Radial permeability of fractured porous media by Monte Carlo simulations

The plane-radial seepage flow toward a well in fractured porous media is of pivotal importance for oil/water reservoir engineering. According to the fractal scaling laws of size distributions of fractures in naturally fractured porous media, a probability model is developed for radial flow in fractured porous media by fractal theory and Monte Carlo technique. The current numerical model, which was validated by comparison with an analytical model, shows that the effective radial permeability of fracture systems is an explicit function of geometrical parameters of the well and the size distributions of fractures. It is found that the effective radial permeability decreases rapidly with increasing radial distance, and the planar macroscopic porosity and fractal dimension of fractures on the well-rock interface show a significant effect on the effective permeability. The proposed Monte Carlo simulation technique has advantages compared with conventional numerical methods and may have the potential for prediction of other transport properties in fractured porous media. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.