The Influence of Micro-Fractures on the Flow in Tight Oil Reservoirs Based on Pore-Network Models

Hai Sun, Lian Duan, Lei Liu, Weipeng Fan, Dongyan Fan, Jun Yao, Lei Zhang, Yongfei Yang and Jianlin Zhao
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Hai Sun: Research Centre of Multiphase Flow in Porous Media, School of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao 266580, China
Lian Duan: Research Centre of Multiphase Flow in Porous Media, School of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao 266580, China
Lei Liu: Research Centre of Multiphase Flow in Porous Media, School of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao 266580, China
Weipeng Fan: Research Centre of Multiphase Flow in Porous Media, School of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao 266580, China
Dongyan Fan: Research Centre of Multiphase Flow in Porous Media, School of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao 266580, China
Jun Yao: Research Centre of Multiphase Flow in Porous Media, School of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao 266580, China
Lei Zhang: Research Centre of Multiphase Flow in Porous Media, School of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao 266580, China
Yongfei Yang: Research Centre of Multiphase Flow in Porous Media, School of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao 266580, China
Jianlin Zhao: Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 21, 1-17

Abstract: In this paper, the influence of micro-fractures on the flow of tight reservoirs is studied on the microscopic scale. Three-dimensional digital cores of fractured tight sandstone with varying fracture apertures, lengths, and dip angles are constructed using computed tomography (CT) scans. Pore-network models are built using the three-dimensional digital cores to simulate the flow in tight oil reservoirs. The effects of the micro-fracture aperture, length and dip angle on the pore-throat structure, single-phase flow, and two-phase flow for fracture surfaces with/without roughness are studied. The study demonstrates different influences of micro-fracture characteristics on the flow, and the fracture aperture has the most critical effect. Meanwhile, the roughness of the micro-fracture makes a difference in addition to the three factors of micro-fractures. This paper provides a theoretical basis for the effective development of tight sandstone reservoirs.

Keywords: micro-fracture; tight reservoir; pore-network model; roughness (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 references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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