Doctoral Dissertations

Chaohua Guo

Abstract

"Shale gas is one kind of the unconventional resources which is becoming an ever increasing component to secure the natural gas supply in U.S. Different from conventional hydrocarbon formations, shale gas reservoirs (SGRs) present numerous challenges to modeling and understanding due to complex pore structure, ultra-low permeability, and multiple transport mechanisms.

In this study, the deviation against conventional gas flow have been detected in the lab experiments for gas flow through nano membranes. Based on the experimental results, a new apparent permeability expression is proposed with considering viscous flow, Knudsen diffusion, and slip flow. The gas flow mechanisms of gas flow in the SGRs have been studied using well test method with considering multiple flow mechanisms including desorption, diffusive flow, Darcy flow and stress-sensitivity. Type curves were plotted and different flow regimes were identified. Sensitivity analysis of adsorption and fracturing parameters on gas production performance have been analyzed. Then, numerical simulation study have been conducted for the SGRs with considering multiple mechanisms, including viscous flow, Knudsen diffusion, Klinkenberg effect, pore radius change, gas desorption, and gas viscosity change. Results show that adsorption and gas viscosity change will have a great impact on gas production. At last, the numerical simulation model for SGRs with multi-stage hydraulic fracturing horizontal well has been constructed. Sensitivity analysis for reservoir and fracturing parameters on gas production performance have been conducted. Results show that hydraulic fracture parameters are more sensitive compared with reservoir parameters. The study in this project can contribute to the understanding and simulation of SGRs"--Abstract, page iv.

Advisor(s)

Wei, Mingzhen

Committee Member(s)

Flori, Ralph E.
Nygaard, Runar
Bai, Baojun
He, Xiaoming

Department(s)

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering

Degree Name

Ph. D. in Petroleum Engineering

Sponsor(s)

Research Partnership to Secure Energy of America

Publisher

Missouri University of Science and Technology

Publication Date

2015

Journal article titles appearing in thesis/dissertation

  • Study on gas flow through nano pores of shale gas reservoirs
  • Pressure transient and rate decline analysis for hydraulic fractured vertical wells with finite conductivity in shale gas reservoirs
  • Modeling of gas production from shale reservoirs considering multiple transport mechanisms
  • Numerical simulation of gas production from shale gas reservoirs with multi-stage hydraulic fracturing horizontal well

Pagination

xv, 194 pages

Note about bibliography

Includes bibliographic references.

Rights

© 2015 Chaohua Guo, All rights reserved.

Document Type

Dissertation - Open Access

File Type

text

Language

English

Thesis Number

T 11143

Electronic OCLC #

1003209888

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