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Microscale Numerical Simulation of Non-Darcy Flow of Coalbed Methane

  • Research Article - Petroleum Engineering
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Abstract

To obtain the real physical model characterizing the pore structure of coal rocks and further explore the rules governing the flow of coalbed methane (CBM) using numerical simulation, we proposed a sequential method from real coal model to computer-aided designed (CAD) coal model to finite element coal model. First, six different coal samples were scanned using \(\upmu \)CT225kVFCB CT system. The obtained CT data were subject to threshold segmentation using the compensated digital terrain model and a coal model in STL format was established. Then, we elaborated a reverse engineering method to convert the coal model into a CAD coal model. Lastly, we obtained the finite element coal model after setting the boundary conditions with CFX software, numerically simulated CBM flow at 30 different pressure gradients based on the finite element coal model and analyzed the impacts of effective porosity on permeability and seepage velocity of CBM. The results showed that (1) at the microscale (\({<}100\,\upmu \hbox {m}\)), the seepage velocity and pressure gradient were in agreement with the Forchheimer law of high-speed nonlinear seepage; (2) permeability of CBM shows a fluctuating, but not absolute increase with effective porosity increasing; (3) at the same pressure gradient, the overall seepage velocity of CBM increases with the effective porosity increasing, but declines with non-Darcy flow coefficient increasing; (4) the non-Darcy flow coefficient reduces with both effective porosity and permeability increasing. Fitting to power function analysis shows that compared with permeability, the effective porosity has more significant impact on the non-Darcy flow coefficient.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mine Disaster Prevention and Control-Ministry of State Key Laboratory Breeding Base, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266590, People’s Republic of China

    Gang Wang, Xiangyu Chu, Junnan Shen & Chenghao Jiang

  2. School of Mining and Petroleum Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, T6G2W2, Canada

    Xinxiang Yang

  3. Room 108, College of Mining and Safety Engineering, Shandong University of Science and Technology, 579 Qianwangang Rd, Huangdao District, Qingdao, 266510, People’s Republic of China

    Gang Wang

Authors
  1. Gang Wang
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  2. Xinxiang Yang
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  3. Xiangyu Chu
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  4. Junnan Shen
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Correspondence to Gang Wang.

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Wang, G., Yang, X., Chu, X. et al. Microscale Numerical Simulation of Non-Darcy Flow of Coalbed Methane. Arab J Sci Eng 43, 2547–2561 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13369-017-2802-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13369-017-2802-x

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