A Coupled Model of Multiscaled Creep Deformation and Gas Flow for Predicting Gas Depletion Characteristics of Shale Reservoir at the Field Scale

Daosong Yang, Guanglei Cui (), Yuling Tan, Aiyu Zhu (), Chun Liu and Yansen Li
Additional contact information
Daosong Yang: Key Laboratory of Ministry of Education on Safe Mining of Deep Metal Mines, School of Resources and Civil Engineering, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110004, China
Guanglei Cui: Key Laboratory of Ministry of Education on Safe Mining of Deep Metal Mines, School of Resources and Civil Engineering, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110004, China
Yuling Tan: Hebei Research Center of the Basic Discipline Engineering Mechanics, Shijiazhuang Tiedao University, Shijiazhuang 050043, China
Aiyu Zhu: Institue of Geophysics, China Earthquake Administration, Beijing 100081, China
Chun Liu: The National Joint Engineering Laboratory of Internet Applied Technology of Mines, China University of Mining & Technology (CUMT), Xuzhou 221116, China
Yansen Li: Hebei Research Center of the Basic Discipline Engineering Mechanics, Shijiazhuang Tiedao University, Shijiazhuang 050043, China

Energies, 2024, vol. 17, issue 15, 1-25

Abstract: The viscoelastic behavior of shale reservoirs indeed impacts permeability evolution and further gas flow characteristics, which have been experimentally and numerically investigated. However, its impact on the gas depletion profile at the field scale has seldom been addressed. To compensate for this deficiency, we propose a multiscaled viscoelasticity constitutive model, and furthermore, a full reservoir deformation–fluid flow coupled model is formed under the frame of the classical triple-porosity approach. In the proposed approach, a novel friction-based creep model comprising two distinct series of parameters is developed to generate the strain–time profiles for hydraulic fracture and natural fracture systems. Specifically, an equation considering the long-term deformation of hydraulic fracture, represented by the softness of Young’s modulus, is proposed to describe the conductivity evolution of hydraulic fractures. In addition, an effective strain permeability model is employed to replicate the permeability evolution of a natural fracture system considering viscoelasticity. The coupled model was implemented and solved within the framework of COMSOL Multiphysics (Version 5.4). The proposed model was first verified using a series of gas production data collected from the Barnett shale, resulting in good fitting results. Subsequently, a numerical analysis was conducted to investigate the impacts of the newly proposed parameters on the production process. The transient creep stage significantly affects the initial permeability, and its contribution to the permeability evolution remains invariable. Conversely, the second stage controls the long-term permeability evolution, with its dominant role increasing over time. Creep deformation lowers the gas flow rate, and hydraulic fracturing plays a predominant role in the early term, as the viscoelastic behavior of the natural fracture system substantially impacts the long-term gas flow rate. A higher in situ stress and greater formation depth result in significant creep deformation and, therefore, a lower gas flow rate. This work provides a new tool for estimating long-term gas flow rates at the field scale.

Keywords: proppant; time-dependent deformation; friction order; multiscaled constitute model (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: 2024
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/15/3752/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/15/3752/ (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:17:y:2024:i:15:p:3752-:d:1445853

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 ().