TY - JOUR
T1 - A fracture upscaling method (FUM) for hydraulically fractured reservoirs
T2 - From discrete fracture modelling to finite difference simulations
AU - Sherratt, Joseph
AU - Sharifi Haddad, Amin
AU - Rafati, Roozbeh
AU - Manzari, Mehrdad T
N1 - Acknowledgments:
The authors would like to thank the School of Engineering at the University of Aberdeen for financial support and providing the required facilities to complete the study. Support from Computer Modelling Group and Schlumberger for the use of their software packages is greatly acknowledged. This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
PY - 2020/11/1
Y1 - 2020/11/1
N2 - Hydraulic fracturing creates a complex fracture geometry in heterogeneous formations which are frequently simulated using Finite Element based fracture propagation modelling tools. Representing this geometry in Finite Difference based multiphase flow simulators poses some challenges. In this study, a Fracture Upscaling Method (FUM) is developed to represent complex fracture systems generated by the finite element method. It is demonstrated that this method can capture complex fracture geometries even when using coarse grids. This upscaling method can be used as a coupling tool between the output of any discrete fracture model and any finite difference-based reservoir simulator. FUM is tested against a field case and simulation results show a reasonable match with 120 days of production data. This method is then used to investigate the impact that natural fractures have on production from shale gas wells. The results show that the effect of orientation, spacing and length of natural fractures, on propagating hydraulic fractures can reduce the recovery factor by 30%. Furthermore, the ability of FUM to combine highly complex fracture networks with realistic multiple layer models with complex distributions of reservoir properties is demonstrated.
AB - Hydraulic fracturing creates a complex fracture geometry in heterogeneous formations which are frequently simulated using Finite Element based fracture propagation modelling tools. Representing this geometry in Finite Difference based multiphase flow simulators poses some challenges. In this study, a Fracture Upscaling Method (FUM) is developed to represent complex fracture systems generated by the finite element method. It is demonstrated that this method can capture complex fracture geometries even when using coarse grids. This upscaling method can be used as a coupling tool between the output of any discrete fracture model and any finite difference-based reservoir simulator. FUM is tested against a field case and simulation results show a reasonable match with 120 days of production data. This method is then used to investigate the impact that natural fractures have on production from shale gas wells. The results show that the effect of orientation, spacing and length of natural fractures, on propagating hydraulic fractures can reduce the recovery factor by 30%. Furthermore, the ability of FUM to combine highly complex fracture networks with realistic multiple layer models with complex distributions of reservoir properties is demonstrated.
KW - Hydraulic fracturing
KW - Fracture patterns
KW - Upscaling
KW - Finite difference simulations
KW - Discrete fracture models
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85091228792&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jngse.2020.103611
DO - 10.1016/j.jngse.2020.103611
M3 - Article
VL - 83
JO - Journal of Natural Gas Science & Engineering
JF - Journal of Natural Gas Science & Engineering
SN - 1875-5100
M1 - 103611
ER -
