Darcy’s Law

TYPES OF FLUIDS
In general, reservoir fluids are classified into three groups:

• Incompressible fluids
• Slightly compressible fluids
• Compressible fluids

1- Incompressible fluids
An incompressible fluid is defined as the fluid whose volume (or
density) does not change with pressure.

C= the isothermal compressibility coefficient

The isothermal compressibility coefficient is essentially the controlling

factor in identifying the type of the reservoir fluids.
 2- Slightly compressible fluids
These slightly compressible fluids exhibit small changes in volume, or
density, with changes in pressure.

changes in the volumetric behavior of this fluid as a function of pressure

p can be mathematically described by.
3-Compressible Fluids
These are fluids that experience large changes in volume as a function
of pressure. All gases are considered compressible fluids
the isothermal compressibility of any compressible fluid is described by
the following expression:

RESERVOIR GEOMETRY
The shape of a reservoir has a significant effect on its flow behavior. For
many engineering purposes, however, the actual flow geometry may be
represented by one of the following flow geometries:

• Radial flow
• Linear flow
• Spherical and hemispherical flow

Radial Flow
The flow into or away from a wellbore will follow radial flow lines.
Because fluids move toward the well from all directions and coverage at
the wellbore.
 Linear Flow
Linear flow occurs when flow paths are parallel and the fluid flows in a
single direction. In addition, the cross sectional area to flow must be constant.
Spherical and Hemispherical Flow
Depending upon the type of wellbore completion configuration, it is
possible to have a spherical or hemispherical flow near the wellbore. A
well with a limited perforated interval could result in spherical flow in
the vicinity of the perforations as illustrated in Figure 6-7. A well that
only partially penetrates the pay zone, as shown in Figure 6-8, could
result in hemispherical flow.
Darcy’s Law
.
The mathematical expression developed by Henry Darcy in 1856 states
the velocity of a homogeneous fluid in a porous medium is proportional
to the pressure gradient and inversely proportional to the fluid viscosity.

Darcy’s Law applies only when the following conditions exist

• Linear flow of incompressible fluids
• Linear flow of slightly compressible fluids
• Linear flow of compressible fluids
• Radial flow of incompressible fluids
• Radial flow of slightly compressible fluids
• Radial flow of compressible fluids
• Multiphase flow
Darcy designed a filter to describe fluid flow through
a porous medium.

This law, in its simple differential form, is:

………..1
 1- Linear flow of incompressible fluids

The apparent velocity is

………..2

the actual fluid velocity

… ………. ..3

where q is the volumetric flow rate (cm3/sec) and A is the cross-

sectional area perpendicular to flow direction (cm2).
Combining Equations 1 and 2 yields:

………..4

Integrating between limits 0 and L, and p1 and p2, one obtains

the following expression for the volumetric flow rate:

……………5

……………6

equation (6) is written in the fundamental units that define the Darcy
unit.

To Transforming it into the commonly used oilfield units, such that

A 10 cm long cylindrical core sample was subjected to a laboratory
linear flow test under a pressure differential of 3.4 atm using a fluid of
viscosity of 2.5 cP. The diameter of the core is 4 cm. A flow rate of 0.35
cc/s was obtained. Calculate the permeability of this core sample.

The permeability of the core sample according to the fundamental units

that define the Darcy unit.

To convert the data to oil field units

2 - Linear Flow of Slightly Compressible Fluids

the relationship between pressure and volume for slightly compressible

fluid is :

The above equation can be modified and written in terms of flow rate as:

where qref is the flow rate at some reference pressure pref ,Substituting
the above relationship in Darcy’s equation gives:
Separating the variables and integrating give

where qref = flow rate at a reference pressure pref, bbl/day

p1 = upstream pressure, psi
Selecting the upstream pressure p1 as the reference pressure pref and
substituting in Equation 6-19 gives the flow rate at Point 1 as