Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, 1 (1988) 271-275 271

Elsevier Science Publishers B.V., Amsterdam - - Printed in The Netherlands

A NEW DERIVATIVE TYPE-CURVE FOR PRESSURE BUILDUP

ANALYSIS WTTH BOUNDARY EFFECTS

S. MISHRA and H.J. RAMEY, Jr.

Center for Environmental and Hazardous Materials Studies, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 332
Smyth Hall, Blacksburg, VA 24061 (U.S.A.)

Department of Petroleum Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305 (U.S.A.)

(Accepted for publication February 29, 1988)

Abstract

Mishra, S. and Ramey, H.J., Jr., 1988. A new derivative type-curve for pressure buildup analysis with boundary
effects. J. Pet. Sci. Eng., 1:

This study investigates pressure buildup behavior of wells with wellbore storage and skin in bounded circular
reservoirs,when inner and outer boundary effectsinteract to fullyor partiallydominate the well pressure response.
Using dimensionless pressure derivative as the dependent variable,we show that early time response is governed by
CDe 2s and latetime response by r2D/CD . Equations are provided to estimate the limitsof the intermediate time period,
which corresponds to infiniteacting radial flow and a semi-log straight line on a pressure-time graph. W e present a
new buildup derivative type-curve, incorporating inner boundary (early-time) and outer boundary (late-time) ef-
fects.Applications of this type -curve in buildup test design and interpretation are discussed.

Introduction In this study, we expand upon the work of

For a well with wellbore storage and skin and
producing from a bounded reservoir, it is pos-
sible for inner and outer boundary effects to in-
teract and dominate the well pressure response.
Chen and Brigham (1978) investigated condi-
tions under which such interference might ob-
scure the semi-log straight line, corresponding
to infinite acting radial flow, on a H o m e r
buildup graph (Horner, 1951 ). It was found that
this could occur even for small values of well-
bore storage coefficient in reasonably sized
drainage areas. However, they observed that a
semi-log straight line with 5-10% error in slope
could be found in almost all cases.
Chen and Brigham (1978) to identify condi-
tions under which the inner and outer bound-
ary combine to dominate the well pressure
response. A second objective is to develop a
general buildup type curve incorporating inner
and outer boundary effects.
Theory
The dimensionless wellbore pressure re-
sponse during drawdown for a well with storage
and damage may be expressed using the con-
volution theorem as (van Everdingen and
Hurst, 1949):

0920-4105/88/$03.50 © 1988 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V.

272
PwD ( tD ) = 2nkh (Pi -Pw0
qz
=L-l( - ~ )
CD12 -t-
Here, L - 1 is the inverse Laplace transform op-
erator, I the Laplace space variable, S the skin
factor, tD the dimensionless time defined as:
kt
tD -- O~tct r 2
and CD the dimensionless wellbore storage
coefficient defined by:
C Correlations
CD -- 27~0Ct hr~
In eq. 1,/~D is the appropriate reservoir model
in Laplace space, and for the case of a well
draining from the center of a closed circle, it is
given as (van Everdingen and Hurst, 1949):
1 [Ko(x/-l)Ii(reDxffl)+Io(xfll)Kl(reDx/~l) 1
where In and Kn are modified Bessel functions,
of order n, of the first and second kind, respec-
tively, and reD is the dimensionless outer radius
ro/rw.
Defining the dimensionless buildup pressure
as:
PD~(AtD) = 2nkh (Pw~--Pwf)
qP
we obtain, from eq. 1, by superposition:
PDs (AtD) =PwD ( tpD ) -I-PwD (AtD)
--PwD (tpD +AtD)
where AtD is the dimensionless shut-in time and
tpD the dimensionless producing time. Eq. 6 is
used for computing buildup pressure response.
Appropriate PwD terms are calculated by sub-
stituting eq. 4 in eq. 1, and then numerically
inverting the Laplace space solution with the
algorithm of Stehfest (1970).
In the recent literature, use of the pressure
derivative has been shown to enhance the pres-
(1) sure response signal (e.g., Bourdet et al., 1984 ).
Hence, pressure derivative, rather than pres-
sure, is chosen as the dependent variable in this
work. The dimensionless buildup derivative
group is defined as:
, %Ds 2~kh d(pw~- p w 0 (7)
pDSmdln--~-D)- qlL din(At)
(2) and is easily seen to be the slope of a dimen-
sionless MDH buildup graph (Miller et al.,
1950).
(3)
For large producing times such that tpD> tDpss,
Ramey and Cobb (1971) show that, for a given
system, all dimensionless MDH buildup graphs
are identical. This observation facilitates elim-
inating producing time effects from our analy-
sis. Under these conditions, we examined
dimensionless buildup behavior for several
combinations of CD, S and reD and found that
(4) two parameters are sufficient to correlate the
buildup response when Pbs is graphed as a
function of z~tD/C D. The early-time behavior,
reflecting inner boundary (wellbore storage and
skin) effects, is controlled by the group CDe2.~.
Late-time data, influenced by outer boundary
effects, are correlatable with FeD/C
2 D. Fig. 1
demonstrates the appropriateness of these cor-
relating parameters for a variety of conditions.
(5)
Such behavior suggests that the overall pres-
sure response may be approximated by super-
posing the independent effects of (a) a well with
storage and skin in an infinite system, (b) a
well without storage and skin in a finite system.
(6) This logic is similar to that used by Bourdet
and Gringarten (1980) in generating their dou-
ble-porosity system type-curves, and forms the
basis for developing the new type-curve.
It should be pointed out that the use of CDe '23
as a correlating parameter for wellbore storage
 273

I0
I I I I I
¢

CURVE CDe2S r~D/C D

103 106
107 105
1010 104

"o

"o
o

0.1
CURVE SYHBOL

A
CD

10
S

2.3
reD

3162.3
\
l
* 100 1.1 10000,
+ I00O 0.0 31623.

B 10 6.9 1000.0
* 100 5.8 3162.3
+ 1000 4.6 10000.

C 100 9.2 1000.0

* 1000 8.1 3162.3
+ 10000 6.9 10000.

0.01 I I I I I
I I0 IO0 I 000 10000 le + 0 5 le+06
AID/C D
Fig. 1. Validationof CDe2s and r2eD/CDas correlatingparameters.

dominated pressure data was first theoretically
justified by Bourdet and Gringarten (1980).
Moreover, since the onset of outer boundary ef-
fects can be correlated with tD/re2D for draw-
down data, the use of AtD/CD as the time group
intuitively suggests re2D/CD a s the late-time
correlating parameter for buildup data. These
choices have been validated for buildup deriv-
ative data in Fig. 1.
whether the semi-log straight line will develop
or not on a pressure-time graph. On the type-
curve of Fig. 2, the semi-log straight line is
equivalent to apb8 value of 0.50.
Since the semi-log straight line is integral to
conventional analysis of buildup pressure data,
it is useful to specify its limits. By examining
the behavior o f p ~ as it approaches (and de-
viates from) the value of 0.50, we find that:

A new type-curve AtD

CD Ibegin'~3010g(CDe2s) (8)
Fig. 2 shows the buildup derivative type-curve AtD r~D
developed in this study. The dimensionless de- CD ]end"~IO~D (9)
rivative group Pb8 is graphed as a function of
the time group AtD/CD on log-log coordinates. Conditions under which boundary effects
As mentioned earlier, the early and late time might dominate the well pressure response can
correlating parameters a r e CDe2s and reD/eD,
2 also be quantitatively established. Defining in-
respectively. The intermediate time period re- terference between inner and outer boundary
flects the degree of interference between inner to be such that less than half a log-cycle of semi-
and outer boundary effects, which determines log straight line is present, we have:
274

I00
I I I I I I I

IC130

I0

i-

0.

0.1

0.01
0.1 I I0 I00 I000 10000 le+05 l e+06 le+07

Ato/C o

Fig. 2. New buildup derivative type-curve.

laid on Fig. 2 and a match is obtained for the

CD [ end < 100"5 [begin
Substitution from eqs. 8 and 9 then yields:
r2eD/CD
log(CDe2s ) > 10000
as the limiting condition for a semi-log straight
line to develop on an MDH buildup graph.
Applications
The type-curve presented in Fig. 2 can be used
for buildup test design and interpretation. In
test design, an often sought information is the
duration of the semi-log straight line. Based on
a-priori estimates of wellbore/reservoir param-
eters, this can be calculated using eqs. 8 and 9.
For interpretation, field data is plotted on
log-log paper with d (Pws-Pwf)/d (log/It) on the
y-axis and At on the x-axis. This is then over-
(10) entire c u r v e . CDe 28 and reD/Cr~
2 are read-off as
the parameters of the early and late time match,
respectively. Permeability-thickness is ob-
tained from the pressure match. CD can be cal-
culated from the early-time line of unit-slope
(11)
on the log-log graph, and then both reD and S
can be estimated.
This procedure can be useful when the semi-
log straight line has been obscured by interfer-
ence between inner and outer boundary effects,
in which case a conventional semi-log analysis
or a type-curve analysis based on existing stor-
age and skin type-curves may not work.
Summary
We have presented a new buildup derivative
type-curve for wells with storage and damage
in bounded circular reservoirs. Equations for
estimating the beginning and end of the proper
 275

semi-log straight line o n a n M D H buildup g r a p h porosity

/t viscosity(cp)
are provided. T h e t y p e - c u r v e s h o u l d be useful
in buildup t e s t design a n d i n t e r p r e t a t i o n for
s i t u a t i o n s w h e n i n n e r a n d o u t e r b o u n d a r y ef- References
fects i n t e r a c t to fully or p a r t i a l l y d o m i n a t e t h e
well p r e s s u r e response.
Bourdet, D. and Gringarten, A.C., 1980. Determination of
fissure volume and block size in fractured reservoirs by
Acknowledgements
type curve analysis. Paper SPE 9293 presented at the
SPE 55th Annual Fall Technical Conference and Ex-
We thank Stanford University, Stanford hibition, Dallas, Sept. 21-24.
C e n t e r for R e s e r v o i r F o r e c a s t i n g a n d S t a n f o r d Bourdet, D., Ayoub, J.A. and Pirard, Y.M., 1984. Use of
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S P E 12777 presented at the California Regional Meet-
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Technol., Jan., pp. 141-146.
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tD~ dimensionless time to pseudo-steady state ervoirs.Trans. AIME, 186: 305-324.