This paper presents short-time interpretation methods for radial-spherical (or radial-hemispherical) flow in homogeneous and isotropic reservoirs inclusive of wellbore storage, wellbore phase redistribution, and damage skin effects. New dimensionless groups are introduced to facilitate the classic transformation from radial flow in the sphere to linear flow in the rod. Analytical expressions, type curves (in log-log and semilog format), and tabulated solutions are presented, both in terms of pressure and rate, for all flow problems considered. A new empirical equation to estimate the duration of wellbore and near-wellbore effects under spherical flow is also proposed.

Keywords:
skin effect, flow rate, type curve, inner boundary condition, storage, pressure drop, boundary condition, sandface flow rate, phase redistribution, drillstem testing
Subjects:
Drillstem/well testing, Formation Evaluation & Management, Pressure transient analysis, Reservoir Fluid Dynamics, Well & Reservoir Surveillance and Monitoring
Copyright 1985, Society of Petroleum Engineers
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