Three-dimensional simulation of steam flooding with minimal grid orientation

Conference · Tue Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 1983 · Soc. Pet. Eng. AIME, Pap.; (United States)

OSTI ID:5632190

Potempa, T

Steam flooding is a tertiary oil recovery mechanism with proven economic potential. Reliable numerical simulations of candidate injection schemes can aid in the optimization of process parameters. State-of-the-art numerican models exhibit varying degrees of grid effects which affect their reliability with respect to the modeling of pattern floods. This paper presents a numerical steam flood model which does not exhibit a significant amount of grid orientation. This model utilizes a numerical discretization technique which is an admixture of finite difference and finite element methods. Fluid properties are determined as a function of primary variables in a manner that allows a straight forward implementation of Newton's method for solving the nonlinear system of discretized equations. Fractional flows are defined using mass rather than volumetric mobilities, and are used to upwind the convective flow terms.

• Research Organization: Rice University
• OSTI ID: 5632190
• Report Number(s): CONF-830312-
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Soc. Pet. Eng. AIME, Pap.; (United States) Journal Volume: SPE 11726
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020300* -- Petroleum-- Drilling & Production
CONVECTION
COORDINATES
ENHANCED RECOVERY
EQUATIONS
FINITE DIFFERENCE METHOD
FINITE ELEMENT METHOD
FLUID FLOW
FLUID INJECTION
ITERATIVE METHODS
MASS TRANSFER
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
NEWTON METHOD
NUMERICAL SOLUTION
OIL WELLS
RECOVERY
SIMULATION
STEAM INJECTION
THERMAL RECOVERY
WELLS