An Efficient Hybrid Model for Nonlinear Two-Phase Flow in Fractured Low-Permeability Reservoir

Daigang Wang, Jingjing Sun, Yong Li and Hui Peng
Additional contact information
Daigang Wang: Beijing International Center for Gas Hydrate, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
Jingjing Sun: Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration & Development, PetroChina, Beijing 100083, China
Yong Li: Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration & Development, PetroChina, Beijing 100083, China
Hui Peng: Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration & Development, PetroChina, Beijing 100083, China

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 15, 1-20

Abstract: The staged fracturing horizontal well has proven to be an attractive alternative for improving the development effect of a low permeability waterflood reservoir. Due to the coexistence of matrix, fracture, and horizontal wellbore, it remains a great challenge to accurately simulate the nonlinear flow behaviors in fractured porous media. Using a discrete fracture model to reduce the dimension of the fracture network, a two-parameter model is used to describe the nonlinear two-phase flow behavior, and the equivalent pipe flow equation is selected to estimate the horizontal wellbore pressure drop in the fractured low-permeability reservoir. A hybrid mathematical model for the nonlinear two-phase flow, including the effect of horizontal wellbore pressure drop in fractured porous media, is developed. A numerical scheme of the hybrid model is derived using the mimetic finite difference method and finite volume method. With a staggered five-spot flood system, the accuracy of the proposed model and the effect of fracture properties on nonlinear two-phase flow behaviors are further investigated. The results also show that with an increase of fracture length near injectors, the breakthrough time of injected water into the horizontal wellbore will be shorter, indicating a faster rise of the water cut, and a worse development effect. The impact of shortening fracture spacing is consistent with that of enlarging fracture length. Successful practice in modeling the complex waterflood behaviors for a 3-D heterogeneous reservoir provides powerful evidence for the practicability and reliability of our model.

Keywords: low-permeability reservoir; staged fracturing horizontal well; mimetic finite difference method; discrete fracture model; fracture properties (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/12/15/2850/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/12/15/2850/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:12:y:2019:i:15:p:2850-:d:251196

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().