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Using percolation-based effective-medium approximation to determine effective permeability in fractured reservoirs
  • Behzad Ghanbarian
Behzad Ghanbarian
Kansas State University

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Abstract

Fractures play an important role in transport in unconventional formations. Both matrix and fracture network in fractured media contribute to the effective permeability (keff). In this study, we investigate the interaction between matrix and fracture permeabilities (km and kf) via the percolation-based effective-medium approximation (P-EMA). We theoretically determine the keff value at different fracture densities and compare our results with two- and three-dimensional numerical simulations. We found that the P-EMA estimated the effective permeability accurately in the matrix-fracture systems studied here. Further investigations are needed to better understand how the parameters of the P-EMA including scaling exponent and critical fracture density might vary from one fractured reservoir to another.