SPE Journal
Volume 15, Number 4, December 2010, pp. 1028-1037

SPE-137051-PA

Equivalent Wellblock Radius for Partially Perforated Vertical Wells--Part I: Anisotropic Reservoirs With Uniform Grids

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DOI  More information 10.2118/137051-PA http://dx.doi.org/10.2118/137051-PA

Citation

  • Dogru, A.H. 2010. Equivalent Wellblock Radius for Partially Perforated Vertical Wells--Part I: Anisotropic Reservoirs With Uniform Grids. SPE J.  15 (4): 1028-1037. SPE-137051-PA. doi: 10.2118/137051-PA.

Discipline Categories

  • 6.5.1 Simulator Development
  • 6.3.1 Flow in Porous Media

Keywords

  • equivalent wellblock radius, reservoir simulation, well modeling, numerical reservoir simulation, reservoir modeling

Summary

The well index in a numerical reservoir simulator relates the flow rate to the difference between well flowing pressure and simulator gridblock pressure. The standard method for computing well index, Peaceman's formula (Peaceman 1978), requires an equivalent wellblock radius at which the gridblock pressure is equal to the pressure from an analytical solution for steady-state single-phase flow. Although Peaceman?s formula is accurate for fully penetrating vertical wells, it fails to account for the effect of vertical flow in partially penetrating wells.

In this paper, we present a new analytical expression for the equivalent wellblock radius in a homogeneous, anisotropic reservoir with a uniform square grid around the well path. The new equation has the same structure as Peaceman's equation but adds one new parameter to account for partial penetration and for vertical flow. The new formula reduces to Peaceman's formula when the well is fully penetrating. Model simulation study showed that the new method reduced the error in the calculated flow rates from 30% to less than 1% at minimal cost.

© 2010. Society of Petroleum Engineers

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History

  • Original manuscript received: 15 August 2009
  • Meeting paper published: 3 February 2009
  • Revised manuscript received: 13 January 2010
  • Manuscript approved: 29 January 2010
  • Published online: 15 July 2010
  • Version of record: 2 December 2010