FUUID FLOW IN POROUS MEDIA

PRESENTED BY
GROUP 1

 The basic equation that describes flow of fluid in porous

media is known as the diffusivity equation
For fluids of slight compressibility in radial flow toward
a well in a circular reservoir, the diffusivity equation can
be written as

A similar equation for compressible fluids is

For simultaneous flow of oil, water and gas,

Where

and

SOLUTIONS TO DIFFUSIVITY EQUATION

There are several solutions depending on the initial and

boundary conditions used to solve the equation
Four particularly useful solutions are solution for a bounded
cylindrical reservoir, line source solution, pseudo steady state
solution and solution that includes wellbore storage for an
infinite reservoir
For a bounded cylindrical reservoir, we assume constant
rate production to the wellbore, well with radius
is
centered in a cylindrical reservoir with radius ,there is no
flow across this outer boundary and reservoir is at uniform
pressure before production begins

Also known as the VEH CTR solution, is an exact solution

under the assumptions made in solving the equation

 For the infinite cylindrical reservoir with line source well,

we assume that the well produces at a constant rate, has
zero wellbore radius, drains an infinite area and reservoir
pressure is uniform at
before production begins

Notice that the line source solution is clearly based on

idealized boundary conditions.
When are pressures calculated at the wellbore
using the bounded cylindrical solution, accurate
approximations to those calculated at the
wellbore using the line source solution?

Thinking corner

 Careful analysis of the solutions shows that for times less

than
, the zero wellbore radius assumption
limits the accuracy of the solution while at times greater than
boundary effects prevail, hence reservoir is no
longer infinite-acting .
The line source solution can be simplified using the log
approximation for arguments of the Ei-function less than
0.01

For values of the argument greater than 10.9, Ei-function can

be taken as zero in practical well testing applications. While
for values greater than 0.01 but less 10.9, standard tables
have been prepared for use.

A note on the skin effect

Most wells have reduced permeability around the
wellbore resulting from drilling and completion
operations. Solutions to diffusivity equation assume a
constant or uniform permeability in the reservoir and
therefore cannot be used in practice without some
modifications.
An additional pressure drop in the skin zone can be
accounted for by:
The log approx to the line source solution with skin
becomes
S = +ve for damage, -ve for stimulation and zero for
undamaged wells

Pseudo Steady State Solution

It is a limiting form of the bounded cylindrical reservoir
solution where the summation involving exponentials and
Bessel functions is negligible after
( for very
large times)
The above equation can also be expressed in terms of the
average reservoir pressure as
Including skin effect, it becomes

and in terms of average reservoir pressure

 In practice, reservoirs can be shapes other than circular.

Hence, a generalized flow equation accounting for various
geometries is given as

Note that, the above equation models pseudo steady state

flow. Where

Solution for Radial Flow in an Infinite Reservoir with

Wellbore Storage
Wellbore storage, unlike skin factor, is not an additive
function. So, it is defined as part of the inner condition.
The solution is sought analytically and numerically, but is
presented in the form of type curves due to its complexity.
Dimensionless parameters employed in the solution
include:

 Radius of Investigation: distance a pressure transient has

moved into the formation following a change in flow
rate. It depends on fluid and rock properties and time.

Uses of the concept include helping to guide the

engineer in well test design and estimating the time
required to achieve stabilized flow.

Principle of Superposition
The pressure drop at any point in a reservoir is the sum of
the pressure drops at that point caused by production in
each of the wells draining the reservoir.
Application includes multiple wells in draining a reservoir
at the same time, variable rate on a single well at different
times and simulating pressure in bounded reservoirs.

Multiple wells draining a reservoir

Variable rates at a single well

Horners Approximation
This method can be used to avoid the principle of
superposition. A single rate (last nonzero rate) is used with
an approximate producing time known as pseudoproducing( got from dividing the cumulative production
by the most recent rate).

Where

When is Horners approximation adequate ?

Thinking corner

 If the most recent producing rate is maintained long

enough for the radius of investigation to reach the
drainage radius of the reservoir, then Horners
approximation is accurate.

THANK YOU