Microscale Analysis for Gas-water Two-Phase Flow in Dual-porosity Shale Matrix Based on Integrated Modeling of Transport Phenomena

Microscale Analysis for Gas-water Two-Phase Flow in Dual-porosity Shale Matrix Based on Integrated Modeling of Transport Phenomena | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Microscale Analysis for Gas-water Two-Phase Flow in Dual-porosity Shale Matrix Based on Integrated Modeling of Transport Phenomena Rui Yang, Tianran Ma, Dachao Qi, Yanyan Wu, Duhong Zhou This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8955081/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Gas-water two-phase flow within shale matrix plays a critical role in shale gas production and directly affects gas recovery and fracturing-fluid flowback. This study develops a novel theoretical model for gas-water two-phase flow in shale matrix based on a dual pore-system framework that distinguishes organic and inorganic pore networks. The model integrates multiple fluid-transport mechanisms, accounts for the gas diffusion attenuation, incorporates the effect of irreducible water saturation, and represents pore-structure complexity using fractal descriptions. Model predictions are validated against multiple independent experimental datasets and are further applied to simulate microscale gas-water transport during shale gas production. Simulation results show that gas apparent permeability is higher at the later stage of recovery and near the boundary of the matrix, whereas water apparent permeability is higher at the early stage of recovery and in the central region of the matrix. Diffusion attenuation, irreducible water saturation, and capillary effects strongly limit fluid extraction from the shale matrix, leading to substantial retention of both gas and water. Neglecting diffusion attenuation in organic pores results in an overestimation of matrix gas production by approximately 80%. Increasing irreducible water saturation reduces the effective pore space and lowers the apparent permeability of both phases. Additionally, higher fractal dimensions of pore size distribution and pore tortuosity reduce gas-water apparent permeability, owing to decreased average pore size and increased flow-path length, respectively. This study provides a quantitative framework for describing gas-water two-phase transport in shale matrix and offers new insights into the coupled processes governing shale gas recovery. Energy Engineering Mechanical Engineering Gas-water two phase Shale matrix Permeability Diffusion Fractal Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8955081","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":596160874,"identity":"86a0f1e8-c41c-4368-a5e2-b6120a9f78c7","order_by":0,"name":"Rui Yang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Rui","middleName":"","lastName":"Yang","suffix":""},{"id":596161212,"identity":"c8a85792-b928-443d-847d-698cb7e9e1c7","order_by":1,"name":"Tianran Ma","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Tianran","middleName":"","lastName":"Ma","suffix":""},{"id":596161213,"identity":"83a68796-97b1-4a50-940d-81a79e512756","order_by":2,"name":"Dachao Qi","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Dachao","middleName":"","lastName":"Qi","suffix":""},{"id":596161214,"identity":"17476835-2ae9-4286-acb5-ead763609a01","order_by":3,"name":"Yanyan Wu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yanyan","middleName":"","lastName":"Wu","suffix":""},{"id":596161215,"identity":"05152d38-ce22-4063-9de3-79947b3c616f","order_by":4,"name":"Duhong Zhou","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAuUlEQVRIie3QsQrCMBCA4QuBcwl2vcn6CBEH9W3SqUvdO0lAyCQ+gr6Fc4LQqeIDuAR8Ace6iHFx9UaH/BDIkA/uApDL/WE6HV+9aIKjrWcTESMu52PVGTaRs4htdaBmyiOLwiMZRbWDBmBoT7/Jyn4I0drBxYtdf2MMFmwiOhGxN1I4DjlDIoZqlEozSQdSG08GkU369MmVpZlTaAJvl6uH8LSbsjzeQxxaBgEoHt+r57zP5XK5HKM35bw3mjv178EAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Duhong","middleName":"","lastName":"Zhou","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-02-24 09:02:22","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":{"humanSubjects":false,"vertebrateSubjects":false,"conflictsOfInterestStatement":false,"humanSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false,"humanSubjectConsent":false,"humanSubjectClinicalTrial":false,"humanSubjectCaseReport":false,"vertebrateSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false},"doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8955081/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8955081/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":103507639,"identity":"deb8eb2e-5f4d-4dc5-a21d-7da44e5e1cd3","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-02-26 13:42:44","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":3100750,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"ManuscriptActa.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8955081/v1_covered_767994d2-4ca8-43ee-ad9a-6e4f8472529c.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"The authors declare no competing interests.","formattedTitle":"\u003cp\u003eMicroscale Analysis for Gas-water Two-Phase Flow in Dual-porosity Shale Matrix Based on Integrated Modeling of Transport Phenomena\u003c/p\u003e","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"Shandong University of Science and Technology","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Gas-water two phase, Shale matrix, Permeability, Diffusion, Fractal","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8955081/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8955081/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eGas-water two-phase flow within shale matrix plays a critical role in shale gas production and directly affects gas recovery and fracturing-fluid flowback. This study develops a novel theoretical model for gas-water two-phase flow in shale matrix based on a dual pore-system framework that distinguishes organic and inorganic pore networks. The model integrates multiple fluid-transport mechanisms, accounts for the gas diffusion attenuation, incorporates the effect of irreducible water saturation, and represents pore-structure complexity using fractal descriptions. Model predictions are validated against multiple independent experimental datasets and are further applied to simulate microscale gas-water transport during shale gas production. Simulation results show that gas apparent permeability is higher at the later stage of recovery and near the boundary of the matrix, whereas water apparent permeability is higher at the early stage of recovery and in the central region of the matrix. Diffusion attenuation, irreducible water saturation, and capillary effects strongly limit fluid extraction from the shale matrix, leading to substantial retention of both gas and water. Neglecting diffusion attenuation in organic pores results in an overestimation of matrix gas production by approximately 80%. Increasing irreducible water saturation reduces the effective pore space and lowers the apparent permeability of both phases. Additionally, higher fractal dimensions of pore size distribution and pore tortuosity reduce gas-water apparent permeability, owing to decreased average pore size and increased flow-path length, respectively. This study provides a quantitative framework for describing gas-water two-phase transport in shale matrix and offers new insights into the coupled processes governing shale gas recovery.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Microscale Analysis for Gas-water Two-Phase Flow in Dual-porosity Shale Matrix Based on Integrated Modeling of Transport Phenomena","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-02-25 09:17:43","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8955081/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"12268c7c-6b43-4d0d-b544-9df8717ac594","owner":[],"postedDate":"February 25th, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[{"id":63432141,"name":"Energy Engineering"},{"id":63432142,"name":"Mechanical Engineering"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-02-25T09:17:43+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-02-25 09:17:43","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-8955081","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-8955081","identity":"rs-8955081","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}