Simulation of Real Gas Flow Through Finite-Conductivity Fractures

Abstract

ABSTRACT Hydraulic fracturing stands as one of the most effective stimulation techniques that were developed to increase the productivity of either damaged wells or wells producing from low permeability reservoirs. The evaluation of fracturing treatment and performance prediction of such wells are, therefore, very important for petroleum engineers. Although various analytical, semi-analytical and numerical solutions to the fluid flow in fractures have been proposed, reliable results are not obtained because of several simplifying assumptions. The development of a mathematical model to simulate the entire pressure test history of a hydraul-ically fractured gas well is presented. A two-dimensional reservoir model was combined with an one-dimensional fracture model to study the well performance under a variety of operating conditions. In this paper the effects of non-Darcy flow in the reservoir and in the fracture, wellbore and fracture storage, fracture damage, closure stress, gas slippage, and frictional pressure drop in the tubing are investigated. Test results of the model illustrating the effects of each of these factors are also presented.