Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 9091 (2012) 3138

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Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering

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Pressure transient analysis for multi-fractured horizontal well

in shale gas reservoirs
Yu-long Zhao, Lie-hui Zhang n, Feng Wu
State Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610500, PR China

a r t i c l e i n f o abstract

Article history: This paper presents the Pressure Transient Analysis (PTA) of the multi-fractured horizontal well with
Received 29 December 2011 the consideration of adsorption and desorption characteristics of shale gas reservoirs, which were
Accepted 2 April 2012 rarely incorporated into previous PTA models. Point-source solutions are derived in Laplace transform
Available online 7 May 2012
domain by using the source function idea and solution of the mathematical model is obtained by the
Keywords: discrete and Gauss elimination methods. Pseudo-pressure and Pseudo-pressure derivative type curves
Shale gas reservoir are plotted in order to identify different ow regimes by using the Stehfest algorithm. And the effects of
Multi-fractured horizontal well inuence factors and ux distribution on discrete elements are also analyzed. The results obtained in
Mathematical model this paper have important signicance to understand the pressure characteristics and provide the
Desorption
theoretical basis and technical support for exploiting this reservoir efciently.
Diffusion
& 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Transient pressure analysis

1. Introduction the fractures rotated at any horizontal angle to the well or

Shale gas reservoirs are currently being aggressively explored
and developed around the world, the advancement of horizontal
drilling and multi-stage hydraulic fracturing techniques have
made it possible for this ultra-low permeable formation to be
successfully and economically available. Compared to the con-
ventional reservoirs, e.g. Sandstone, shale gas reservoirs have
their own uniqueness, such as the shale is a self-sourcing
reservoir within which the gas is stored either by compression
(as free gas) or by adsorption on the surface of the solid material
(either organic material or minerals). According to Hill and
Mehran (2000), up to 85% of the total gas within shale gas
reservoirs can be found as an adsorbed phase on kerogen. So
there exist many differences in seepage ow theory, well perfor-
mance, production analysis as well as well test analysis method
as compared to the conventional reservoirs.
The use of horizontal well drilling and multistage hydraulic
fracturing has been proven to be the key technologies for
successful development of the shale gas resources in America.
Furthermore, pressure transient analysis of multi-fractured hor-
izontal well in conventional reservoirs has been studied by many
scholars. Crosby et al. (2002) presented the results of an analytical
and experimental study of the initiation of transverse fractures
from horizontal wells. Wan and Aziz (2002) described a new
semi-analytical solution for multi-fractured horizontal well with
n
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: zhangliehui@vip.163.com (L.-h. Zhang).
partially penetrated. Wei and Economides (2005) studied the
turbulence effect on a horizontal well in oil and gas reservoir
with transverse fractures. Medeiros et al. (2007) simulated the
effects of matrix permeability, fracture spacing and well spacing
on pressure and pressure derivative responses in tight gas
reservoir. Brown et al. (2009) presented an analytical trilinear
ow solution to simulate the pressure transient and production
behavior of fractured horizontal wells in unconventional reser-
voirs. Later, the ow regimes surrounding a multi-fractured
horizontal well system have also been investigated by many
researchers, such as Restrepo (2008) and Belyadi et al. (2010).
All of the above studies just aim at traditional reservoirs.
In shale gas reservoirs, the studies of a multi-fractured horizontal
well are mainly concentrated on the production evaluation and well
performance. Mayerhofer et al. (2006) presented the results of
integrating microseismic fracture mapping with numerical produc-
tion modeling of fracture networks in the Barnett shale. Freeman
(2010) and Mattar et al. (2008) presented numerical approaches for
the production forecasting of complex, multi-fractured horizontal
wells. Using a linear dual porosity model, Rasheed and Robert (2010)
approximated the shale gas completions with a horizontal well and
multiple hydraulic fractures. Cheng (2011) employed a numerical
simulator to investigate the characteristics of pressure transient
response under a number of factors and ow mechanisms, such as
matrix permeability, conductivity of hydraulic fractures, cluster
spacing and gas desorption etc. Imad et al. (2011) presented a
composite model with a dual porosity inner zone and a single
porosity outer zone to model production in the light of a multi-
fractured horizontal well in shale gas reservoirs. Haider and Robert

0920-4105/$ - see front matter & 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.petrol.2012.04.006
32 Y. Zhao et al. / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 9091 (2012) 3138

(2011) developed the type curves for production data analysis of where V is the average matrix gas concentration, sm3/m3; rsc is
shale gas/oil wells using a dual porosity model. Wang and Liu (2011) the uid density under the standard conditions, g/m3; psc is the
presented a simplied, coarse dual porosity model to quickly standard pressure, psc 0.1 MPa; Tsc is the standard temperature,
evaluate the effectiveness of stimulation treatment and to under- Tsc 273 K.
stand shale oil production mechanism. 8 
> 3D @V  for transient diffusion
Although Cheng (2011) had studied the ow regimes of multi- @V < Rm @rm rm Rm
3
fractured horizontal well by applying a numerical simulator in shale @t > 6Dp 2
: R2 V E V for pseudo-steady diffusion
gas reservoir, he did not give the process of how to consider the m

adsorption and desorption properties. And none of the other previous where D is the diffusion coefcient, m2/s; VE is the equilibrium
studies on transient pressure response of multi-fractured horizontal gas concentration in pseudo-steady diffusion, sm3/m3; Rm is the
well took into account the adsorption and desorption properties of external radius of matrix block, m; rm is the radial distance in
shale matrix. In view of this, here in this paper we present two matrix, m.
improved dual-mechanism dual-porosity models for horizontal well Rp
Dening the pseudo-pressure as mp p 2p=mZdp. Eq. (1)
0
intercepted by multiple innite-conductivity transverse fractures, can be simplied as
with the consideration of desorption and diffusive ow in the shale  
matrix. The main content of this paper includes describing and 1 @ @mpf f mC g @mpf 2psc T @V
2
r2 f 4
solving the model of multi-fractured horizontal well; studying the r @r @r kf @t kf T sc @t
ow regimes of this well; analyzing the effects of fractures and shale Introducing the following dimensionless variables:
characteristic properties on ow behaviors as well as the production 8
< ff mC g 6pT sc T for transient diffusion
rate distribution of the fractures in shale gas reservoir. sc
L 2p T
: ff mC g T sc for pseudo-steady diffusion
sc

2. Basic solutions of governing ow equations l is the dimensionless interporosity ow coefcient

in shale gas reservoir 8 kf t
< for transient diffusion
LL2
l kf t
Shale gas reservoir is a self-sourced reservoir, so the adsorbed : for pseudo-steady diffusion
6LL2
gas on the surface of organic matter or minerals will be desorbed
during the process of production. The seepage of the shale gas t is the desorption time, which can be measured in the lab
through the porous media can be described as the following 8
< R2m
D for transient diffusion
stages: desorption, diffusion and seepage ow which often t ,
: R2m
associate with coal beds. p2 D for pseudo-steady diffusion
Generally speaking, gas in shale is stored in two statuses: free
gas and adsorbed gas. The former is stored in natural fractures in o is the dimensionless storability ratio o jfmCg/L
shale, and the latter is stored on the surface of shale matrix r rm kf t
particle by adsorption. Gas transportation in matrix pore space is rD , r Dm , tD , Dm mpfi mpf
L Rm LL2
due to the gas diffusion, which resulting from a concentration
where L is the characteristic length, m; in this paper, we can
gradient for the permeability (ranges from 10  5 to 10  4 mD) is
choose the horizontal well length as the reference length.
too low for Darcy ow, which is the major peculiarity of shale gas
Substituting the dimensionless variables into Eq. (4) yields:
compared with conventional sandstone or carbonate rocks. The   
diffusion of gas from the matrix to the fractures can be catalyzed 1 @ 2 @Dm @Dm 1o @V 
r o 
into transient and pseudo-steady state diffusion, which corre- r 2D @r D D @r D @t D l @rmD rmD 1
spond to the Ficks second and rst law of diffusion, respectively. for transient diffusion 5
 
2.1. The governing equations in natural fractures system 1 @ @Dm @Dm 1o
2
r 2D o  V E V
r D @r D @r D @t D l
The partial differential equation governing liquid ow in for pseudo-steady diffusion 6
natural fracture system of shale gas reservoir which is innite
in all directions is given in the spherical coordinate system by
 
1 @ kf pf M 2 @pf f C g pf M @pf 2.2. The governing equations in shale matrix system
r f qn 1
r 2 @r mZ RT @r Z RT @t
2.2.1. Transient model
where kf is the equivalent fracture system permeability,
q Using Ficks second law of diffusion, the partial differential
3 2
kf kfh kfz , and kfh, kfz are the horizontal and vertical perme- equations describing transient state diffusive ow in matrix is
abilities of fracture system respectively, D; |f is the natural  
1 @ @V @V
fracture porosity, fraction; Cg is the gas compressbility, Pa  1; r 2
r 2m D 7
p r m @r m @r m @t
is the radial distance, r x2 y2 z2 , and x, y, z are the
The initial condition of the matrix system is
coordinates, m; pf is the pressure of fracture system, Pa; m is the
gas viscosity, mPa s; Z is the gas deviation factor, fraction; t is the Vt 0 V i 8
production time, s; R is the universal gas constant, R 8.314 J/ The inner and outer boundary conditions of the shale matrix
(K mol); M is the molar mass of nature gas, mol/kg; T is the are
reservoir temperature, K.
q* is the diffusion rate of the shale gas from the shale matrix, Vr m Rm Vmpf 9
which is
Vr m -0 V i 10
@V Mpsc @V Introducing the expressions of dimensionless gas concentra-
qn rsc 2
@t RT sc @t tion VD and VED (VD Vi  V, VED Vi  VE), and then combining
 Y. Zhao et al. / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 9091 (2012) 3138 33

with the other dimensionless variables in Section 2.1, Eqs. (7)(10) So

can be simplied as
  sl
V ED V D Dm 24
1 @ 2 @V D @V D lz 1
r l 11
r 2mD @r mD mD @r mD @t D

The initial condition is

V D t D 0 0 12 2.3. The continuous point source functions in shale gas reservoir
The inner and outer boundary conditions of the matrix system
Combining Eqs. (5) and (20), and Eqs. (6) and (24) in Laplace
are
  domain space, we have
V D r mD 1 V D mpf 13  
1 @ 2 @Dm
 r D f zDm 25
@V D  r 2D @r D @r D
0 14
@r mD rmD 0 where
8 hp p i
Applying the Laplace transform to Eqs. (11)(14), the dimen- < oz s1 o
lzcoth lz1 for transient diffusion
l
sionless gas concentration VD can be obtained, which yields: f z
p : oz s1oz for pseudo-steady diffusion
lz 1
V D r mD 1 shr mD lz
V D r mD ,t D p 15
sh lz r mD The boundary condition at the surface of a vanishingly small
sphere corresponding to the instantaneous withdrawal of an
where z is the Laplace variable.
amount of uid q~ at t0 can be expressed by
According to Langmuirs equilibrium sorption isotherm  
(Langmuir, 1916), the following equations can be obtained: @Dm
lim 2pkf L r 2D q~ dt 26
mpf e-0 rD rD e
VE VL 16
mL pf mpf where d(t) is the Dirac Delta function.
Taking Laplace transform for t with Eq. (26) and setting the
mpfi
Vi VL 17 source strength to unity, then combining with Eq. (25), the
mL pf mpfi
instantaneous point source solution can be obtained (Raghavan,
where VE is the gas concentration, sm3/m3; VL is the Langmuir 1993; Ozkan and Raghavan, 1992). By using the image-well
volume (the maximum amount of gas that can be adsorbed on the technique and the superposition method, the continuous point
shale at innite pressure), sm3/m3; mL(pf) is the Langmuir source solution in laterally innite shale gas reservoir with
pseudo-pressure (the pseudo-pressure at which half of the impermeable top and bottom boundaries in Laplace domain is
Langmuir volume is adsorbed), Pa. given as
So we can obtain the following equation: "
psc T qzm
p X1
zD zwD

V L mpf V L mpfi Dm K 0 r D f z 2 cos np cos np K0
V D r mD 1 L  sDmpf T sc pkf h n1
hD hD
mL pf mpf mL pf mpfi s!#
18 n2 p2
 r D f z 2 27
where s is the adsorption and desorption coefcient, which hD
is s (VLmL(pf)/[mL(pf)m(pf)][mL(pf)m(p)]), and Dmpf where h is the formation thickness, m.
mpfi mpf .
Substituting Eq. (18) into Eq. (15) yields:
p
sDmpf shr mD lz 3. Model description and solutions for multi-fractured
V D r mD ,t D  p 19 horizontal well
sh lz r mD

So 3.1. Physical model


@V D  hp p i
 s lzcoth lz1 Dm 20 The schematic illustration in Fig. 1 shows a horizontal well
@r Dm 
r Dm 1 intersected by a series of multiple transverse fractures in a
laterally innite reservoir. Dening the X-axis parallel to the
fracturess plane, the Y-axis lies along the horizontal wells
2.2.2. Pseudo-steady model direction, and the origin located at the gure tip of the horizontal
Using Ficks rst law of diffusion, the partial differential well. To make the problem more tractable, the following assump-
equations describing pseudo-steady diffusive ow in matrix is tions are made to the model:

@V 6Dp2
V E V 21
@t R2m
Substituting the expressions of dimensionless gas concentra-
tion VD and VED into Eq. (21),we can obtain
@V D
l V ED V D 22
@t D
Applying the Laplace transform to Eq. (22), and substituting
Eqs. (16) and (17) into VED yields
V ED sDmpf 23 Fig. 1. Schematic of multiple transverse fractures along a horizontal well.
34 Y. Zhao et al. / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 9091 (2012) 3138

(1) The shale gas reservoir is horizontal and homogeneous with pkf hT sc pkf hT sc
mD mi m Dm 35
impermeable lower and upper boundaries. psc qsc T psc qsc T
(2) The horizontal well and the transverse fractures are assumed
to be innite conductive, which contains (M) fractures, and where qsc is the production rate of the multi-fractured horizontal
each of the fractures is symmetrically divided into N ele- well in standard condition, sm3/s;
ments. All the fractures are assumed to be fully penetrated Substituting Eqs. (34) and (35) into Eq. (33) yields:
and to be perpendicular to the horizontal wellbore. Z
q Di z xi DLii =2 pq

(3) The porous medium is assumed to be a dual porosity medium m Di K0 f z xD xwDi 2 yD ywDi 2 dxwi
with spherical matrix blocks of uniform radius, Rm. Spherical DLfi xi DLfi =2

matrix blocks are considered in this paper but the model can 36
be readily extended to other matrix block geometries.
(4) Fluid ow from the reservoir to the wellbore sections Because of qDi is a constant in each element, so qDi u qDi =z,
between is negligible as compared with the ow from the Eq. (36)can be simplied as
reservoir to the fracture plane for the reservoir permeability Z
qDi DLfDi =2 pq
2  2

which is much smaller than the fractures. m Di K0 f z xD b x Di a yD ywDi da
(5) As ultralow matrix permeability typically ranges from tens to zDLfDi DLfDi =2

hundreds of nano-Darcy, it is assumed that the ow in the 37

matrix blocks is negligible. The diffusion which occurred in
the matrix may be pseudo-steady or transient state. According to the potential of superposition principle, the
pressure drop at any location (xD, yD) caused by the total element
(2N  M) can be obtained as follows:

3.2. The solution of pressure response X

M2N
m D xD ,yD m Di xD ,yD 38
i1
As all the fractures are fully penetrated and innite conduc-
tive, the pressure drop expression caused by a continuous line Replacing (xD, yD) with the nodal point (b bDj ) (1rj r
x Dj ,y
source in shale gas reservoir with top and bottom boundaries M  2N) of the discrete element gives
closed and laterally innite in Laplace domain space can be
obtained by integrating the right side of Eq. (27) with respect to X
M2N
z from 0 to h, which can then be simplied as m D b bDj
x Dj , y m Di b bDj
x Dj , y 39
i1
  p T q z hp i
Dm xD ,yD sc K0 f zr D 28
T sc pkf h The assumption of innite conductive wellbore and fractures
q

implies that the same pressure be maintained at every point
where r D xD xwD 2 yD ywD 2 .
inside the fracture element, so
According to the second assumption, the coordinate of the i-th
nodal point (b bi ) is
x i ,y m D b bDj m wD
x Dj , y 40
( 
x i  Nik  2N 12 DLfLi
b
, 1 rik  2N rN 29 So Eq. (39) can be rewritten as
bi yk 1
y

(  X
M2N
x i ik  2NN12 DLfLi
b m wD m Di b bDj
x Dj , y 41
, N 1 r ik  2N r 2N 30 i1
bi yk 1
y
The total ow rate is described as the summation of the ow
L from each fracture, we have
DLfLi fLk 1 31
N
X h
M2N
qi i q
where k is the fracture number of the i-th element located; DLfLi is DLfi 42
the length of the i-th element, m; LfL(m) is the half-length of the M- i1
z z
th fracture, m.
The pressure drop of the i-th element fracture on the point (x, Combining Eq. (34) with Eq. (42) yields:
y) can be obtained by integrating the line source function of Eq.
(28) along the fracture curves if the ux of each fracture element X
M2N
qDi 1 43
is uniform, which yields i1
Z
psc T q i z hp i
Dm i K0 f zr D ds 32 There are 2N  M 1 equations when applying Eq. (41) at each
G T sc pkf h
element together with Eq. (43), which can solve the 2N  M 1
According to the curvilinear equation of the fracture, the curve unknowns of m wD , qD1,qD2,y,qDM  2N  1, qDM  2N. The matrix
integral can be changed into coordinate integral, which gives expression is
Z bx i DLfi =2
psc T q i z pq
 2
2 32 q 3 2 3
Dm i K 0 f z xD xwDi 2 yD ywDi dxw A1,1 :: A1,k :: A1,2NM 1 D1 0
bx i DLfi =2 T sc pkf h 6 6 7 6 7
6 ::: :: ::: :: ::: 1 7
766 q 7 07
6 7
D2
7 6
33 6 Ak,1 1 76 7 6 7
6
:: Ak,k :: Ak,2NM
76
U 7 6 :: 7
6
6 7 6 76 7
Dene the following dimensionless production rate on the i-th 6 ::: :: ::: :: ::: 1 76 U 7 6 :: 7
6 76 7 6 7 7
element and the dimensionless pseudo-pressure as follows: 4 A2NM,1 :: A2NM,k :: A2NM,2NM 1 54 qDM2N 7
6
5 405
qi zDLfi 1 :: 1 :: 1 0 m wD 1
qDi z 34
qsc 44
 Y. Zhao et al. / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 9091 (2012) 3138 35

where Ai,j (both i and j vary in the range of 1 to 2N  M) represents where m wDN is the pressure response when CD 0, S 0. S is the
the pseudo-pressure drop of element j at the location of element i, skin factor; CD is the dimensionless storage constant, which is
the expression is dened by C D C=2p fct hL2 .
Z DLfDj =2 " r#
1 p  2
2
Ai,j K0 f z b
x Di b x Dj a y bDi ywDj da
zDLfDi DLfDj =2

Using Duhamels theorem, Everdingen and Hurst (1949) have 4. Type curves and analysis
given the well response for solutions incorporating wellbore
storage coefcient (C) and skin factor (S), which is The solution of the dense matrix can be solved by Gauss
elimination method, and the type curves of a multi-fractured
zm wDN S horizontal well in shale gas reservoir can be plotted by Stehfest
m wD 45
z C D Sz2 zm wDN S numerical invention algorithm (Stehfest, 1970), as shown in Figs. 27.

Fig. 2. Effect of different adsorption coefcient (s) on type curves.

Fig. 3. Effect of different storability ratio (o) on type curves.

Fig. 4. Effect of different interporosity ow coefcient (l) on type curves.

36 Y. Zhao et al. / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 9091 (2012) 3138

Fig. 5. Effect of fracture number (M) on type curves.

Fig. 6. Effect of different half fracture length (Lf ) on type curves.

Fig. 7. The effect of discrete element number of each half fracture (N) on types curves .

Fig. 2 shows the effect of different values of adsorption
coefcient (s) on pseudo-pressure-transient pressure response
of multi-fractured horizontal well in shale gas reservoir, which
can be divided into the following seepage ow stages:
Stage 1: Wellbore storage and transition between wellbore
storage with early linear ow period, which have the same
characteristics as the conventional reservoir.
Stage 2: Early linear ow period, which is characterized by a
half slope line on both pressure and pressure derivative curves.
During this ow regime, the gas source is free gas existing in
the natural fractures of the shale gas formation, and ow
occurs linearly and directly from the formation to individual
fractures, each fracture behaves independently of the other
fractures. During this period, the adsorbed gas on the shale
matrix is not desorbed for the reservoir pressure drop is not
high enough to trigger gas desorption.
Stage 3: Early radial ow period, which is characterized by
a horizontal line in the derivative curve, the value of line is
1/(6n) (where n is the number of fractures). While there is
some ow into the fracture tips, there is still no communica-
tion between the fractures. The clarity of this period depends
primarily on the fracture length and spacing. When the
spacing of the facture is small enough and the fracture length
is long enough, this ow period will be masked by the
interference between the fractures.
Stage 4: Bi-radial ow period, which is characterized by a line
with a slope of 0.36, follows the rst radial ow and begins at a
dimensionless time of about 10. In this ow period, fractures
interact and the ow becomes normal to the vertical plane
that contains the horizontal well.
Stage 5: The diffusion ow period from the shale matrix to the
natural fractures, which is characterized by a trough below the
straight line same as the interporosity ow period in naturally
 Y. Zhao et al. / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 9091 (2012) 3138
Fig. 8. The production rate distribution of horizontal well with six transversal fractures
fractured reservoirs. With increase in the production of the
reservoir, the pressure will be decreasing continually, and when
the pressure drop between the matrix and the natural fracture
reaches the desorbed pressure, the absorption gas will be des-
orbed from the surface of the shale matrix and then ow to the
natural fractures, this process is often called diffusion ow period.
Stage 6: The pseudo radial ow period, in which the derivative
curves are characterized by a horizontal line with the value of
0.5. During this ow period, ow across the outer most
producing elements becomes to dominate, and the ow
pattern is similar to that of the long time performance of
vertically fractured wells.
Fig. 2 shows the effect of adsorption coefcient s on pseudo-
pressure responses of a horizontal well with multiple transverse,
rectangular fractures. It can be seen that with all other para-
meters kept constant, the adsorption coefcient has a primary
effect on the starting time of the transition ow and the depth of
the trough. The larger the s is, the earlier and larger the transition
ow arrives, and the deeper the trough is. This is mainly because
s reects the capacity of gas supply from the shale matrix to the
natural fractures. When the free gas stored in the fracture system
is exploited in the well production, the reservoir pressure will
drop, which causes the adsorbed gas in the matrix system to
desorb. For s 0, the characteristics of derivative pressure curves
become the same as the traditional homogeneous gas reservoir
with a multiple fractured horizontal well.
The inuence of storability ratio (o) is shown in Fig. 3. We can
conclude that the o not only determinate the duration and depth
of the diffusion ow between the shale matrix and natural
fractures same as s, but also has a signicant effect on the starting
time of the early ow regime, other than the early wellbore storage
ow. The smaller the o is, the wider and deeper the transition ow
and the earlier the radial ow in the derivative becomes.
Fig. 4 shows the effect of interporosity ow coefcient (l) on
pseudo-pressure transient responses of a horizontal well with
multiple transverse fractures. We can nd that reection of deso-
rption and diffusion happens later for larger values of l, and the
duration time of the bi-radial ow depends on the value of l. This is
understood as l is directly proportional to desorption time of shale
gas in matrix. Faster desorption takes place for smaller desorption
time, thus the reection on the dimensionless curve appears earlier.
The effects of fracture number (M) and half-length of fractures
(Lf) are shown in Figs. 5 and 6, respectively. It appears that, both
M and Lf mainly affect the ow regimes of the early time.
In particular, the early radial ow regime will be advanced
with increasing M, because the pressure drop is small with M
37
increasing when the well production is at a constant rate and the
interface between fractures is also advanced. When M reaches a
certain value, the early radial ow will be masked by the early
line and bi-radial ow. Lf mainly affects the early line ow and
early radial ow period. It is very difcult to reach the early line
ow period when Lf is large enough.
Fig. 7 shows the effect of discrete element number (N) on type
curves. Usually, the size of coefcient matrix will increase
dramatically with increasing discrete element number value,
and the calculation time of computer also increases a lot. When
we get different values of N (3, 6, 9), the results show that the
curves completely coincide in Fig. 7. In order to obtain a reason-
able computation time, in this paper the discrete element number
of each half fracture is set as 3.
5. Production rate distribution
In this case, six transversal fractures have identical length and
uniform distribution along a horizontal well located in a shale gas
reservoir, we assume the fractures are innite conductive and
ignore the gas ow from the formation to the wellbore sections.
The parameters of this well are as follows: horizontal well length
is 1200 m, the half length of all fractures is 150 m and the fracture
spacing is 200 m, the storability ratio is 0.5, the interporosity
coefcient is 10 and the adsorption coefcient is 5. The produc-
tion rate distribution on the discrete elements is shown in Fig. 8
when the well is producing at a constant rate.
As shown in Fig. 8, the outermost fractures have higher
production ratio due to larger drainage area and the inner are
lower due to the existing interface between fractures. For a
specic fracture, the ux distribution along the discrete elements
has the same property as the whole fracture system.
6. Conclusions
In this paper, a dual-mechanism dual-porosity model for
multi-stage fractured horizontal wells in shale gas reservoir is
presented. The continuous point source functions of shale gas
reservoirs are derived in Laplace-transform domain with different
diffusion mechanisms. The key conclusions of this work can be
summarized as follows:
(1) The transient pressure ow model of multi-stage fractured
horizontal well with pseudo-steady and transient diffusion in
shale gas reservoir is established. Through Stehfest numerical
38 Y. Zhao et al. / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 9091 (2012) 3138
invention algorithm and Gaussian elimination method, we
obtained the solutions of the model and plotted the type
curves in terms of various parameters.
(2) The adsorption coefcient has a primary effect on the starting
time of the transition ow and the depth of the trough. The
trough is an indication of desorption and diffusion in shale
matrix. The larger the s is, the earlier and larger the transition
ow arrives, and the deeper of the trough is.
(3) The number (M) and half-length (Lf) of fractures have a
primary effect on the early and intermediate ow period
but does not affect the later ow behavoir. The bigger the M
is, the smaller the pressure drop is. When Lf is big enough, it is
very difcult to reach the early line ow period for the
existing interference between fractures.
(4) The ux distribution in the fractures indicates that the out-
most fractures have the highest production rate due to the
biggest drainage areas, and for a specic fracture, the ux
distribution is symmetrical and lower in the center of the
discrete element fractures.
Acknowledgment
This work was supported by National Science Fund for Dis-
tinguished Young Scholars of China (Grant no. 51125019) and the
National Program on Key Basic Research Project (973 Program,
Grant no. 2011CB201005).
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