A Study on Elliptical Gas Flow in Tri-porosity Gas Reservoirs

Elliptical flow is common in the near vertical fracture area and in anisotropic reservoirs. However, the classical radial flow models cannot provide a complete analysis for elliptical flow. This article presents a new mathematic model for gas elliptical flow in tri-porosity gas reservoirs. The differential equation of the new model is written in Mathieu equation, so that the solution can also be expressed by Mathieu functions. The numerical solution of the corresponding Mathieu functions ce _2n (ξ, −q), Ke _2n (ξ, −q) and their derivatives are obtained to derive the dimensionless pseudo pressure drop in Laplace space. The sensitivities of tri-porosity systems, including the parameters related to anisotropies C _De^2S and ξ _w, the storativity ratios ω _f and ω _m, and the interporosity flow coefficients λ_vf and λ_mf, are studied using Laplace numerical inversion. The new solution includes not only the factors considered in classic solutions in previous articles, but also incorporates the effect of reservoir anisotropy.