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Improvements to the Fracture Pipe Network Model for Complex 3D Discrete Fracture Networks
Author(s) -
Wang Chenhui,
Wu Kejian,
Scott Gilbert
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
water resources research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.863
H-Index - 217
eISSN - 1944-7973
pISSN - 0043-1397
DOI - 10.1029/2020wr029450
Subject(s) - fracture (geology) , flow (mathematics) , fluid dynamics , current (fluid) , porous medium , complex fracture , network model , benchmarking , computer science , mechanics , pipe network analysis , geology , petroleum engineering , porosity , topology (electrical circuits) , geotechnical engineering , mathematics , data mining , physics , oceanography , marketing , combinatorics , business
Fractures widely present in the subsurface and play a critical role in the fluid flow processes in porous media. The Fracture Pipe Network Model (FPNM) is an efficient method to represent and calculate fluid flow properties as a particular part of Discrete Fracture Networks (DFNs) method compared to direct numerical simulations. However, the current FPNM formulation can result in large deviations in computed fluid flow properties when applied to complex interconnected DFNs, although it can produce good results for simple DFNs. To enhance the performance and versatility of current FPNMs, four modifications to the FPNM formulation are introduced from different perspectives to improve the accuracy of pipe conductance assignment and ensure the correct topology of the fracture network. Two benchmarking examples with complex interconnected fractures and two real fractured samples are presented and the results show the modifications significantly improve the accuracy of computed fluid flow properties in complex DFNs.