Stimulation Simulator for Optimizing Wormhole Formation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current models for well stimulation, such as acid stimulation of carbonate formations, face challenges in optimizing reactant injection rates due to limitations in predicting behavior, requiring difficult-to-obtain parameters, and struggling to account for wormhole initiation and uniform dissolution patterns, leading to inefficient fluid production.
Innovation Solution
A method involving a stimulation simulator that griddles a porous medium into matrix and wormhole cells, modeling the reaction between the treatment fluid and the medium, accounting for different permeability and porosity systems, and optimizing injection parameters to form a wormhole, using a dual-permeability model that transitions from a single to dual media based on solid saturation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the injection rate is increased to form wormholes, then fluid mobility is improved, but excessive injection rates cause uniform dissolution that dissolves large volumes of rock without significant flow improvements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a stimulation simulator to determine optimized treatment fluid injection parameters that achieve wormhole formation at optimal injection rates. The simulator models the chemical reaction between treatment fluid and porous medium to identify parameter sets that maximize fluid mobility while minimizing unnecessary reactant consumption, transitioning from uniform dissolution to efficient wormhole-pattern dissolution.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies preliminary modeling and simulation to predict wormhole formation behavior before actual field implementation. By gridding the treatment region and modeling reaction kinetics in advance, the system identifies optimal injection parameters that will achieve desired wormhole patterns, preventing excessive reactant usage during actual treatment.
2Device complexity
If a simple single-permeability model is used, then model complexity is reduced, but the model cannot account for wormhole initiation and growth stages
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the porous medium into matrix cells and wormhole cells with different permeability characteristics. The grid system allows separate modeling of dissolution regions (where chemical reactions occur) and flow regions (where fluid moves), enabling accurate representation of both wormhole initiation in the matrix and subsequent growth through dedicated wormhole pathways.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a dynamic modeling approach where the system transitions from single-permeability behavior to dual-permeability behavior as wormholes form. The model adapts permeability values based on solid saturation thresholds, automatically switching between matrix-dominated flow and wormhole-dominated flow regimes to accurately capture the evolving dissolution process.
3Loss of substance
If the injection rate is too low, then reactant consumption is minimized, but only face dissolution occurs without forming productive wormholes
Solution Approach 1:
The stimulation simulator provides feedback by modeling the chemical reaction kinetics and dissolution patterns at different injection rates. The system evaluates how reactant is consumed versus the resulting dissolution pattern, identifying the threshold injection rate where face dissolution transitions to productive wormhole formation, enabling optimization of reactant efficiency.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach allows for the determination of optimized treatment fluid injection parameters, enhancing fluid mobility and permeability, leading to more efficient wormhole formation and improved fluid production by accurately modeling wormhole initiation and growth stages.
Implementation Method 1
a chemical reaction between a treatment fluid and a porous medium
Implementation Method 2
the reactant is spent as soon as it contacts the medium, dissolving only the face of the medium
Data Source
AI summary
A well stimulation modeling method and simulation model for modeling a stimulation treatment involving a chemical reaction between a treatment fluid and a porous medium, such as acid treatment of a carbonate formation. In a wormhole initiation stage or mode, the medium of the cells having a solid saturation above a respective critical solid saturation is comprised of matrix material behaving as a single permeability, single porosity system; and in a wormhole growth stage or mode, the cells having a solid saturation equal to or less than the respective critical sold saturation comprise two different interconnected media, the matrix material and a wormhole material, defined to include wormhole-forming material as well as mature wormholes, having fluid mobility as a function of the solid saturation.