Representation of heterogeneity for numerical reservoir simulation

Thesis/Dissertation · Thu Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1987

OSTI ID:5542666

White, C D

All petroleum reservoirs contain variations in permeability and porosity at length scales that are smaller than the smallest grid blocks used in reservoir simulations. Thus any simulation of displacements at the reservoir scale should systematically average local variations so that representative values of properties such as permeability and porosity may be assigned to the grid blocks. In most simulations, however, only the most rudimentary averaging permeability are applied. Existing methods for averaging permeability are restricted by assumptions of low variance, erogodicity or isotropy. They are not suitable for computing the properties of finite-difference grids. This study formulated and tested new methods based upon fine-grid finite-difference solutions of the single-phase steady-state flow equations. A general tensor scaling algorithm which uses a global solution of the fine grid equations has been shown to be more accurate than either pairwise connection methods or power law averaging. For the degree of scaling considered, the coarse-grid solutions are hundreds of times faster than fine grid solutions. The general tensor scaling procedure successfully modeled several two-phase displacements. The accuracy of the scaling procedure did not deteriorate when the viscosity ratio was increased, nor when moderate amounts of capillary pressure were included in the model.

• Research Organization: Stanford Univ., CA (USA)
• OSTI ID: 5542666
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020200* -- Petroleum-- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration
BLOOD VESSELS
BODY
CAPILLARIES
CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM
DATA
ENERGY SOURCES
FLUID FLOW
FLUID MECHANICS
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
INFORMATION
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MECHANICS
MINERAL RESOURCES
NUMERICAL DATA
ORGANS
PERMEABILITY
PETROLEUM
PETROLEUM DEPOSITS
POROSITY
PRESSURE DEPENDENCE
RESERVOIR ROCK
RESOURCES
STEADY-STATE CONDITIONS
THEORETICAL DATA
VISCOSITY