scholarly journals A Model for the Apparent Gas Permeability of Shale Matrix Organic Nanopore Considering Multiple Physical Phenomena

2022 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Guo ◽  
Xiaowei Zhang ◽  
Rongze Yu ◽  
Lixia Kang ◽  
Jinliang Gao ◽  
...  

The flow of shale gas in nano scale pores is affected by multiple physical phenomena. At present, the influence of multiple physical phenomena on the transport mechanism of gas in nano-pores is not clear, and a unified mathematical model to describe these multiple physical phenomena is still not available. In this paper, an apparent permeability model was established, after comprehensively considering three gas flow mechanisms in shale matrix organic pores, including viscous slippage Flow, Knudsen diffusion and surface diffusion of adsorbed gas, and real gas effect and confinement effect, and at the same time considering the effects of matrix shrinkage, stress sensitivity, adsorption layer thinning, confinement effect and real gas effect on pore radius. The contribution of three flow mechanisms to apparent permeability under different pore pressure and pore size is analyzed. The effects of adsorption layer thinning, stress sensitivity, matrix shrinkage effect, real gas effect and confinement effect on apparent permeability were also systematically analyzed. The results show that the apparent permeability first decreases and then increases with the decrease of pore pressure. With the decrease of pore pressure, matrix shrinkage, Knudsen diffusion, slippage effect and surface diffusion effect increase gradually. These four effects will not only make up for the permeability loss caused by stress sensitivity and adsorption layer, but also significantly increase the permeability. With the decrease of pore radius, the contribution of slippage flow decreases, and the contributions of Knudsen diffusion and surface diffusion increase gradually. With the decrease of pore radius and the increase of pore pressure, the influence of real gas effect and confinement effect on permeability increases significantly. Considering real gas and confinement effect, the apparent permeability of pores with radius of 5 nm is increased by 13.2%, and the apparent permeability of pores with radius of 1 nm is increased by 61.3%. The apparent permeability model obtained in this paper can provide a theoretical basis for more accurate measurement of permeability of shale matrix and accurate evaluation of productivity of shale gas horizontal wells.

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 168-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qi Zhang ◽  
Wen-Dong Wang ◽  
Yilihamu Kade ◽  
Bo-Tao Wang ◽  
Lei Xiong

Abstract Different from the conventional gas reservoirs, gas transport in nanoporous shales is complicated due to multiple transport mechanisms and reservoir characteristics. In this work, we presented a unified apparent gas permeability model for real gas transport in organic and inorganic nanopores, considering real gas effect, organic matter (OM) porosity, Knudsen diffusion, surface diffusion, and stress dependence. Meanwhile, the effects of monolayer and multilayer adsorption on gas transport are included. Then, we validated the model by experimental results. The influences of pore radius, pore pressure, OM porosity, temperature, and stress dependence on gas transport behavior and their contributions to the total apparent gas permeability (AGP) were analyzed. The results show that the adsorption effect causes Kn(OM) > Kn(IM) when the pore pressure is larger than 1 MPa and the pore radius is less than 100 nm. The ratio of the AGP over the intrinsic permeability decreases with an increase in pore radius or pore pressure. For nanopores with a radius of less than 10 nm, the effects of the OM porosity, surface diffusion coefficient, and temperature on gas transport cannot be negligible. Moreover, the surface diffusion almost dominates in nanopores with a radius less than 2 nm under high OM porosity conditions. For the small-radius and low-pressure conditions, gas transport is governed by the Knudsen diffusion in nanopores. This study focuses on revealing gas transport behavior in nanoporous shales.


2020 ◽  
pp. 014459872097591
Author(s):  
Fanhui Zeng ◽  
Tao Zhang ◽  
Jie Yang ◽  
Jianchun Guo ◽  
Qiang Zhang ◽  
...  

Hydraulic fracturing is a crucial method for the exploitation of tight gas reservoirs. The matrix permeability is a key factor influencing the fracturing result. This paper assumes that the matrix permeability is provided by a series of capillary bundles and tree-like networks, fully considering the stress sensitivity to establish a single-capillary (fracture) flow equation in terms of factors such as the water saturation, threshold pressure gradient (TPG), fracture width dynamic changes and real gas effect. The established permeability model after fracturing is generalized by Darcy’s law with the fractal theory. The apparent permeability model shows that (1) the gas flow in capillaries and fractures is single-phase flow considering the connate water saturation, stress sensitivity, real gas effect, TPG, and fracture width dynamic changes. The fracture permeability is much higher than the capillary permeability. When the production pressure gradient is lower than the TPG, the flow rate is 0. As the formation pressure decreases, the dual-porosity medium permeability increases. (2) As the water saturation increases, the permeability decreases, and with increasing stress sensitivity and real gas effect, the permeability decreases. (3) The parameters of the tree-like fractal structure greatly affect the permeability. The larger the number and series of bifurcations are, the higher the permeability is. The fracture length ratio is K∝γ, and the fracture width ratio is α∝K. The negative correlation becomes increasingly profound with increasing number and series of bifurcations. This fractal model fully considers TPG, stress sensitivity, and real gas effects, making the dual-porous medium reservoir permeability calculation model more complete, which can provide a more accurate calculation method for the permeability of the reservoir stimulation area after fracturing.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yufei Chen ◽  
Juliana Y. Leung ◽  
Changbao Jiang ◽  
Andrew K. Wojtanowicz

Abstract The past decade has seen the rapid development of shale gas across the world, as the record-breaking success and on-going surge of commercial shale gas production in such unconventional reservoirs pose a tremendous potential to meet the global energy supply. However, questions have been raised about the intricate gas transport mechanisms in the shale matrix, of which the gas slippage phenomenon is one of the key mechanisms for enhancing the fluid transport capacity and, therefore, the overall gas production. Given that shale reservoirs are often naturally deposited in the deep underground formations at high pressure and temperature conditions (much deeper than most typical conventional deposits), the real gas effect cannot be ignored as gas properties may vary significantly under such conditions. The purpose of this study is thus to investigate the real gas effect on the gas slippage phenomenon in shale by taking into account the gas compressibility factor (Z) and Knudsen number (Kn). This study begins with a specific determination of Z for natural gas at various pressures and temperatures under the real gas effect, followed by several calculations of the gas molecular mean free path at in-situ conditions. Following this, the real gas effect on gas slippage phenomenon in shale is specifically analyzed by examining the change in Knudsen number. Also discussed are the permeability deviation from Darcy flux (non-Darcy flow) due to the combination of gas slippage and real gas effect and the specific range of pressure and pore size for gas slippage phenomenon in shale reservoirs. The results show that the gas molecular mean free path generally increases with decreasing pressure, especially at relatively low pressures (< 20 MPa). And, increasing temperature will cause the gas molecular mean free path to rise, also at low pressures. Knudsen number of an ideal gas is greater than that of a real gas; while lower than that of a real gas as pressure continues to rise. That is, the real gas effect suppresses the gas slippage phenomenon at low pressures, while enhancing it at high pressures. Also, Darcy’s law starts deviating when Kn > 0.01 and becomes invalid at high Knudsen numbers, and this deviation increases with decreasing pore size. No matter how pore size varies, this deviation increases with decreasing pressure, meaning that the gas slippage effect is significant at low pressures. Finally, slip flow dominates in the various gas transport mechanisms given the typical range of pressure and pore size in shale reservoirs (1 MPa < P < 80 MPa; 3 nm < d < 3000 nm). Gas transport in shale is predominantly controlled by the slippage effect that mostly occurs in micro- or meso-pores (10 to 200 nm). Moreover, considering the real gas effect would improve the accuracy for determining the specific pressure range of the gas slippage phenomenon in shale.


Fractals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (01) ◽  
pp. 2050017 ◽  
Author(s):  
TAO WU ◽  
SHIFANG WANG

A better comprehension of the behavior of shale gas transport in shale gas reservoirs will aid in predicting shale gas production rates. In this paper, an analytical apparent permeability expression for real gas is derived on the basis of the fractal theory and Fick’s law, with adequate consideration of the effects of Knudsen diffusion, surface diffusion and flexible pore shape. The gas apparent permeability model is found to be a function of microstructural parameters of shale reservoirs, gas property, Langmuir pressure, shale reservoir temperature and pressure. The results show that the apparent permeability increases with the increase of pore area fractal dimension and the maximum effective pore radius and decreases with an increase of the tortuosity fractal dimension; the effects of Knudsen diffusion and surface diffusion on the total apparent permeability cannot be ignored under high-temperature and low-pressure circumstances. These findings can contribute to a better understanding of the mechanism of gas transport in shale reservoirs.


Author(s):  
Hengjie Xu ◽  
Pengyun Song ◽  
Wenyuan Mao ◽  
Qiangguo Deng

By taking carbon dioxide and hydrogen as lubricating gas, respectively, this paper presents an analysis on the pressure characteristics and temperature distribution of spiral groove dry gas seal which influenced by real gas effect under choked flow condition. Numerical results show that the deviation between real gas and ideal gas, which expressed by the deviation degree between compressibility factor Z and 1, is the main reason for real gas effect affecting sealing performance. Compared with ideal gas model, real gas effect raises exit pressure, opening force, leakage rate, Mach number in dam region, and temperature for carbon dioxide ( Z < 1), while it decreases those characteristics for hydrogen ( Z > 1) under the same operating conditions. In addition, choked flow effect increases opening force and reduces leakage rate and temperature-drop between entrance and exit of sealing clearance. Meanwhile, it may cause an unstable behavior for the seal.


Geofluids ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhiqiang Li ◽  
Zhilin Qi ◽  
Wende Yan ◽  
Zuping Xiang ◽  
Xiang Ao ◽  
...  

Production simulation is an important method to evaluate the stimulation effect of refracturing. Therefore, a production simulation model based on coupled fluid flow and geomechanics in triple continuum including kerogen, an inorganic matrix, and a fracture network is proposed considering the multiscale flow characteristics of shale gas, the induced stress of fracture opening, and the pore elastic effect. The complex transport mechanisms due to multiple physics, including gas adsorption/desorption, slip flow, Knudsen diffusion, surface diffusion, stress sensitivity, and adsorption layer are fully considered in this model. The apparent permeability is used to describe the multiple physics occurring in the matrix. The model is validated using actual production data of a horizontal shale gas well and applied to predict the production and production increase percentage (PIP) after refracturing. A sensitivity analysis is performed to study the effects of the refracturing pattern, fracture conductivity, width of stimulated reservoir volume (SRV), SRV length of new and initial fractures, and refracturing time on production and the PIP. In addition, the effects of multiple physics on the matrix permeability and production, and the geomechanical effects of matrix and fracture on production are also studied. The research shows that the refracturing design parameters have an important influence on the PIP. The geomechanical effect is an important cause of production loss, while slippage and diffusion effects in matrix can offset the production loss.


2011 ◽  
Vol 361-363 ◽  
pp. 603-606
Author(s):  
Yu Qiang Dai ◽  
Jiu Peng Zou ◽  
Che Zhu ◽  
Jin Tao Wu ◽  
Da Peng Hu

The unsteady flow behaviors in devices like gas wave machines, wave rotor refrigerators and so on are complex due to real gas effect at high operational pressure and low temperature. In this work, a detail computational model for unsteady flow analysis of real natural gases is established. The real effect on unsteady behaviors of natural gases in shock tubes have been studied extensively. Results show that the non-classical flow of the gases will not exist. The discipline of reflection and refraction of various gas waves or discontinuities remain unchanged for natural gases. Attention should be paid only to the deviations between perfect gas model and real gas model for gasdynamic waves.


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