General Correlation for the Effect of Non-Darcy Flow on Productivity of Fractured Wells

Abstract

Abstract The paper describes a systematic study of the effect of the turbulence on productivity (or injectivity) of fractured wells. It extends significantly beyond previous work, and shows its limitations. A new correlation has been developed, based on over 2,000 high-accuracy numerical solutions for vertically fractured well for a simple geometry. The base correlation was developed for fully penetrating fracture and it is applicable to liquid and high-pressure gas systems. The general correlation for fully penetrating fracture is a function of the two dimensionless parameters and two other parameters, which can be chosen as fracture conductivity and permeability. Additional results are provided for the effect of partial perforations on a fully penetrating fracture. As a limiting case, this scenario can represent also transversely fractured horizontal well. The final correlation therefore involves 5 variables. The results show that the conventional notion that turbulence is important only in high rate gas wells is often false. Turbulence effect on productivity or injectivity can be significant for liquid flow in high permeability formations, with limited perforations and especially in transversely fractured horizontal wells.