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An efficient 3D cell-based discrete fracture-matrix flow model for digitally captured fracture networks

Complex hydraulic fracture networks are critical for enhancing permeability in unconventional reservoirs and mining industries. However, accurately simulating the fluid flow in realistic fracture networks (compared to the statistical fracture networks) is still challenging due to the fracture comple...

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Autores principales: Sun, Lei, Li, Mei, Abdelaziz, Aly, Tang, Xuhai, Liu, Quansheng, Grasselli, Giovanni
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer Nature Singapore 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10620291/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37928133
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s40789-023-00625-1
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author Sun, Lei
Li, Mei
Abdelaziz, Aly
Tang, Xuhai
Liu, Quansheng
Grasselli, Giovanni
author_facet Sun, Lei
Li, Mei
Abdelaziz, Aly
Tang, Xuhai
Liu, Quansheng
Grasselli, Giovanni
author_sort Sun, Lei
collection PubMed
description Complex hydraulic fracture networks are critical for enhancing permeability in unconventional reservoirs and mining industries. However, accurately simulating the fluid flow in realistic fracture networks (compared to the statistical fracture networks) is still challenging due to the fracture complexity and computational burden. This work proposes a simple yet efficient numerical framework for the flow simulation in fractured porous media obtained by 3D high-resolution images, aiming at both computational accuracy and efficiency. The fractured rock with complex fracture geometries is numerically constructed with a cell-based discrete fracture-matrix model (DFM) having implicit fracture apertures. The flow in the complex fractured porous media (including matrix flow, fracture flow, as well as exchange flow) is simulated with a pipe-based cell-centered finite volume method. The performance of this model is validated against analytical/numerical solutions. Then a lab-scale true triaxial hydraulically fractured shale sample is reconstructed, and the fluid flow in this realistic fracture network is simulated. Results suggest that the proposed method achieves a good balance between computational efficiency and accuracy. The complex fracture networks control the fluid flow process, and the opened natural fractures behave as primary fluid pathways. Heterogeneous and anisotropic features of fluid flow are well captured with the present model.
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spelling pubmed-106202912023-11-03 An efficient 3D cell-based discrete fracture-matrix flow model for digitally captured fracture networks Sun, Lei Li, Mei Abdelaziz, Aly Tang, Xuhai Liu, Quansheng Grasselli, Giovanni Int J Coal Sci Technol Research Complex hydraulic fracture networks are critical for enhancing permeability in unconventional reservoirs and mining industries. However, accurately simulating the fluid flow in realistic fracture networks (compared to the statistical fracture networks) is still challenging due to the fracture complexity and computational burden. This work proposes a simple yet efficient numerical framework for the flow simulation in fractured porous media obtained by 3D high-resolution images, aiming at both computational accuracy and efficiency. The fractured rock with complex fracture geometries is numerically constructed with a cell-based discrete fracture-matrix model (DFM) having implicit fracture apertures. The flow in the complex fractured porous media (including matrix flow, fracture flow, as well as exchange flow) is simulated with a pipe-based cell-centered finite volume method. The performance of this model is validated against analytical/numerical solutions. Then a lab-scale true triaxial hydraulically fractured shale sample is reconstructed, and the fluid flow in this realistic fracture network is simulated. Results suggest that the proposed method achieves a good balance between computational efficiency and accuracy. The complex fracture networks control the fluid flow process, and the opened natural fractures behave as primary fluid pathways. Heterogeneous and anisotropic features of fluid flow are well captured with the present model. Springer Nature Singapore 2023-11-01 2023 /pmc/articles/PMC10620291/ /pubmed/37928133 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s40789-023-00625-1 Text en © The Author(s) 2023 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) .
spellingShingle Research
Sun, Lei
Li, Mei
Abdelaziz, Aly
Tang, Xuhai
Liu, Quansheng
Grasselli, Giovanni
An efficient 3D cell-based discrete fracture-matrix flow model for digitally captured fracture networks
title An efficient 3D cell-based discrete fracture-matrix flow model for digitally captured fracture networks
title_full An efficient 3D cell-based discrete fracture-matrix flow model for digitally captured fracture networks
title_fullStr An efficient 3D cell-based discrete fracture-matrix flow model for digitally captured fracture networks
title_full_unstemmed An efficient 3D cell-based discrete fracture-matrix flow model for digitally captured fracture networks
title_short An efficient 3D cell-based discrete fracture-matrix flow model for digitally captured fracture networks
title_sort efficient 3d cell-based discrete fracture-matrix flow model for digitally captured fracture networks
topic Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10620291/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37928133
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s40789-023-00625-1
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