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NTNU
Department of Petroleum Engineering
and Applied Geophysics
Darcy
dimless
1/atm
cm
D
atm
dimless
cc/s
cm
s
cp
American
dimless
1/psi
ft
mD
psi
dimless
STB/Day
ft
h
cp
SI
dimless
1/Pa
m
m^2
Pa
dimless
m^3/s
m
s
Pas
To illustrate the advantage of a consistent unit system let us check the dimensional
consistency of the drawdown equation for radial flow:
pi pwf =
1.15q B
kt
+ 0.351 + 0.87 S
log
2
ct rw
2 kh
The units used for the SI unit system are listed table 1.
The units may be included in the equation. These are enclosed within square brackets
to distinguish them from the corresponding variable.
m3
1.15q [ Pa s] B
k m2 t [ s]
s
+
+
S
( pi pwf ) [ Pa] =
log
0.351
0.87
2
2
1
2 k m2 h [ m]
[ Pa s] ct Pa rw m
Inspection of the above equation will clarify the dimensional consistency of the
equation. By cancellation of common units, it becomes clear that the argument in the
logarithmic expression is dimensionless. By the same argument, the coefficient to the
parenthesis has the unit Pa which is the unit of pressure. The criterion for dimensional
consistency is that the left and right hand side of the equation is characterized by the
same unit. Thus the dimensional consistency of the equation is easily verified.
Dimensionless variables
The argument of the logarithmic term is a dimensionless function of time. The group
has been called dimensionless time.
tD =
kt
ct rw2
A dimensionless pressure group may be defined in the same way. The ratio of the
pressure drawdown, pwf, to the pressure group on the right hand side of the
equation is obviously dimensionless. Hence a dimensionless pressure function, pDfunction, may be defined as:
pD =
2 kh
pwf
q B
As an example we select the drawdown equation for radial flow in Darcy units. These
are listed in Table 1.:
pi pwf =
1.15q B
kt
+ 0.351 + 0.87 S
log
2
2 kh
ct rw
As noted previously, all the constants in the above equation are dimensionless.
We recognize the argument of the logarithmic term as dimensionless time. The first
task is to calculate dimensionless time in American Field Units.
From any table of conversion factors, the following relations may be obtained:
1 [ atm ] = 14.7 [ psi ]
1
1 cm3 =
[bbl ]
15900
1 [ D ] = 1000 [ mD ]
1 [ cm ] = 1/30.48
1 [s] =
1
[h]
3600
[ ft ]
k [ D]t [ s]
[ cp ] ct atm 1 rw2 cm 2
The inclusion of the units highlights the disadvantage of any practical unit system. By
inspection of the units alone, it is not obvious that the group on the right hand side of
the above equation is dimensionless.
Next we introduce the American field units in the dimensionless time. With each
variable we associate a conversion constant with the objective of converting the
practical unit back to the corresponding Darcy unit.
1 D
s
t
h
3600
[
]
h
0.000264k [ mD ] t [ h ]
1000 mD
=
tD =
2
psi 2
[ cp ] ct psi 1 rw2 ft 2
1
2
2 cm
[ cp ] ct psi 14.7
rw ft 30.48 2
atm
ft
k [ mD ]
It may seem like a paradox that dimensional time involves all the units listed above.
The reason that the group is dimensionless is that the constant, 0.000264, involves a
complicated expression of units that will make the group dimensionless.
The equation for dimensional time is correctly (since it is dimensionless) presented
without the confusing units. Then the equation becomes:
tD =
0.000264kt
ct rw2
The next objective is to convert the coefficient to the logarithmic term by the same
procedure. Including the Darcy units in the equation:
cm3
1.15q
[ cp ] B
s
2 k [ D ] h [ cm ]
Substitution of the conversion constants yields:
cm3
STB
1
Day
[ cp ] B 11.061 q STB [ cp ] B
0.183 q
159000
Day
STB 24 3600 s
D
=
k [ mD ] h [ ft ]
cm
1 D
k [ mD ]
h [ ft ] 30.48
1000 mD
ft
The last term to convert is the pressure drawdown on the left hand side of the
equation.
pwf [ psi ]
1 atm
= 0.068pwf [ psi ]
14.7 psi
Substitution of the above expressions into the original drawdown equation yields:
pi pwf =
162.6q B 0.000264kt
log
+ 0.351 + 0.87 S
2
kh
crw
In the same way one may convert the dimensionless pressure group to find
pD =
0.0071kh
pwf
q B
Conclusion