Please enable JavaScript for this site to function properly.
OnePetro
  • Help
  • About us
  • Contact us
Menu
  • Home
  • Journals
  • Conferences
  • Log in / Register

Log in to your subscription

and
Advanced search Show search help
  • Full text
  • Author
  • Company/Institution
  • Publisher
  • Journal
  • Conference
Boolean operators
This OR that
This AND that
This NOT that
Must include "This" and "That"
This That
Must not include "That"
This -That
"This" is optional
This +That
Exact phrase "This That"
"This That"
Grouping
(this AND that) OR (that AND other)
Specifying fields
publisher:"Publisher Name"
author:(Smith OR Jones)

Reservoir Modeling for Flow Simulation Using Surfaces, Adaptive Unstructured Meshes, and Control-Volume-Finite-Element Methods

Authors
M.D. Jackson (Imperial College) | J.L.M.A. Gomes (Imperial College) | P. Mostaghimi (Imperial College) | J.R. Percival (Imperial College) | B.S. Tollit (Imperial College) | D. Pavlidis (Imperial College) | C.C. Pain (Imperial College) | A.H. El-Sheikh (Imperial College) | A.H. Muggeridge (Imperial College) | M.J. Blunt (Imperial College)
DOI
https://doi.org/10.2118/163633-MS
Document ID
SPE-163633-MS
Publisher
Society of Petroleum Engineers
Source
SPE Reservoir Simulation Symposium, 18-20 February, The Woodlands, Texas, USA
Publication Date
2013
Document Type
Conference Paper
Language
English
ISBN
978-1-61399-233-3
Copyright
2013. Society of Petroleum Engineers
Disciplines
4.3.4 Scale, 4.1.5 Processing Equipment, 5.3.1 Flow in Porous Media, 5.1 Reservoir Characterisation, 4.1.2 Separation and Treating, 5.3.2 Multiphase Flow, 5.1.2 Faults and Fracture Characterisation, 5.5 Reservoir Simulation, 1.2.3 Rock properties, 5.4.1 Waterflooding, 5.3.4 Integration of geomechanics in models, 5.1.1 Exploration, Development, Structural Geology, 5.5.3 Scaling Methods, 5.1.5 Geologic Modeling, 5.1.3 Sedimentology
Keywords
complex geometries, adaptive meshing, control-volume-finite-element, surface-based modelling, complex flow
Downloads
1 in the last 30 days
787 since 2007
Show more detail
View rights & permissions
SPE Member Price: USD 9.50
SPE Non-Member Price: USD 28.00

Abstract

We present new approaches to reservoir modelling and flow simulation that dispose of the pillar-grid concept that has persisted since reservoir simulation began. This results in significant improvements to the representation of multi-scale geological heterogeneity and the prediction of flow through that heterogeneity. The research builds on 20+ years of development of innovative numerical methods in ocean modelling, refined and modified to deal with the unique challenges associated with reservoir simulation.

Geological heterogeneities, whether structural, stratigraphic, sedimentologic or diagenetic in origin, are represented as discrete volumes bounded by surfaces, without reference to a pre-defined grid. Petrophysical properties are uniform within the geologically-defined rock volumes, rather than within grid-cells. The resulting model is discretized for flow simulation using an unstructured, tetrahedral mesh that honors the architecture of the surfaces. This approach allows heterogeneity over multiple length-scales to be explicitly captured using fewer cells than conventional corner-point or unstructured grids.

Multiphase flow is simulated using a novel mixed finite element formulation centered on a new family of tetrahedral element types, PN(DG)-PN+1, which has a discontinuous Nth-order polynomial representation for velocity and a continuous (order N+1) representation for pressure. This method exactly represents Darcy force balances on unstructured meshes and thus accurately calculates pressure, velocity and saturation fields throughout the domain. Computational costs are reduced through (i) automatic mesh adaptivity in time and space and (ii)  efficient parallelization . Within each rock volume, the mesh coarsens and refines to capture key flow processes, whilst preserving the surface-based representation of geological heterogeneity. Computational effort is thus focussed on regions of the model where it is most required.

Having validated the approach against a set of benchmark problems, we demonstrate its capabilities using geologically complex test models that are difficult or impossible to simulate conventionally, without introducing unacceptably large numbers of cells or highly non-orthogonal grids with associated numerical errors. The new approach preserves key flow features associated with realistic geological features that are usually lost. The approach can also capture near wellbore flow features such as coning, changes in surface geometry across multiple stochastic realisations, and geomechanical models with fracture propagation, opening and closing.

File Size  1 MBNumber of Pages   20

Other Resources

Looking for more? 

Some of the OnePetro partner societies have developed subject- specific wikis that may help.


 


PetroWiki was initially created from the seven volume  Petroleum Engineering Handbook (PEH) published by the  Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE).








The SEG Wiki is a useful collection of information for working geophysicists, educators, and students in the field of geophysics. The initial content has been derived from : Robert E. Sheriff's Encyclopedic Dictionary of Applied Geophysics, fourth edition.

  • Home
  • Journals
  • Conferences
  • Copyright © SPE All rights reserved
  • About us
  • Contact us
  • Help
  • Terms of use
  • Publishers
  • Content Coverage
  • Privacy
  Administration log in