Unsteady-State and

Pseudosteady-State
Flow

BY :
NARUMI NURUL ANNISA
YUMAS CITRA RESMI
WINDYA PUTRI
RIKA BUDI NOVIAWATI
CHYNTIA BILQISH
I KADEK GERARDAVE
SYAIFUL AZIZ
GUSRIAN
DIMAS IRFANA

Definition

Unsteady- state flow is flow that occurs while the rates

and/or
the
pressure
are
changing
with
time.
Consequently, it covers all reservoir flow, except for the
specific situation when the rates and pressure do not
change with time.

A complete understanding of unsteady- state flow is

necessary for any competent reservoir engineer. It is the
backbone of such useful techniques as pressure-buildup
analysis, drawdown analysis, interference tests, reservoir
boundary delineation, prediction of water encroachment,
prediction of disposal- well behavior , gas-well tests, and
drilldtem-test (DST) analysis

Physical Description
The time effect of the production and the fact that it takes some
period of time before the entire reservoir is affected are one of the
concepts with which engineers have the most trouble. Consequently,
we will try to examine this concept in different ways to gain a
physical understanding of the phenomena.
Physically, this procss requires time so the pressure effect can move
across the reservoir. Note that as the pressure effect moves out into
the reservoir, it continues to have a smaller effect on the pressure of
each subsequent reservoir segment as the segment raii increase.
The increase in radius causes an increase in the segment size, and
thus, a larger amount of fluid withdrawal is required to obtain the
same pressure drop. Also,note that as the radius increases, the
crossectional area, 2rh or A in the darcy equation, increases and
the pressure gradient
decreases correspondingly.

Radial Diffusivity Equation

Whereas steady-state flow is governed by very simple

equations, unsteady-state flow is best described by a
partial- differential equation known as the radial
diffusivity equation:

When written in a finite- difference form, the equation is

much more meaningful to most engineers:

Constant- terminal-rate
solution

The constant- terminal rate solution is by far the most

useful of the two general solutions to the radial diffusivity
equation. It is an integral part of pressure- buildup
analyses,
interference
tests,
drawdown
analyses,
isochronal tests of gas wells, and many other important
reservoir analysis techniques.

Pseudosteady-state flow

Pseudosteady-state flow is actually the finite acting portion of

the constan- rate solution to the radial diffusivity equation.
Thus, it canbe analyzed by the same pressure- function
solution described for the constant- rate solution. However, this
case of the constant-rate solution lends itself to much simpler
equations and metods so it is importanat that we look at it as a
special case. Although this flow is recognized as a special case,
it appears that most reservoirs spend more of their history in
the pseudosteady state than in any other flow regime.

Constant-Terminal-Pressure
Solution
In the constant-rate solution the rate is known to

be
constant at some part of the reservoir, and the pressure
calculated throughout the reservoir. Conversely, in the
constant-terminal-pressure solution the pressure is
known to be constant at some point in the reservoir and
the cumulative flow at any particular time across the
subject radius can be evaluated.

The constant-pressure solution takes the form of a

relationship between the reduced time and the reduced
cumulative flow, Q.

Constant-Terminal-Pressure
Solution
Recognizing that for a constant P the rate,q, varies. We could

define the cumulative flow at any time as ;

Thus, comparing Eqs 3.51 and 3.55, we see that :

Remember that Eqs 3.56 must be applied by superposition.

Consequently, The relationship is not as simple as it may appear.

Constant-Terminal-Pressure
Solution

The application of the constant-pressure solution is

similar to that of constant-rate data. The reduced time is
based on the radius at which the cumulative flow is
desired and at which the constant pressure is known. The
reduced time values also incorporates the time which the
cumulative flow is desired.

Effective Compressibility

Compressibility has previously referred to as simply

water, oil, or gas compressibility.

By referring to the derivation of the radial diffusivity

equation, we see that value required for the
compressibility of a system is the amount of fluid forced
from a unit pore volume for 1.0 psi of pressure drop. If
the pore volume is occupied 100% by one fluid and
remains
constant,
we
would
evaluate
only
the
compressibility of the one fluid, which would be the
effective compressibility.

Effective Compressibility

As the reservoir pressure is depleted by production, the

rock pressure or overburden pressure remains unchanged.
Although the overburden is supported almost entirely by
the mechanical strength of the rock, it is also supported to
a small extent by the pressure in the pores

Effective Compressibility

The formation compressibility should not be confused

with the change in pore volume that often accompanies
the production from a reservoir with an initial reservoir
pressure similar to the rock pressure. The pore volume
change usually equal to the production. This phenomena
usually is observed in reservoir gas.

Superposition

If we were limited in our practical application of the

constant-rate
and
constant-pressure
solutions
to
situations in which we simply had one well producing
from a reservoir at a constant pressure, the two solutions
to the radial diffusivity equation would hardly be
worthwhile. However, using the concept of superposition,
we can account for the effects of producing from more
than one well and for the effects of rate and pressure
changes. We can even extend the use of infinite-acting
solutions by artificially setting up boundary conditions.
The concept of superposition is not the product of
reservoir engineering. The same technique is applied to
many equations governing energy mass transfer.

Superposition

Linear Unsteady-State Flow

Linear unsteady flow fundamentals are seldom needed in

petroleum reservoir engineering. Common practice is to
produce low permeability gas reservoirs using a very
large artificial fracture treatmen known as MHF. The
fracture provides a combination of circumtances that
leads to linear unsteady state flow when the well is first
to put on production or is shut in.

Spherical Unsteady State

Flow

Spherical or hemispherical flow often prevails a long

enough period so flow geometry characteristics may be
discornible and in many cases useful. Spherical or
hemispherical flow occurs when only a small portion of
the reservoir thickness is perforated. This situations may
result when botton water or gas cap gas is to be avoided.
Use of a sidewall fluid sample that involves one
perforation may also result in spherical flow.