Diffusitivity equation for gas flow

The diffusivity equation for liquids, Eq. 1,

RTENOTITLE....................(1)
was derived from three principles: conservation of mass, the equation of state f
or slightly compressible liquids, and Darcy s law. This form of the diffusivity eq
uation is linear, which makes solutions (such as theEi-function solution) much e
asier to find and which allows us to use superposition in time and space to deve
lop solutions for complex flow geometries and for variable rate histories from s
imple, single-well solutions.
Pseudopressure
Other forms of the equation for flow of gases must be developed because the equa
tion of state for a slightly compressible liquid will not be applicable. First,
introducing the real gas law,
RTENOTITLE....................(2)
to replace the slightly compressible equation of state results in a more complex
, nonlinear partial differential equation. This equation can be partially linear
ized by introducing the pseudopressure transformation, [1]
RTENOTITLE....................(3)
where p0 is an arbitrary "base" pressure, frequently chosen to be zero psia. The
resulting form of the diffusivity equation is
RTENOTITLE....................(4)
Eq. 4 has the same form as the diffusivity equation for slightly compressible li
quids, with pressure replaced by pseudopressure, pp. However, this equation is n
onlinear because the product ct is a strong function of pressure. Fortunately, re
search has shown that the equation can be treated as linear, and theEi-function
is valid for gases if ct is evaluated at the pressure at the beginning of a flow
period until the time when boundaries begin to have a significant influence on t
he pressure drop at the well; that is, as long as the reservoir is infinite-acti
ng.