Non-darcy flow near hydraulically fractured wells

In this work, we analyze the effect of non-Darcy flow near hydraulically fractured wells on well inflow performance. It is based on a dedicated numerical model of plane, steady-state flow of an incompressible fluid toward a vertically fractured well in the center of a circular reservoir. The results show that non-Darcy flow manifests itself as a positive skin factor, which is the product of a non-Darcy flow factor and the production rate, as is the case with nonfractured wells. An empirical relationship is presented that enables the estimation of the non-Darcy flow factor of fractured wells as a function of fracture length. Compared with nonfractured wells, hydraulic fractures will reduce the effect of non-Darcy flow in all practical situations. An intuitive approach to incorporate non-Darcy flow in the inflow performance relationship of fractured wells on the basis of total inflow area is a good first-order approximation.