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Stress-sensitivity Study in Fractured Reservoirs Using the Discrete Fracture Model and the Finite Element Method

Moradi, Mostafa | 2016

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  1. Type of Document: M.Sc. Thesis
  2. Language: Farsi
  3. Document No: 48905 (08)
  4. University: Sharif University of Technology
  5. Department: Mechanical Engineering
  6. Advisor(s): Taghizadeh Manzari, Mehrdad; Daneh Dezfuli, Alireza
  7. Abstract:
  8. Hydrocarbon recovery projects involve large capital investments and have a very high risk associated with them. To minimize this risk, accurate predictions of reservoir performance must be acquired. Reservoir simulation is a powerful tool for fulfilling this requirement. Physics, mathematics, reservoir engineering and computer programming are combined in reservoir simulation in order to predict reservoir performance under different situations both accurately and efficiently. Performance prediction in fractured reservoirs is a much harder task. This difficulty is due to the higher uncertainties associated with their physical and geometrical parameters. More than 60% of world, and almost 70% of Iran’s oil and gas reserves are located in fractured carbonate reservoirs. On the other hand, geomechanical stresses affect these reservoirs more than others. These geomechanical stresses change reservoir rock properties and consequently alter reservoir pressure distribution. Therefore it is necessary to study these geomechanical effects in order to obtain accurate performance predictions. In this work, coupled flow-geomechanical three-dimensional equations are solved to reveal the effects of geomechanical stress on matrix and fracture system. Galerkin method with finite element discretization has been employed to numerically solve the system of partial differential equations. Discrete fracture model has been used to model the fracture system. Numerical results for different values of rock stiffness and fracture aperture are presented. The results demonstrate that pressure drop caused by reservoir depletion reduces the fracture aperture significantly and as a result changes reservoir pressure distribution and production rate dramatically
  9. Keywords:
  10. Finite Element Method ; Reservoir Numerical Simulation ; Dynamic Fracture ; Fractured Reservoirs ; Stress Sensitivity ; Dynamic Frature Aperture ; Discrete Fracture Model

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