Gas migration through a water filled fracture has been studied. An experimental facility was used which comprised of an acrylic cast of a natural fracture, this allowed viewing of bubble migration. Various pressure and flow rate conditions were investigated, together with the effects of changes in the fracture inclination angle.

A literature review highlighted that there are no models currently available which can estimate bubble growth rate, bubble size at the entrance to a fracture, or for discrete bubble flow. A mathematical model was developed to this end.

This paper describes the experimental processes undertaken, the development of the mathematical model, and a comparison between both experimental and predicted results.

Keywords:
prediction, natural gas storage, hydraulic fracturing, initial gas flow rate, inclination angle, flow in porous media, hodrien, numerical prediction, kostakis, fracture
Subjects:
Hydraulic Fracturing, Reservoir Characterization, Reservoir Fluid Dynamics, Unconventional and Complex Reservoirs, Storage Reservoir Engineering, Flow in porous media, Naturally-fractured reservoirs, Natural gas storage
Copyright 1998, Society of Petroleum Engineers
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