Single-Phase Flow Equations

Single-phase flow in petroleum reservoirs is rare in practice. There are only a limited
number of cases—dry gas reservoirs, for example—where conditions exist for single-phase
flow. But we do apply single-phase flow assumptions (predominantly in well test analysis)
as a means of simplifying problems and rendering them analytically tractable.

In numerical reservoir simulation, we may relax these types of simplifying constraints

because of the more versatile nature of numerical schemes over analytical methods.
Moreover, even for single-phase systems, an appropriate description of real problems
usually involves considering non-linear phenomena, which are often ignored or
approximated for ease of mathematical handling. Again, numerical schemes are not limited
by these constraints. Therefore, this discussion on single-phase flow problems has not only
a pedagogical basis, but a practical one as well.

Darcy’s law and the concept of flow potential

Darcy’s law is central to describing fluid flow in petroleum reservoirs. It distinguishes flow in
porous media from flow in other domains (such as pipes and conduits), and represents a
kind of constitutive relationship between the pressure field and the velocity field. Although
Henry D’arcy derived this relationship empirically in 1851, it has since been proven that
Darcy’s law is a special form of the Navier Stoke’s equation, which is commonly used in fluid
mechanics. Simply put, Darcy’s law expresses a functional relationship between the fluid
velocity and the porous media and the potential gradient.

< (3.1)
This law appears in different forms. Table 1 summarizes the forms used in this text, along with their
appropriate units.
 Table 1

Velocity is the flow rate divided by the cross-sectional area perpendicular to flow. Equation
3.1 expresses the direct proportionality between flow rate and potential gradient, with the
proportionality constant reflecting properties of both the flowing fluid and the porous
medium. Note that as written, Equation 3.1 is for reservoir conditions. To express flow in
surface conditions (or standard conditions), we must incorporate a formation volume factor
into the proportionality constant.

The flow potential , defined by M. King Hubert and usually referred to as Hubert’s potential,
is basically a combination of pressure and gravitational fields, as shown in Table 2 .
 Table 2

< (3.1)
where q : volumetric pressure

A : cross-sectional area perpendicular to flow

k : permeability

 : viscosity

x : potential gradient in the flow direction x

: unit conversion factor

< (3.2)
where : Hubert’s potential

P : pressure

: fluid density

g : local gravitational constant

gc: universal gravitational constant

D : depth with respect to datum, taken as positive downward

In practical application, g/gc is set to 1.0 and hence Equation (3.2) as

< (3.3)
The negative sign in Equation 3.1 shows that the potential gradient is negative in the flow direction. In
Equation 3.2, the sign convention is such as to give the appropriate addition or subtraction of gravity from
pressure.

In this text, we use the positive downward convention for depth, as shown in Figure 1 .

Figure 1

This figure shows a sloping reservoir, where the datum is at sea level (the datum could be
any fixed elevation, although sea level is the most widely accepted convention).Using the
positive downward convention, the depth to point 1 from the datum is positive; the depth to
point 2 is negative. We can calculate the potentials at points 1 and 2 as:

< (3.4)

< (3.5)
Assuming uniform pressure within the reservoir (P1 = P2 ), if we subtract from ,

< (3.6)

we obtain a positive  , which reflects the hydrostatic head exerted by the fluid column of
density  and height D1 + D2.

It is the gradient of potential, rather than the potential itself, which appears in Darcy’s law
(Equation 3.1). It is therefore clear that if we take the derivative of Equation 3.3, we obtain

< (3.7)

In resolving Equation 3.7, we assume that density is constant. Furthermore, note that we
can write Equation 3.7 for the other principal flow directions as well, yielding depth
gradients not only along the x-direction but also along the y- and z-directions (i.e., D/y,
D/z). If the depth gradient along any of the flow directions does not exist, then the potential
gradient becomes equal to the pressure gradient. Equation 3.7 then becomes

< (3.8)
Figure 2 shows four reservoirs with varying orientations relative to the datum plane.
 Figure 2

Part (a) of Figure 2 shows a reservoir where the x-y plan is parallel tothe datum
surface. In this case, there is no depth gradient along the x- and y-directions.

In part (b) of Figure 2, the reservoir is tilted so that the x-y plane is no
longer parallel to the datum, but the edges along the y-axis remain parallel.
Thus, depth gradient along the y-direction is still non-existent, whereas the
depth gradient now exists in the x-direction.

The reservoir in part (c) of Figure 2 is similar to the one in part (b), except
now the edges of the reservoir along the x-direction are parallel to the datum
surface, yielding a vanishing depth gradient in the x-direction, but not in the
y-direction.

Part (d) of Figure 2 represents the most general case, in which neither the
x- nor the y-direction edges are parallel to the datum surface. This means
that the depth gradient is non-zero in both the x- and y-directions.

In all four of these cases, the reservoir configurations are such that the formation thickness is always
measured parallel to the direction that depth is measured. This is why, in each of these cases, the depth
gradient along the z-direction is always unity.
We usually formulate the differential equations governing fluid flow in porous media based
on the continuum assumption, in which we consider a differential element of the system and
take balances over a conserved quantity of interest. When the quantity is mass, the
resulting equation is the mass balance equation or the continuity equation. Figure 3 shows a
representative element (control volume) of the reservoir in Cartesian coordinates.

Figure 3

Note that while the control volume will differ according to the coordinate system chosen, the
basic strategy is the same .