Investigation on nonlinear multi-scale effects of unsteady flow in hydraulic fractured horizontal shale gas wells

A unified mathematical model is established to simulate the nonlinear unsteady percolation of shale gas with the consideration of the nonlinear multi-scale effects such as slippage, diffusion, and desorption. The continuous inhomogeneous models of equivalent porosity and permeability are proposed for the whole shale gas reservoir including the hydraulic fracture, the micro-fracture, and the matrix regions. The corresponding semi-analytical method is developed by transforming the nonlinear partial differential governing equation into the integral equation and the numerical discretization. The non-linear multi-scale effects of slippage and diffusion and the pressure dependent effect of desorption on the shale gas production are investigated.     

压裂页岩气藏多尺度耦合流动数值模拟研究

在碳达峰的国策背景之下,页岩气成为传统能源向绿色清洁低碳能源转型的重要过渡和能源支点.压后页岩气藏流体流动力学成为高效开发页岩气的关键力学问题.文章将小尺度低导流天然裂缝等效升级为连续介质,建立有机质-无机质-天然裂缝三重连续介质模型,同时对大尺度高导流裂缝采用离散裂缝模型刻画,嵌入天然裂缝连续介质中,构建多重连续/离散裂缝模型.综合考虑吸附气的非平衡非线性解吸附和表面扩散,自由气的黏性流和克努森扩散,给出页岩气在多尺度复杂介质中的非线性耦合流动数学模型.提出多尺度扩展有限单元法对离散裂缝进行显式求解,创新性构建三类加强形函数捕捉离散裂缝的局部流场特征,解决了压后页岩海量裂缝及多尺度流动通道的流动模拟难题.文章提出的模型和方法既能准确刻画高导流裂缝对渗流的影响,又克服了海量多尺度离散裂缝导致计算量增大的问题.通过算例展示了压后页岩各连续介质的压力衰减规律,发现裂缝中自由气、有机质中自由气、无机质中吸附气依次滞后的压力(浓度)扩散现象,重点分析了吸附气表面扩散系数、自由气克努森扩散系数、天然裂缝连续介质渗透率和吸附气解吸附速率对页岩气产量的影响.文章重点解决压后页岩多尺度流动通道的表征和...     

Apparent Permeability and Gas Flow Behavior in Carboniferous Shale from the Qaidam Basin,China: An Experimental Study

Shale can act as an unconventional gas reservoir with low permeability and complex seepage characteristics. Study of the apparent permeability and percolation behavior of shale gas is important in understanding the permeability of shale reservoirs, to evaluate formation damage, to develop gas reservoirs, and to design wells. This study simulated methane percolation at 298.15 K under inlet pressures ranging from 0.2 to 4 MPa and a constant outlet pressure of 0.1 MPa to investigate shale gas percolation behavior and apparent permeability. Five representative shale cores from the Carboniferous Hurleg and Huitoutala formations in the eastern Qaidam Basin, China, were analyzed. Each experiment measured the volume flow rate of methane and the inlet pressure. Pseudopressure approach was used to analyze high-velocity flow in shale samples, and apparent permeability at different pressures was calculated using the traditional method. A nonlinear apparent permeability model that considers diffusion and slippage is established from theory and experimental data fitting, and the shale gas flow characteristics affected by slippage and diffusion are analyzed. The results indicate that the pseudopressure formulation that considers the effect of gas properties on high-velocity flow produces a more accurate linear representation of the experimental data. The apparent gas permeability of shale consists of contributions from Darcy permeability, slippage, and diffusion. The apparent permeability and gas flow behavior in the studied shales strongly depended on pressure. The diffusion contribution increased greatly as pressure decreased from 2 to 0.2 MPa, and the smaller the shale permeability, the greater the relative contribution of diffusion flow. At pressures greater than 2 MPa, slip flow contributes \(\sim \)20% of the total flux, Darcy flow contributes up to 70%, and diffusion makes only a minor contribution. This study provides useful information for future studies of the mechanism of shale gas percolation and the exploration and development of Qaidam Basin shale gas specifically.     

A Fractal Model for Gas–Water Relative Permeability in Inorganic Shale with Nanoscale Pores

A reliable gas–water relative permeability model in shale is extremely important for the accurate numerical simulation of gas–water two-phase flow (e.g., fracturing fluid flowback) in gas-shale reservoirs, which has important implication for the economic development of gas-shale reservoir. A gas–water relative permeability model in inorganic shale with nanoscale pores at laboratory condition and reservoir condition was proposed based on the fractal scaling theory and modified non-slip boundary of continuity equation in the nanotube. The model not only considers the gas slippage in the entire Knudsen regime, multilayer sticking (near-wall high-viscosity water) and the quantified thickness of water film, but also combines the real gas effect and stress dependence effect. The presented model has been validated by various experiments data of sandstone with microscale pores and bulk shale with nanoscale pores. The results show that: (1) The Knudsen diffusion and slippage effects enhance the gas relative permeability dramatically; however, it is not obviously affected at high pressure. (2) The multilayer sticking effect and water film should not be neglected: the multilayer sticking would reduce the water relative permeability as well as slightly decrease gas relative permeability, and the film flow has a negative impact on both of the gas and water relative permeability. (3) The increased fractal dimension for pore size distribution or tortuosity would increase gas relative permeability but decrease the water relative permeability for a given saturation; however, the effect on relative permeability is not that notable. (4) The real gas effect is beneficial for the gas relative permeability, and the influence is considerable when the pressure is high enough and when the nanopores of bulk shale are mostly with smaller size. For the stress dependence, not like the intrinsic permeability, none of the gas or water relative permeability is sensitive to the net pressure and it can be ignored completely.     

基于REV尺度格子Boltzmann方法的页岩气流动数值模拟

结合页岩扫描电镜图像,提出页岩气藏物理模型,采用表征单元体积(representative elementary volume,REV)尺度格子Boltzmann方法,考虑滑脱效应,模拟页岩气在页岩气藏中的流动.模拟结果表明,页岩气主要沿着天然裂缝窜进,但在有机质和无机质中也存在缓慢的流动,且有机质中的流速要略大于无机质中的流速.通过改变地层压力,研究地层压力对页岩气渗流特性的影响.研究结果表明,整个流场的速度和渗透率均随着地层压力的下降而增加.     

Relative Permeability of Gas for Unconventional Reservoirs

Relative permeability of gas gains great significance in exploring unconventional gas. This paper developed a universal relative permeability model of gas, which is applicable for unconventional gas reservoirs such as coal, tight sandstone and shale. The model consists of the absolute relative permeability of gas and the gas slippage permeability. In the proposed model, the effects of water saturation and mean pore pressure on gas slippage permeability are taken into account. Subsequently, the evaluation of the model with existing model is done and then the validation of the model is made with data of tight sandstones, coals and shales from published literatures. The modeling results illustrate that a strong power-law relationship between relative permeability of gas and water saturation and the contribution of gas slippage permeability to relative permeability is determined by water saturation and mean pore pressure simultaneously. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis of the impact of the parameters in the model is conducted and their effects are discussed.     

页岩基质解吸-扩散-渗流耦合实验及数学模型

采用川南地区龙马溪组页岩样品,设计了页岩基质解吸-扩散-渗流耦合物理模拟实验,揭示了页岩基质气体流动特征以及压力传播规律.推导了页岩气解吸-扩散-渗流耦合数学模型并且利用有限差分法对数学模型进行数值求解,与实验结果相比较表明该数学模型能够很好地描述气体在页岩基质中的流动规律.同时对页岩基质气体流动的影响因素进行了分析,认为页岩基质的渗透率、扩散系数、解吸附常数等因素均能影响页岩基质气体的流量和压力传播规律,在页岩气藏的开发过程中需要考虑这些参数的影响,该数学模型为页岩气井产能计算提供了更准确的计算方法.      

Effect of Water Saturation on Pressure-Dependent Permeability of Carboniferous Shale of the Qaidam Basin,China

Permeability is the most important parameter that describes gas flow characteristics in shale. Water saturation and effective pressure have a considerable effect on shale permeability. This paper presents the results of a laboratory study of the effects of water saturation and effective pressure on gas permeability in Carboniferous shales of the Qaidam Basin, China. The permeability of shale samples with varying water saturation (0–33 wt%) was measured at effective pressure of 6.9 to 27.59 MPa and at low mean pore pressure (<?6.89 MPa) at room temperature, using a pressure pulse decay permeameter. The results indicate that the water saturation and the effective pressure are the main factors affecting the shale permeability. Permeability of sample C034, which has a high clay content and is dominated by nanoscale slit-shaped pores, shows a large decrease (up to 90%) with increasing water saturation (from 0 to 31.7 wt%), depending on the effective pressure. A much larger permeability reduction with increasing water saturation fraction is associated with the swelling of clay minerals. For each sample with varying water saturation, our analyses revealed a consistent line relationship between log permeability and effective pressure variation. The impact of effective pressure on the measured permeability becomes more significant as water saturation increases. With increasing water saturation, the gas slippage factor decreases and calculated effective pore size increases, and gas–water flow in the shale samples occurs as channel flow. This study provides practical information for further studies of stress-dependent permeability of shale with water and the gas slippage effect in two-phase, gas–water flow.     

An Object-Based Shale Permeability Model: Non-Darcy Gas Flow,Sorption, and Surface Diffusion Effects

Shale samples consist of two major components: organic matter (OM) and inorganic mineral component (iOM). Each component has its distinct pore network topology and morphology, which necessitates generating a model capable of distinguishing the two media. We constructed an object-based model using the OM and iOM composition of shale samples. In the model, we integrated information such as OM population and size distribution, as well as its associated pore-size distribution. For the iOM part, we used mineralogy and pore-size information derived from X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and nitrogen sorption measurements. Our proposed model results in millimeter-scale 2D realizations of shale samples by honoring OM and mineral types, their compositions, shapes, and size distributions. The model can capture heterogeneities smaller than 1 mm. We studied the effects of different gas flow processes and found that Knudsen diffusion and gas slippage dominate the flow, but surface diffusion has little impact on total gas flow.     

页岩有机质纳米孔隙气体吸附与流动规律研究

页岩储层孔隙结构复杂, 气体赋存方式多样. 有机质孔隙形状对受限空间气体吸附和流动规律的影响尚不明确, 导致难以准确认识页岩气藏气体渗流机理. 为解决该问题, 本文首先采用巨正则蒙特卡洛方法模拟气体在不同形状有机质孔隙(圆形孔隙、狭长孔隙、三角形孔隙、方形孔隙)内吸附过程, 发现不同形状孔隙内吸附规律符合朗格缪尔单层吸附规律, 分析了绝对吸附量、过剩吸附浓量、气体吸附参数随孔隙尺寸、压力的变化, 研究了孔隙形状对气体吸附的影响. 在明确不同形状有机质孔隙内气体热力学吸附规律基础上, 建立不同形状有机质孔隙内吸附气表面扩散数学模型和考虑滑脱效应的自由气流动数学模型, 结合分子吸附模拟结果研究了不同孔隙形状、孔隙尺寸有机质孔隙内吸附气流动与自由气流动对气体渗透率的贡献. 结果表明, 狭长孔隙内最大吸附浓度和朗格缪尔压力最高, 吸附气表面扩散能力最弱. 孔隙半径5 nm以上时, 吸附气表面扩散对气体渗透率影响可忽略. 本文研究揭示了页岩气藏实际生产过程中有机质孔隙形状对页岩气吸附和流动能力的影响机制.      

Comprehensive Seepage Simulation of Fluid Flow in Multi-scaled Shale Gas Reservoirs

Shale gas seepage behaviour is a multi-field/-scale problem and makes transient pressure analysis a very challenging task. Non-Darcy flow in nanopores is prominent due to the broken of continuity hypothesis. Slippage effect and Knudsen diffusion are two important seepage mechanisms in nanopores, while recent studies show surface diffusion is another important transporting mechanism on surface of nanopores. Porous kerogen system contains large amounts of dissolved gas, which should not be overlooked. In this study, a comprehensive mathematical model was established by pseudo-quadruple porosity medium conception, coupling the effects of slippage flow, Knudsen diffusion, surface diffusion, ad-/desorption and gas transferring from kerogen to nanopore system, while fluid flow in fractures/macropores is described by Darcy’s law. Transient pressure behaviours of a multiple fractured horizontal well in box-shaped shale gas reservoir were studied, with nine possible flow regimes divided and parameters sensitivity analysed. Adsorbed constant and dissolved constant were defined to reflect the amount of adsorbed gas and dissolved gas, respectively. Research shows that adsorbed gas and dissolved gas are two important gas storage forms, neither of which should be neglected. The study can not only help us understand fluid flow mechanisms in nanopores from microscopic perspective, but enable us to analyse production performance and determine key operational parameters from macroscopic perspective.     

An Analytical Solution and Nonlinear Regression Analysis for Sandface Temperature Transient Data in the Presence of a Near-Wellbore Damaged Zone

Throughout this study, we present a dual-continuum model of transport of the natural gas in shale formations. The model includes several physical mechanisms such as diffusion, adsorption and rock stress sensitivity. The slippage has a clear effect in the low-permeability formations which can be described by the apparent permeability. The adsorption mechanism has been modeled by the Langmuir isotherm. The porosity-stress model has been used to describe stress state of the rocks. The thermodynamics deviation factor is calculated using the equation of state of Peng–Robinson. The governing differential system has been solved numerically using the mixed finite element method (MFEM). The stability of the MFEM has been investigated theoretically and numerically. A semi-implicit scheme is employed to solve the two coupled pressure equations, while the thermodynamic calculations are conducted explicitly. Moreover, numerical experiments are performed under the corresponding physical parameters of the model. Some represented results are shown in graphs including the rates of production as well as the pressures and the apparent permeability profiles.

     

页岩气储层压裂数值模拟技术研究进展

页岩气储层水力压裂数值模拟既要考虑页岩储层岩石的特性,又要兼顾水平外分段压裂施工工艺,是一个非常棘手的力学难题.本文简述了页岩气储层岩石具有的地质力学特征和页岩气储层开发常用的水平井分段压裂技术;详述了扩展有限元、边界元、离散元在水力压裂裂缝模拟上的应用现状,指出了它们在处理裂缝问题的局限性和优越性,总结出边界元三维位移不连续法是模拟多裂缝扩展的有效方法.     

SLIPPAGE SOLUTION OF GAS PRESSURE DISTRIBUTION IN PROCESS OF LANDFILL GAS SEEPAGE

A mathematical model of landfill gas migration was established under presumption of the effect of gas slippage. The slippage solutions to the nonlinear mathematical model were accomplished by the perturbation and integral transformation method. The distribution law of gas pressure in landfill site was presented under the conditions of considering and neglecting slippage effect. Sensitivity of the model input parameters was analyzed. The model solutions were compared to observation values. Results show that gas slippage effect has a large impact on gas pressure distribution. Landfill gas pressure and pressure gradient considering slippage effect is lower than that neglecting slippage effect, with reasonable agreement between model solution and measured data. It makes clear that the difference between considering and neglecting slippage effect is obvious and the effects of coupling cannot be ignored. The theoretical basis is provided for engineering design of security control and decision making of gas exploitation in landfill site. The solutions give scientific foundation to analyzing well test data in the process of low-permeability oil gas reservoir exploitation.     

A problem for diffusion with relaxation in polymers

A nonlinear problem for penetrant diffusion with relaxation in polymers is considered. A numerical approach to solving this type of problems is developed. The proposed numerical scheme based on a finite element domain approximation and a time difference method can be used for numerical simulation of the considered penetrant diffusion in 2-D and 3-D domains. A numerical procedure and a corresponding computer code are created and tested for some examples in 1-D and 2-D domains.     

页岩水力压裂的关键力学问题

页岩气是指以吸附和游离时而还有流体相的形态状态赋存于泥页岩中的非常规天然气。页岩气开采成为我国绿色能源开发的新领域。尽管北美页岩气革命取得了成功,但目前仍仅有预期产量5~15%的油气采收率,问题出在什么地方？水力压裂被认为是提高采收率的关键一环,但水力压裂过程中复杂缝网的形成和力学控制机理尚不清楚,这给力学家提出了巨大的挑战和机遇。结合本课题组近期研究成果,本文从理论、计算和实验三个方面对页岩水力压裂中的关键基础力学问题进行介绍和总结。主要内容包括发展页岩人工裂缝扩展的大型物理模型实验,建立页岩本构模型和断裂力学理论,发展耦合断裂力学和流体力学的裂缝网扩展数值模拟方法。页岩水力压裂研究对发展断裂力学的实验技术、理论模型和数值模拟方法起到推动作用,对提高我国页岩气高效开采技术具有重要意义。     

Understanding Oil and Gas Flow Mechanisms in Shale Reservoirs Using SLD–PR Transport Model

More and more attention has been paid to the oil and gas flow mechanisms in shale reservoirs. The solid–fluid interaction becomes significant when the pores are in the nanoscale. The interaction changes the fluid’s physical properties and leads to different flow mechanisms in shale reservoirs from those in conventional reservoirs. By using a Simplified Local Density–Peng Robinson transport model, we consider the density and viscosity profiles, which result from solid–fluid interaction. Gas rarefaction effect is negligible at high pressure, so we assume it is viscous flow. Considering the density- and viscosity-changing effects, we proposed a slit permeability model. The velocity profiles are obtained by this newly established model. This proposed model is validated by matching the density profile and velocity profile from molecular dynamic simulation. Then, the effects of pressure and pore size on gas and oil flow mechanisms are also studied in this work. The results show that both gas and oil exhibit enhanced flow rates in nanopores. Gas-phase flow in nanopores is dominated by the density-changing effect (adsorption), while the oil-phase flow is mainly controlled by the viscosity-changing effect. Both gas and oil permeability quickly decrease to the Darcy permeability when the slit aperture becomes large. The results reported in this work are representative and should significantly help us understand the mechanisms of oil and gas flow in shale reservoirs.     

The Dual-Reciprocity Boundary Element Analysis for Hydraulically Fractured Shale Gas Reservoirs Considering Diffusion and Sorption Kinetics

This work presents a new application of boundary element method (BEM) to model fluid transport in unconventional shale gas reservoirs with discrete hydraulic fractures considering diffusion, sorption kinetics and sorbed-phase surface diffusion. The fluid transport model consists of two governing partial differential equations (PDEs) written in terms of effective diffusivities for free and sorbed gases, respectively. Boundary integral formulations are analytically derived using the fundamental solution of the Laplace equation for the governing PDEs and Green’s second identity. The domain integrals arising due to the time-dependent function and nonlinear terms are transformed into boundary integrals employing the dual-reciprocity method. This transformation retains the domain-integral-free, boundary-integral-only character of standard BEM approaches. In the proposed solution, the free- and sorbed-gas flow in the shale matrix is solved simultaneously after coupling the fracture flow equation of free gas. Well production performance under the effect of relaxation phenomenon due to delayed responses of sorbed gas under nonequilibrium sorption condition is rigorously captured by imposing the zero-flux condition at fracture–matrix interface for the sorbed-gas transport equation. The validity of proposed solution is verified using several case studies through comparison against a commercial finite-element numerical simulator.

     

Laboratory Investigation of LNAPL Migration in Double-Porosity Soil Under Fractured Condition Using Digital Image Analysis

Gas production from shale gas reservoirs plays a significant role in satisfying increasing energy demands. Compared with conventional sandstone and carbonate reservoirs, shale gas reservoirs are characterized by extremely low porosity, ultra-low permeability and high clay content. Slip flow, diffusion, adsorption and desorption are the primary gas transport processes in shale matrix, while Darcy flow is restricted to fractures. Understanding methane diffusion and adsorption, and gas flow and equilibrium in the low-permeability matrix of shale is crucial for shale formation evaluation and for predicting gas production. Modeling of diffusion in low-permeability shale rocks requires use of the Dusty gas model (DGM) rather than Fick’s law. The DGM is incorporated in the TOUGH2 module EOS7C-ECBM, a modified version of EOS7C that simulates multicomponent gas mixture transport in porous media. Also included in EOS7C-ECBM is the extended Langmuir model for adsorption and desorption of gases. In this study, a column shale model was constructed to simulate methane diffusion and adsorption through shale rocks. The process of binary \(\hbox {CH}_{4}{-}\hbox {N}_{2}\) diffusion and adsorption was analyzed. A sensitivity study was performed to investigate the effects of pressure, temperature and permeability on diffusion and adsorption in shale rocks. The results show that methane gas diffusion and adsorption in shale is a slow process of dynamic equilibrium, which can be illustrated by the slope of a curve in \(\hbox {CH}_{4}\) mass variation. The amount of adsorption increases with the pressure increase at the low pressure, and the mass change by gas diffusion will decrease due to the decrease in the compressibility factor of the gas. With the elevated temperature, the gas molecules move faster and then the greater gas diffusion rates make the process duration shorter. The gas diffusion rate decreases with the permeability decrease, and there is a limit of gas diffusion if the permeability is less than \(1.0\,\times \,10^{-15}\, \hbox { m}^{2}\). The results can provide insights for a better understanding of methane diffusion and adsorption in the shale rocks so as to optimize gas production performance of shale gas reservoirs.     

Pressure Transient Analysis for Multi-stage Fractured Horizontal Wells in Shale Gas Reservoirs

This article presents the PTA on the multi-stage fractured horizontal well in shale gas reservoirs incorporating desorption and diffusive flow in the matrix. Currently, most PTA models are simply based on Darcy flow both in natural fractures and matrix without considering the mechanisms of desorption and diffusion in shale matrix. Source function and Laplace transform with the numerical discrete method are employed to solve the mathematical model. The solution is presented in the Laplace domain so that the wellbore storage effect and skin factor can be easily incorporated by convolution. Type curves are plotted with Stehfest algorithm and different flow regimes are identified. The presented model could be used to interpret pressure signals more accurately for shale gas reservoirs.