Numerical Modelling of Waterhammer Pressure Pulse Propagation in Sand Reservoirs

• Author(s) / Creator(s)

  • Mahshid Jafar Pour
  • Alireza Nouri
  • Dave Chan

• This paper presents a numerical model with a new approach for analyzing the
  propagation of pressure waves in porous media and investigates the dynamic
  response of sand in relation to the attributes of pore pressure pulses. There
  are various instances in which dynamic phenomena can have a significant
  impact on porous media in a reservoir. One notable example is the possible
  influence of waterhammer pressure pulsing on sand fluidization around injection wells in oil reservoirs following a hard wellbore shut-in, which can result
  in massive sand production. In some extreme cases, this phenomenon can
  even result in the loss of the wellbore. Nevertheless, the pore pressure wave
  propagation in porous media has often been neglected in modeling likely due
  to mathematical complexity.
  The proposed model solves the momentum balance of fluid and solid
  coupled with the fluid mass balance equation in the prediction of dynamic
  fluid flow and mechanical deformation in porous media. The model is a
  two-dimensional, elasto-plastic, axisymmetric, single-phase and sequentially
  coupled model. The numerical model was validated against experimental
  data for a step wave in a shock tube and good agreement between model
  calculations and measured data has been obtained.
  Two distinct waves have been observed as a result of a shock pore pressure
  wave. The first one is an undrained wave where fluid and solid travel at
  the same speed. The other one is a wave which is often damped far from
  the source due to the friction between fluid and solid as they no longer
  travel together. It is found that tortuosity plays an important role on the
  amplitude of the waves. The results were then compared to the predictions
  by Biot's theory for waves through porous media. Biot's theory is shown
  to be inaccurate in predicting the transient dynamic behaviour, but it is
  sufficient in capturing the overall trends. Finally, the model is used to predict
  waterhammer response in near wellbore reservoir.

• Date created

  2016-01-01

• Subjects / Keywords

  • dynamic fluid flow
  • pore pressure wave
  • shock tube
  • waterhammer
  • wave propagation

• Type of Item

  Article (Draft / Submitted)

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-j93e-vz06

• License

  Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International