SPE Journal
Volume 17, Number 1, March 2012, pp. 70-79

SPE-122611-PA

Non-Darcy Porous-Media Flow According to the Barree and Conway Model: Laboratory and Numerical-Modeling Studies

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DOI  More information 10.2118/122611-PA http://dx.doi.org/10.2118/122611-PA

Citation

  • Lai, B., Miskimins, J.L., and Wu, Y.-S. 2012. Non-Darcy Porous-Media Flow According to the Barree and Conway Model: Laboratory and Numerical-Modeling Studies. SPE J. 17 (1): 70-79. SPE-122611-PA. http://dx.doi.org/10.2118/122611-PA.

Discipline Categories

  • 6.2 Fluids Characterization
  • 6.6 Reservoir Monitoring/Formation Evaluation
  • 6.8 Fundamental Research in Reservoir Description and Dynamics
  • 6.5 Reservoir Simulation

Keywords

  • non-Darcy flow model, fractured media

Summary

This paper presents the results of our new experimental studies conducted for high flow rates through proppant packs, which show that the Barree and Conway (2004) flow model is capable of overcoming limitations of the Forchheimer non-Darcy equation at very high flow rates. To quantify the non-Darcy flow behavior using the Barree and Conway model, a numerical model is developed to simulate non-Darcy flow. In addition, an analytical solution is presented for steady-state linear non-Darcy flow and is used to verify the numerical-simulation results. The numerical model incorporates the Barree and Conway model into a general-purpose reservoir simulator for modeling multidimensional, single-phase non-Darcy flow in porous and fractured media and supplements the laboratory findings. The numerical model is then used to perform sensitivity analysis of the Barree and Conway flow model?s parameters and to investigate transient behavior of non-Darcy flow at an injection well.

Introduction

The objectives of this paper are (1) to present experimental data from our current laboratory studies of high flow rates through proppant packs and (2) develop mathematical-modeling tools to quantify such high-flow-velocity, non-Darcy-flow behavior. Our experimental results show that non-Darcy flow occurs at high flow rates and that the conventional Forchheimer model may not be sufficient to describe the observed high-flow-rate behavior. On the other hand, the Barree and Conway (2004) flow model is found to be able to match the entire range of observed data from low to high flow rates. The modeling tools developed include both analytical and numerical approaches for simulating single-phase non-Darcy flow with the Barree and Conway model. In addition, the numerical model is used to perform parameter-sensitivity analysis and to obtain insight into transient non-Darcy flow with the Barree and Conway flow model.

© 2011. Society of Petroleum Engineers

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History

  • Original manuscript received: 21 February 2009
  • Meeting paper published: 15 April 2009
  • Revised manuscript received: 16 February 2011
  • Manuscript approved: 11 March 2011
  • Published online: 19 October 2011
  • Version of record: 13 March 2012