A new analytically modified embedded discrete fracture model for pressure transient analysis in fluid flow

Abstract

In the past few decades, multi-stage hydraulic fracturing has emerged as a crucial technology for the commercial development of unconventional oil and gas (UOG) resources. It is crucial to accurately and efficiently characterize transient fluid flow near fractures, which is a critical concern for many researchers. Discrete fracture models (DFMs) are primarily used to analyze the pressure transient behaviors of fluid flow in naturally fractured porous media. DFMs can accurately capture transient fluid flow near fractures, but they require a substantial number of grids to ensure computational accuracy, leading to higher computational costs. On the other hand, standard embedded discrete fracture models (EDFMs) based on pseudo-steady-state assumptions are computationally efficient, but they struggle to model the early transient fluid flow near fractures accurately. To address this limitation, we propose a new analytically modified EDFM (AEDFM) with structured Cartesian grids for analyzing the pressure transient behaviors of fluid flow in naturally fractured porous media.The transmissibility between the matrix and fractures is adjusted by multiplying it with a transient factor. In addition, we have validated the accuracy and efficiency of our proposed model through comparisons with results from analytical models and a standard well-testing software package. The results demonstrate the significance of our proposed model in accurately capturing transient fluid flow around fractures and reducing computational costs. In this work, we analyze the pressure transient behaviors of fluid flow using various parameter values and further evaluated the significance of the proposed modifications. The results indicate that AEDFM can effectively match the early nonlinear pressure drop near fractures compared to the standard EDFM. This work presents a powerful tool for the fast and accurate analysis of pressure transient behaviors of fluid flow in naturally fractured porous media.