A Treatise on Non-Darcy Flow Correlations in Porous Media

Abstract

Non-Darcy Flow behavior is important for describing fluid flow in consolidated or unconsolidated porous media when abrupt changes in velocity dominates. A criterion or a generalized equation is required to understand this flow behavior in the isotropic/anisotropic carbonate and sandstone reservoirs, and naturally or hydraulically fractured reservoirs. Various correlations and equations have been reviewed in this paper to quantify this non-Darcy coefficient (i.e., beta coefficient) mathematically. It has been observed that this coefficient is highly dependent on rock properties (mainly porosity, permeability and tortuosity). An algorithm to determine the values of the beta coefficient by using the correlations have been presented and coded and converted in to a robust user-friendly simulator. This simulator can take a large amount of data set as input and will generate a large data set of beta values as output. The obtained or calculated beta value is very useful for predicting the change in pressure gradient with respect to velocity and hence can give the best estimate of hydrocarbon production under challenging or adverse pressure drop conditions.