Flow Mechanism of Fractured Low-Permeability Reservoirs

Abstract It has been found that hydraulic fractures always exhibit complex geometry patterns by direct observation on fractured cores, geological evidence, and laboratory experiments for low permeability reservoirs. The main purpose of this chapter is to present a general fracture wing model that can be easily extended to analyze the transient pressure response of complex fracture systems. Firstly, we propose a fracture wing model and then introduce the combination method of the complex fractures using multiple wings. Secondly, three cases, including asymmetrical nonplanar fracture, multi-wing fractures connected to a vertical well and multi-wing nonplanar fractures in a horizontal well are employed to illustrate the application of the fracture wing model. Lastly, an example with synthetic data is used to illustrate the application of well test analysis of a multi-wing fractured well by the type curve match.