PUBLISHED PAPERS #01.07
| Muhammad Obeidat. Prediction of Pressure Distribution Change with Time for Non-Newtonian Fluids in Porous Media Using Numerical Simulation |
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| Abstract. The increasing demand for hydrocarbons and the depletion of conventional oil fields have increased the need for development of unconventional oil reserves, which include non-Newtonian oil fields. That is why it is important to understand the physical properties of non-Newtonian fluids and study their behavior in a reservoir. The focus of this study is numerical simulation of the flow of non-Newtonian Herschel-Bulkley fluids in porous media under unsteady-state conditions the purpose of which is to predict the change of pressure distribution in an oil reservoir with time. Firstly, a modified diffusivity equation for Herschel-Bulkley fluids is derived. Then the proposed numerical method is validated by comparing numerical simulation results to exact analytical solutions for simpler fluid models. Then numerical simulation is done for complex fluid models and the results demonstrate the impact of such non-Newtonian parameters as power-law index and initial pressure gradient on the pressure distribution in the reservoir. It is concluded that the impact of power-law index is very strong, while for the initial pressure gradient it is not significant. |
| Keywords: unconventional oil reserves, non-Newtonian fluids, Herschel-Bulkley model, fluid flow in porous media, numerical simulation |
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| DOI: https://doi.org/10.30546/MaCoSEP2025.1014 |