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Within fractured reservoirs, such as tight gas reservoir, coupled processes between matrix deformation and fluid flow are very important for predicting reservoir behavior, pore pressure evolution and fracture closure. To study the coupling between gas desorption and rock matrix/fracture deformation, a poroelastic constitutive relation is developed and used for deformation of gas shale. Local continuity equation of dry gas model is developed by considering the mass conservation of gas, including both free and absorbed phases. The absorbed gas content and the sorption-induced volumetric strain are described through a Langmiur-type equation. A general porosity model that differs from other empirical correlations in the literature is developed and utilized in a finite element model to coupled gas diffusion and rock mass deformation. The dual permeability method (DPM) is implemented into the Finite Element Model (FEM) to investigate fracture deformation and closure and its impact on gas flow in naturally fractured reservoir. Within the framework of DPM, the fractured reservoir is treated as dual continuum. Two independent but overlapping meshes (or elements) are used to represent these kinds of reservoirs: one is the matrix elements used for deformation and fluid flow within matrix domain; while the other is the fracture element simulating the fluid flow only through the fractures. Both matrix and fractures are assumed to be permeable and can accomodate fluid transported. A quasi steady-state function is used to quantify the flow that is transferred between rock mass and fractures. By implementing the idea of equivalent fracture permeability and shape-factor within the transfer function into DPM, the fracture geometry and orientation are numerically considered and the complexity of the problem is well reduced. Both the normal deformation and shear dilation of fractures are considered and the stress-dependent fracture aperture can be updated in time. Further, a non-linear numerical model is constructed by implementing a poroviscoelastic model into the dual permeability (DPM)-finite element model (FEM) to investigate the coupled time-dependent viscoelastic deformation, fracture network evolution and compressible fluid flow in gas shale reservoir. The viscoelastic effect is addressed in both deviatoric and symmetric effective stresses to emphasize the effect of shear strain localization on fracture shear dilation. The new mechanical model is first verified with an analytical solution in a simple wellbore creep problem and then compared with the poroelastic solution in both wellbore and field cases.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1988. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Newcastle, 2003. / School of Engineering. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 248-256). Also available online.