Reservoir Engineering 2 Course (1st Ed.

)
1. Water Influx Models
A. The Pot Aquifer Model
B. Schilthuis SS Model
C. Hursts Modified SS Model
1. mathematical Water Influx models;
A. The van Everdingen-Hurst Unsteady-State Model
a. Edge-Water Drive
I. computational steps for We at successive intervals
Water influx
into a cylindrical reservoir
The mathematical
formulations that
describe
the flow of a crude oil
system into a wellbore
are identical in form
to those equations that
describe the flow of
water from an aquifer
into a cylindrical
reservoir,
as shown schematically
in the Figure.

Spring14 H. AlamiNia Reservoir Engineering 2 Course (1st Ed.) 5

The dimensionless form
of the diffusivity equation
When an oil well is brought on production at a
constant flow rate after a shut-in period,
the pressure behavior is essentially controlled by the
transient (unsteady-state) flowing condition.
This flowing condition is defined as the time period during
which the boundary has no effect on the pressure behavior.
The dimensionless form of the diffusivity equation,
is basically the general mathematical equation that
is designed to model the transient flow behavior in
reservoirs or aquifers.

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Van Everdingen and Hurst (1949)
solutions
Van Everdingen and Hurst (1949) proposed
solutions to the dimensionless diffusivity equation
for the two reservoir-aquifer boundary conditions:
Constant terminal rate
For the constant-terminal-rate boundary condition,
the rate of water influx is assumed constant for a given period;
and the pressure drop at the reservoir-aquifer boundary
is calculated.
Constant terminal pressure
For the constant-terminal-pressure boundary condition,
a boundary pressure drop is assumed constant
over some finite time period,
and the water influx rate is determined.

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Constant terminal pressure solution
In the description of water influx from an aquifer
into a reservoir, there is greater interest
in calculating the influx rate rather than the pressure.
This leads to the determination of the water influx
as a function of a given pressure drop
at the inner boundary of the reservoir-aquifer system.
Van Everdingen and Hurst solved the diffusivity
equation for the aquifer-reservoir system by applying
the Laplace transformation to the equation.
The authors solution can be used to determine the
water influx in the following systems:
Edge-water-drive system (radial system)
Bottom-water-drive system
Linear-water-drive system

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an idealized radial flow system
representing an edge-water-drive

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an idealized radial flow system
representing an edge-water-drive
In previous slide:
The inner boundary is defined as the interface between
the reservoir and the aquifer.
The flow across this inner boundary is considered
horizontal and encroachment occurs across a cylindrical
plane encircling the reservoir.
With the interface as the inner boundary,
it is possible to impose a constant terminal pressure
at the inner boundary and
determine the rate of water influx across the interface.

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Van Everdingen and Hurst initial and
outer boundary conditions
Van Everdingen and Hurst proposed a solution to
the dimensionless diffusivity equation
that utilizes the constant terminal pressure condition in
addition to the following initial and outer boundary
conditions:
Initial conditions:
p = pi for all values of radius r
Outer boundary conditions
For an infinite aquifer p = pi at r =
For a bounded aquifer

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Van Everdingen and Hurst assumption
Van Everdingen and Hurst assumed that the aquifer
is characterized by:
Uniform thickness
Constant permeability (k=constant)
Uniform porosity (phi)
Constant rock compressibility
Constant water compressibility

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dimensionless water influx
The authors expressed solution to the diffusivity
their mathematical equation generalized and
relationship for calculating applicable
the water influx in a form to any aquifer where the
of a dimensionless flow of water into the
parameter that is called reservoir is essentially
dimensionless water influx radial.
WeD. The solutions were
They also expressed the derived for cases of
dimensionless water influx bounded aquifers and
as a function of aquifers of infinite extent.
the dimensionless time tD The authors presented
and their solution in tabulated
dimensionless radius rD, and graphical forms.
thus they made the
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Calculation of the dimensionless
parameters
The two dimensionless cf = compressibility of the
parameters tD and rD are aquifer formation, psi1
given by: ct = total compressibility
coefficient, psi1
The water influx is then given
by:

t = time, days
k = permeability of the aquifer,
md We = cumulative water influx,
bbl
= porosity of the aquifer
B = water influx constant,
w = viscosity of water in the bbl/psi
aquifer, cp
p = pressure drop at the
ra = radius of the aquifer, ft re boundary, psi
= radius of the reservoir, ft
WeD = dimensionless water
cw = compressibility of the influx
water, psi1

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Graphical form of Calculation of WeD
(Van Everdingen and Hurst)

WeD for several values of re/rR, i.e., ra/re. WeD for infinite aquifer.
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Tabulated form of Calculation of WeD
Infinite Aquifer (Everdingen and Hurst)

Spring14 H. AlamiNia Reservoir Engineering 2 Course (1st Ed.) 17

Tabulated form of Calculation of WeD
for Several Values of re/rR, i.e., ra/re

Spring14 H. AlamiNia Reservoir Engineering 2 Course (1st Ed.) 18

not circular water encroachment
We = B p WeD, Equation assumes that the water
is encroaching in a radial form. Quite often,
water does not encroach on all sides of the reservoir,
or the reservoir is not circular in nature.
In these cases, some modifications must be made
to properly describe the flow mechanism.
One of the simplest modifications is to introduce the
encroachment angle to the water influx constant B as:

is the angle subtended by the reservoir circumference,

i.e., for a full circle = 360 and
for semicircle reservoir against a fault =180.

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not circular water encroachment
schematics

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cumulative water influx calculation at
successive intervals
In order to determine the total water influx into a
reservoir at any given time, it is necessary to
determine the water influx as a result of each
successive pressure drop that has been imposed on
the reservoir and aquifer.
In calculating cumulative water influx into a
reservoir at successive intervals, it is necessary to
calculate the total water influx from the beginning.
This is required because of the different times during
which the various pressure drops have been effective.

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Illustration of the superposition
concept
The van
Everdingen-
Hurst
computational
steps for
determining
the water
influx
Section A
=step 1
Section B
=step 2
Section C
=step 3

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Everdingen-Hurst computational for
determining the water influx (Step1)
Assume that the boundary pressure has declined
from its initial value of pi to p1 after t1 days.
To determine the cumulative water influx in
response to this first pressure drop, p1 = pi p1
can be simply calculated:

We is the cumulative water influx due to the first

pressure drop p1.
The dimensionless water influx (WeD)t1 is evaluated by
calculating the dimensionless time at t1 days.

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Everdingen-Hurst computational for
determining the water influx (Step2)
Let the boundary pressure decline again to p2 after t2
days with a pressure drop of p2 = p1 p2.
The cumulative (total) water influx after t2 days will
result from the first pressure drop p1 and the second
pressure drop p2, or:
We = water influx due to p1 + water influx due to p2

The above relationships indicate that

the effect of the first pressure drop p1 will continue for the
entire time t2, while the effect of the second pressure drop
will continue only for (t2 t1) days.

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Everdingen-Hurst computational for
determining the water influx (Step3)
A third pressure drop of p3 = p2 p3 would cause
an additional water influx. The cumulative (total)
water influx can then be calculated from:

The van Everdingen-Hurst water influx relationship

can then be expressed in a more generalized form
as:

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pressure drop modification
The authors also suggested that
instead of using the entire pressure drop for the first period,
a better approximation is to consider that
one-half of the pressure drop, 12 (pi p1),
is effective during the entire first period.
For the second period, the effective pressure drop then is
one-half of the pressure drop during the first period,
12 (pi p2), which simplifies to:
12 (pi p1) + 12 (p1 p2) = 12 (pi p2)
Similarly, the effective pressure drop for use
in the calculations for the third period would be one-half of
the pressure drop during the second period,
12 (p1 p2), plus one-half of the pressure drop during the
third period, 12 (p2 p3), which simplifies to 12 (p1 p3).
The time intervals must all be equal in order to
preserve the accuracy of these modifications.

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Correlation for calculating WeD for
infinite-acting aquifers
Edwardson and coworkers (1962) developed three
sets of simple polynomial expressions for
calculating the dimensionless water influx WeD for
infinite-acting aquifers. The proposed three
expressions essentially approximate the WeD values
in three different dimensionless time regions.
For tD < 0.01
For 0.01 < tD < 200

For tD > 200

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1. Ahmed, T. (2010). Reservoir engineering
handbook (Gulf Professional Publishing).
Chapter 10
1. mathematical Water Influx models;
A. The van Everdingen-Hurst Unsteady-State Model
bottom-Water Drive
B. The Carter-Tracy Water Influx Model
C. Fetkovichs Method