grid.
6.2.3. Example 3 (Applying the SPM to a well producing by wellbore pressure in 2D irregular
reservoirs)
This example gives us the opportunity of applying the wellbore model developed here to include
wellbore pressure condition as input data.
The reservoir and horizontal well are the same used in Example 2. Indeed, all the conditions of that
example will be the same up to the simulation time t = 1. At this point the wellbore model is used to
keep the wellbore pressure along the horizontal well at 0.51 from instant t = 1 to the time t = 1.5.
This restriction on the boundary condition produces a completely different pressure behavior around the
well. The pressure eld at time t = 1.5 is presented in Fig. 4(a). It shows that the isopressure lines do
not intercept the horizontal well because all the wellbore pressures, at this instant, have the value 0.51
imposed as a restriction.
(a)
(b)
Fig. 4. Example 3: (a) Pressure distribution around the horizontal well at time t = 1.5. (b) Effects of wellbore
model on pressure and rate.
In addition, Fig. 4(b) shows the effects of the wellbore model on the rate and pressure evaluated at the
center of the horizontal well. It can be observed that the ow rate is constant until the time t = 1; after
this moment the well rate is reduced in time by the wellbore model in order to keep the wellbore pressure
constant at 0.51. The small oscillations of pressure around this value are a consequence of the explicit
coupling of the wellbore model. All these observations of the behavior of pressure and production for
the horizontal well are consistent with the physics of the problem at hand, so it may be concluded that
the wellbore model developed for the SPM gives a satisfactory extension of this method. This extension
depends neither on the reservoir boundary shape nor on a tortuously curved/twisted well trajectory.
6.2.4. Example 4 (Applying the SPM to wells with curved and twisted trajectory)
The objective of this relevant case is to establish the unsteady pressure distribution generated by a
horizontal well whose trajectory is as curved and twisted as a circular helix. The problem to be solved is
the same as expressed in (2). Here, (u) is the analytical representation of this tortuous trajectory [20],
which is obtained by rotating the helix of equation (0.8u, 0.5 + 0.25cos(u), 0.5 + 0.25sin(u)),
until its own axis is aligned with the direction of one of the major diagonals of the domain =
[0, 2] [0, 1] [0, 1]. Parameter u takes values between a = 0 and b = 2.5.
Figs. 5(a) and (b) show a transient sequence for the pressure response generated by this twisted well at
times 0.001 and 0.1, respectively. Under the ow scheme known as early radial, Fig. 5(a) shows pressure
distribution (isosurfaces) honoring the curved and twisted shape of the helix-shaped trajectory of this
well. This is similar to the elliptic pressure isolines that make up the elliptic drainage area reserved for
(a)
(b)
Fig. 5. Example 4: (a) Pressure isosurfaces around a tortuous well at dimensionless time t = 0.001. (b) Pressure
isosurfaces around a tortuous well at dimensionless time t = 0.1.
these times when 2D studies of straight-well response are performed. This can be also seen in Example 2
and in [36]. Fig. 5(b) presents the shape of the pressure isosurfaces resulting from the spherical ow
at both ends of the well. Equivalent results have been reported by Azar-Nejad et al. [6] in their research
with straight horizontal wells in a 2D rectangular reservoir.
This application illustrates both the potential for emulating well trajectories as curved and twisted
as the relevant mathematical representation can handle, as well as the total independence between the
geometry/location of the well and the proposed grid for obtaining the numerical solution of the reduced
problem.
7. Conclusions
In this paper, the SPM was introduced and validated like a new methodology for assessing the transient
pressure distribution generated by tortuous horizontal wells in arbitrary shaped reservoirs.
In the 2D examples considered, the SPM presented excellent results even on coarse grids, and it was
numerically established that its order of convergence is quadratic. Additionally, the SPM proved to have
faster numerical convergence than the convergence reached by the direct application of the FEM to
equivalent problems.
Where possible, solutions using the SPM in coarse grids compared favorably with those obtained
applying the dFEM in more rened grid. This evidenced the superiority of this methodology.
The SPM applies equally well to wells that are producing either by constant rate of production or by
uniform wellbore pressure.
The SPM was shown to have potential for emulating well trajectories as curved and twisted as the
relevant mathematical representation can treat. Likewise, this methodology has shown that arbitrarily
shaped reservoirs are not a limitation.
Summarizing, the main SPM advantages are the convergence in coarse grids; its elegant capability
for emulating horizontal well trajectories as curved and twisted as required, and the total independence
between numerical grids and the geometry/location of the trajectory well.
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New Approach For Describing Transient Pressure Response Generated by Horizontal Wells of Arbitrary Geometry

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New Approach For Describing Transient Pressure Response Generated by Horizontal Wells of Arbitrary Geometry

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Applied Numerical Mathematics 40 (2002) 433449

1, the double summation

(u) in Eq. (10) is constant.

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