The investigation of fracture aperture effect on shale gas transport using discrete fracture model

Discrete fracture model (DFM) numerical simulation is used to investigate the shale gas transports in fractured porous media in this paper. A new seepage flow mathematic model, in which flow in fracture meets “Cubic law” and matrix meets “non-Darcy law”, is adopted and fracture aperture effect on the transport behavior is simulated by solving the nonlinear partial differential equations using finite element analysis (FEA). In this DFM, fluid flows into wellbore which is surrounded by impermeable rock matrix is merely through fractures that connect to it. The model is used to simulate a random generated fractures network to study the flow and transport characteristics in fractured porous media (FPM). Several cases with different fracture aperture in same natural fractured model are given. The preliminary simulation results show that both the natural and hydraulic fracture aperture have a significant impact on shale gas migration and production.