SPE 148078

Dual-Permeability Model for Coupled Reservoir Geomechanical Modeling:

Application for Field Production Data
Xing Zhang, Nick Koutsabeloulis, David Press, and Kwang-Ho Lee, Schlumberger

Copyright 2011, Society of Petroleum Engineers

This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE Reservoir Characterisation and Simulation Conference and Exhibition held in Abu Dhabi, UAE, 9–11 October 2011.

This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper have not been
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Abstract
Dual-permeability models were developed to simulate the permeability of fractured reservoirs, including connected fracture
networks, fracture corridors, unconnected fractures, and nonconductive fractures. The opening of nonconductive fractures was
simulated based on either fracture dilation caused by shearing or fracture opening caused by tensile failure. In this way, the
permeability change of all fractures (both conductive and nonconductive) can be simulated responding to the change in the
effective stresses caused by reservoir depletion and/or injection. It is assumed that the conductive fractures possess a base-
level permeability before production and injection, which corresponds to the residual permeability of the fractures. This
implies that the apertures of fractures have closed to their irreducible limit at the reservoir depth and initial conditions, but
minimum hydraulic apertures still exist.
The newly developed dual-permeability modeling technique was applied to an areal model of a fractured/faulted reservoir
containing 49 wells, which simulated 36 months of production with waterflooding in the presence of fracture sets and faults.
This study was to understand the geomechanical influences on flow rates at individual wells, which were assessed with the
spatial and temporal correlations in flow rates at pairs of wells. This example revealed the ongoing interaction between
pressure, production/injection rate, permeability, and deformation in the fractured reservoir. The stress direction has an
important effect on the evolution of fracture permeability. The sliding of faults induced significant permeability enhancement
of the fractures around the faults. Long-range rate correlations were predominantly related to geomechanical links; short-range
rate correlations were mainly related to high permeable channels.

Introduction
Fractured carbonate reservoirs contain a vast amount of hydrocarbons and are among the most complex reservoirs to
characterize, model, and manage. Natural fractures can be open or closed. They comprise isolated individual, connected
networks, or fracture corridors throughout a domain of interest. The presence or absence of fractures can significantly alter
reservoir behavior in terms of reservoir performance and management. Therefore, fracture characterization and fracture
permeability modeling are essential elements in fractured reservoir simulation. In a previous study, Zhang and Koutsabeloulis
(2010) proposed an integrated workflow for simulating reservoir effective permeability of natural fractures in which the
estimated fracture permeability is based on connected fracture networks only. However, fractured reservoirs, particularly
fractured carbonate reservoirs, are very heterogeneous in terms of formation properties and fracture distribution. For example,
fractures exist over a wide range of scales from microfissures to kilometer-sized structures in the form of fracture corridors
(Bush, 2010).
Although connected natural fracture networks are important for fluid transportation in many carbonate gas or oil reservoirs,
unconnected fractures, fracture corridors, and even nonconductive natural fractures may also contribute significantly to fluid
transportation. This is because carbonate reservoirs are susceptible to reservoir compaction because of the high stiffness of
carbonate rocks. Unconnected natural fractures can become connected during production activities as a result of depletion-
induced reservoir compaction, injection-induced fracture propagation, or both. In addition, nonconductive natural fractures can
become conductive as a result of reservoir deformation. Therefore, the dynamic behavior of fracture permeability plays a
crucial role in reservoir performance and management.
In this paper, fracture models, including connected fracture networks, fracture corridors, unconnected fractures, and
nonconductive fractures, are presented. These models were used to develop dual-permeability models. The developed dual-
permeability models were applied to a generic areal model for waterflooding simulation.
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Methodology
To simulate the dynamic behaviour of a fractured reservoir, it is necessary to perform two-way coupled reservoir
geomechanical modeling that simulates the interactions between stress, pressure, and permeability (Koutsabeloulis and Hope,
1998; Zhang et al., 2007) by linking a reservoir simulator to a mechanical simulator. In two-way coupling, on one hand,
pressure changes affect the changes in effective stress, leading to changes in strain. On the other hand, strain changes modify
permeability or transmissibility, which leads to pressure redistribution.
It is difficult or impossible to simulate fracture permeability on the basis of one fracture model because fractures can form an
interconnected network, be unconnected individuals, or be closely located to form fracture corridors. In addition,
nonconductive fractures can become conductive as a result of fracture opening, and the permeability of conductive fractures
can change as a result of aperture closure or opening during production.
In this study, different fracture models are proposed to characterize commonly observed fracture patterns, as shown in Fig. 1.
Based on these fracture models, dual-permeability models of fractured reservoirs were developed. In this case, dual-
permeability models that consist of both matrix permeability and fracture permeability are necessary. Because reservoir
permeability in reservoir simulations is characterized on a cell-by-cell basis, it is possible to simulate fracture permeability on
the basis of local fracture characterizations.

Fig. 1—Commonly observed fracture patterns on outcrops: (a) connected fracture networks, (b) fracture corridors (after Bush, 2010),
(c) unconnected fractures, and (d) nonconductive fractures.

Three dual-permeability models for conductive fractures were developed in this study, as shown in Fig. 2. They accounted for
three typical fracture patterns: (a) connected fracture networks, (b) fracture corridors or one set of fractures, and (c)
unconnected fractures. In reality, fracture characterizations are much more complex. The three simplified fracture models
represent only the most commonly observed fracture patterns.
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(a) (b) (c)

Fig. 2—Dual-permeability models of conductive fractures: (a) connected fracture networks, (b) fracture corridors or one set of
fractures, (c) unconnected fractures. Km is the permeability of the matrix and Kf is the permeability of fractures, which have
components in i, j, and k directions.

For connected conductive fracture networks, fracture permeability components, Kfi, Kfj, and Kfk are estimated using the cubic
law (Lamb, 1932; Witherspoon et al., 1980) with fracture density and aperture (Zhang and Koutsabeloulis, 2010). The dual-
permeability model of a connected fracture network (Fig. 2a) can be expressed as:

; ; . (1)

Fracture permeability can make a significant contribution to fluid transportation in fractured reservoirs. However, the
transmissibility between fracture surfaces and matrix also plays an important role in a dual-permeability system, which is
controlled by a factor (σm) called the sigma factor. The value of σm lies between zero and unity. If σm = 0, the surfaces of
fractures act as fluid barriers, preventing flow into the matrix from fracture apertures. In this case, fractures provided the only
channels for fluid transportation. If σm = 1, fracture surfaces have no impact on fluid transport between fracture and matrix. In
this case, a true dual permeability exists. In most cases, σm = 1, as applied in an areal model and case study to be presented
later.
For models describing fracture corridors or one set of fractures (Fig. 2b), the dual-permeability system is highly anisotropic
and can be expressed as:

; ; . (2)

In this case, the permeability in the i direction is largely controlled by the transmissibility between fracture surfaces and
matrix, or by the sigma factor, σm.
For the model of unconnected fractures (Fig. 2c), an equivalent fracture area (Af) must be defined according to the fracture
characterization within a specific cell. The factor Af varies between 0 and unity. If Af = 0, the cell is an intact rock without
fracture permeability. If Af = 1, the fracture model becomes equivalent to the model of a fracture corridor or one set of
fractures. In this case, Equation (3) becomes Equation (2). The dual-permeability model for Fig. 2c can be expressed as:

1 ; ; . (3)

In Equation (3), Kj will be overestimated when Af is larger than zero, but smaller than unity. This is because the total
permeability is dominated by the matrix permeability if no cutting-through fracture exists in the j direction.
The connectivity of fractures plays a key role in identifying fracture models because a fracture pattern may consist of fully
connected fractures that represent the dual-permeability model of Equation (1), may consist of partially connected fractures
that represent the dual-permeability of Equation (2), or may consist of unconnected individual fractures that represent the dual-
permeability model of Equation (3). The connectivity of fractures is largely controlled by fracture density (Zhang and
Sanderson, 2002; Zhang and Koutsabeloulis, 2010), as illustrated in Fig. 3. Where fracture density is smaller than a critical
value, the fracture pattern is dominated by those unconnected individual fractures. At a critical fracture density, a directional
fracture corridor is likely to form. However, where fracture density is significantly larger than the critical fracture density,
most fractures connect to make a well-connected network. In this case, fracture permeability is more isotropic and fractures
dominate the fluid flow transportation.
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Fig. 3—Illustration of the effects of fracture density on fracture connectivity. Where fracture density is less than a critical density, the
fracture pattern consists of unconnected individual fractures; where fracture density is at the critical density, a directional fracture
network may form; where fracture density is significantly larger than the critical density, most fractures link to make a well-connected
network.

To simulate the dynamic response of fractured reservoirs, the opening of nonconductive fractures is simulated as either
fracture dilation by shearing or fracture opening by tensile failure. Fig. 4 is a single fracture opening/sliding model, which is
related to pore pressure, stress magnitude, stress direction, and the frictional strength of the fracture surface. A fracture opens
when the pore pressure within the fracture, Pf, is greater than the normal stress, σn, acting on the fracture surface, as defined in
Equation (4). A fracture slides when the shear stress, τ, acting on the fracture surface is larger than the shear strength of the
fracture surface, which is related to the pore pressure, the normal stress, and the friction angle, φ, of the fracture surface, as
defined in Equation (5).

Pf > σn (4)

τ > tan φ (σn – Pf) (5)

Fig. 4—Single fracture opening/sliding model, which is related to pore pressure, stress magnitude, and direction.

Note that a fracture can slide under a compressive stress regime, i.e., the pore pressure, Pf, in the fracture is less than the
normal stress,σn, acting on the fracture if the shear stress is larger than the shear strength. This means that a fracture can dilate
under a compressive stress regime. When fractures are opening or dilating, the permeability of fractures (conductive and
nonconductive) dynamically increases according to the “cubic law” (Lamb, 1932; Witherspoon et al., 1980), as defined in
Equation (6), where q is the flow rate throughout a fracture; Gp is the pressure gradient along the flow channel of the fracture;
a is the aperture of the fracture; and μ is the dynamic viscosity of the fluid.

q = Gp a3/ (12μ) (6)

For the conductive fractures, it is assumed that a base-level permeability exists before production and injection, which
corresponds to the residual permeability of the fractures. This implies that the apertures of fractures have closed to the
irreducible limit related to the reservoir depth, but a minimum hydraulic aperture still exists. Owing to depletion and/or
SPE 148078 5

injection, the aperture of conductive fractures will change in response to changes in the effective stress, which results in the
permeability change of the conductive fractures.

Application to an Areal Model with Waterflooding

An areal model of a fractured/faulted reservoir with 49 wells was used to investigate permeability evolution during 36 months
of production (Zhang et al., 2007). In the areal model, it was assumed that there was a connected fracture network throughout
the reservoir, which was simulated with eight sets of fractures with an interval of 22.5°. The increase in the normal strain of the
fractures was converted into the change in fracture aperture using Equation (6) so that the fracture permeability was updated
on a grid-cell by grid-cell basis.
The model had a size of about 21 km by 21 km with 49 wells (25 producers and 24 injectors) in the central region of 8 km by 8
km. The distance between the wells was 1 km. In addition, there were three major faults in the N-S direction and seven smaller
faults in the E-W directions, as shown in Fig. 5. The effective bulk permeability of the reservoir rock, which consisted of
matrix permeability and initial fracture permeability, was assumed to be uniform before production due to the presence of a
well connected fracture network. The initial effective bulk permeability was assumed to have an initial value of 100 mD. A
much lower initial permeability of 1 mD for faults was assumed so that the faults served as permeability barriers. The effective
(bulk) permeability increased where the fractures and faults developed an extensional normal strain owing to plastic shearing
resulting from fracture/fault slip.

Fig. 5—Well configuration and direction of the applied maximum horizontal principal stress. The evolution of pressure, stress, plastic
shear strain, permeability, and flow rate around the local region of I18, P19, I19, and P20 were examined for the first 4 months of
production and injection.

Fig. 6 shows the development of the plastic shear strains around wells I18, P19, I19, and P20 within a local region of the
model after 1 month (upper) and 4 months (lower) of the production/injection operations. Because of the dilation of fractures
resulting from the plastic shear strains, the permeability around these wells increased, particularly around injector I19. The
maximum permeability increased approximately threefold from Month 1 (upper) to Month 4 (lower) during the first 4 months
of production/injection operations (Fig. 7). The direction of the maximum permeability was about 30° from the maximum
horizontal stress direction. This highlights the impact of stress direction on the evolution of permeability in fractured
reservoirs. The local velocity of flow around these wells increased approximately twofold from Month 1 (upper) to Month 4
(lower), as shown in Fig.8. Because the flow velocity was controlled not only by the modified permeability but also by the
pressure gradient along the entire flow path, the increase in local flow velocity was smaller than the increase in local
permeability. Although significant plastic shear strains developed along the major fault, this contributed to an insignificant
increase in permeability. This is because the lower stiffness of the faults did not result in significant dilation due to fault
sliding. As a result, no significant permeability enhancement was observed along the faults. However, the significant sliding of
the fault had induced significant sliding of the fractures nearby. This explained why larger plastic shear strains developed
around Injector I19 than around Injector I18—because the sliding of the nearby major fault had induced significant plastic
strains on the fractures around Injector I19. Subsequently, both the permeability and fluid velocity around Injector I19 were
much larger than those around Injector I18. This demonstrated the impact of faults on the deformation and performance of
wells where there were major faults near the wells.
6 SPE 148078

Fig. 6—Development of plastic shear strains around wells I18, P19, I19, and P20 after Month 1 (upper) and Month 4 (lower) during the
first 4 months of production/injection operations.

Fig. 7—The maximum permeability around wells I18, P19, I19 and P20 increased approximately threefold from Month 1 (upper) to
Month 4 (lower) during the first 4 months of production/injection operations. The changes in permeability were related to the
development of the plastic shear strains in Fig. 6.
SPE 148078 7

Fig. 8—Local velocity of flow around wells I18, P19, I19 and P20, increased approximately twofold from Month 1 (upper) to Month 4
(lower) during the first 4 months of production/injection operations. The flow velocity was controlled by the modified permeability and
pressure gradient.

This study was to understand the geomechanical influences on flow rates at individual wells, which were assessed with the
spatial and temporal correlations in flow rates at pairs of wells. Fig. 9 shows the plastic shear strain pattern of the reservoir at
the end of month 36 with selected rate correlation coefficients indicated. It was apparent that long-range high positive rate
correlations occurred near the plastic zones (the major faults and the created plastic shear bands). This suggests that long-range
rate correlations were predominantly related to geomechanical links. The long-range rate correlations occurred between
injectors and producers, between producers, and between injectors, and appeared to involve a different mechanism from that of
short-range rate correlations. It is possible that there might be no direct flow between a pair of wells that have a long-range
correlation, insofar as some of the well pairs with high correlations at long-range are separated by low permeability faults. Fig.
10 shows the map of permeability after 36 months of production/injection with the well rate correlation coefficients indicated
by the colour code of the circular well symbols. Due to the sliding induced dilation of fractures, more than two orders of
permeability enhancement were observed along the developed plastic shear zones on a grid-cell by grid-cell basis. Fig. 11
shows the flow velocity pattern of the reservoir at the end of month 36 with the same indicators of rate correlation coefficients.
It is apparent that the three wells showing highest positive rate correlations are related to a fast flow channel over a short
range. This study indicated that the interaction between deformation and permeability was likely to be the most important
mechanism for rate correlation in fractured/faulted reservoir rocks, and a dual-permeability model was essential to capture
such interaction.

Conclusions
Dual-permeability models have been developed on the basis of the proposed fracture models, which were used to investigate
the interaction between pressure change and permeability evolution in an areal waterflooding model. Such modeling revealed
the ongoing interaction between pressure, rate, permeability, and deformation in a fractured reservoir. This approach has been
used to assist in the design of an optimal waterflooding scheme. This example shows that fracture sliding induced permeability
enhancement can be a dominant mechanism controlling the interaction, which can be simulated with a dual permeability
model. The stress direction has an important effect on the evolution of fracture permeability. The sliding of faults can induce
significant permeability enhancement of the fractures around the faults, which demonstrates the impact of fault presence on
reservoir deformation and performance. Long-range rate correlations were predominantly related to geomechanical links;
short-range rate correlations were mainly related to high permeable channels.
8 SPE 148078

Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank our colleagues Chee Phuat Tan and Jennifer Smith for reviewing the manuscript and
acknowledge Schlumberger for permission to publish this paper.

Nomenclature
Kf = permeability of fracture
Km = permeability of matrix
Kfi = fracture permeability component in i direction
Kfj = fracture permeability component in j direction
Kfk = fracture permeability component in k direction
Kmi = matrix permeability component in i direction
Kmj = matrix permeability component in j direction
Kmk = matrix permeability component in k direction
σm = sigma factor
Af = the equivalent fracture area in a grid-cell
Pf = the pore pressure within a fracture
σn = the normal stress acting on a fracture surface
τ = the shear stress acting on a fracture surface
φ = the friction angle of a fracture surface
q = the flow rate throughout a fracture
Gp = the pressure gradient along the flow channel of a fracture
a = the aperture of a fracture
μ = the dynamic viscosity of fluid
SH = the maximum horizontal stress

References
Bush, I. 2010. An integrated approach to fracture characterization. Oil Review Middle East, Issue Two.
Koutsabeloulis, N.C. and Hope, S.A. 1998. Coupled stress/fluid/thermal multi-phase reservoir simulation studies incorporating rock
mechanics. Paper SPE 47393 presented at the SPE/ISRM Rock Mechanics in Petroleum Engineering Conference, Trondheim, Norway, 8–10
July. DOI: 10.2118/47393-MS.
Lamb, H. 1932. Hydrodynamics, sixth edition. New York: Dover Publications.
Witherspoon, P.A., Wang, J.S.Y., Iwai, K., and Gale, J.E. 1980. Validity of cubic law for fluid flow in a deformable fracture. Water
Resources Research, 16, 1016–1024.
Zhang, X., Koutsabeloulis, N.C., and Heffer, K.J. 2007. Hydro-mechanical modeling of critically stressed and faulted reservoirs. American
Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, 91, 31–50.
Zhang, X. and Koutsabeloulis, N.C. 2010. Estimate of permeability of fracture corridors/networks: From data acquisition to reservoir
simulations. Paper SPE 131218 presented at the International Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition in China, Beijing, China, 8–10 June.
DOI: 10.2118/131218-MS.
Zhang, X., and Sanderson, D. 2002. Numerical Modeling and Analysis of Fluid Flow and Deformation of Fractured Rock Masses, 300 pp,
Pergamon, Oxford, UK.
SPE 148078 9

Fig. 9—Long-range rate correlations, which are marked on the plastic shear strain pattern ranging between 0 and 0.02. Long-range
rate correlations are likely to occur near the plastic zones (the major faults and the created plastic shear bands of sliding fractures).
This indicates that long-rage rate correlations are related to geomechanical links. The distance between geomechanically correlated
well pairs is much longer than that between hydraulically correlated well pairs. As shown in Fig. 11. P/P indicates a correlation
between producers; I/I indicates a correlation between injectors; P/I indicates a correlation between producer and injector.

Fig. 10—Correlation coefficients superimposed on the permeability map after 36 months of production/injection. Due to the sliding
induced dilation of fractures, more than two orders of permeability enhancement were observed along the developed plastic shear
zones on a grid-cell by grid-cell basis.
10 SPE 148078

Fig. 11—Correlation coefficients superimposed on the flow velocity pattern ranging between 0.1E-8 and 0.1E-4 (m/s). It is apparent
that short-range rate correlations are strongly related to the presence of fast flow channels and such channels are sub-parallel to the
maximum horizontal principal stress. The short-range rate correlations occur between adjacent injectors and producers, which result
from direct hydraulic links.