Mathematical model of well productivity index for Forchheimer flows in fractured reservoirs

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2013-08

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Abstract

Porous media (rocks, soils, aquifers, oil and gas reservoirs) plays an essential role in our modern environment. The pores of such material are usually filled with fluid, liquid or gas, and the flow of the fluids through the media is a subject of common interest of many different fields of study.

In the middle of 19th century, Henry Darcy experimented on water filtration through sand and he eventually formulated the famous Darcy's law which relates the pressure gradient to the velocity of the fluid linearly. This empirical law laid the foundations for the quantitative theory of fluid dynamics. However, linear law has limited range of validity. In 20th century, Forchheimer proposed his equations to account for the nonlinearity of the flow.

In this thesis we generalize the Forchheimer equations and examine the properties of the corresponding parabolic partial differential equations. The developed framework is used to study the well productivity index (PI) as a functional defined on the solutions of differential equations modeling non-linear flows. Petroleum engineers use the PI to characterize the well performance to manage the well reserves. We study the long term dynamics of the PI and its dependence on the nonlinearity and geometric parameters. The obtained results can be effectively used in reservoir engineering and can be applied to other problems modeled by the nonlinear diffusive equations.

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Keywords

Porous media, Fractures, Nonlinear flow, Non-darcy, Forchheimer equation

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