Lyell Collection
Geological Society, London, Special Publications
Lyell Centre  |   Lyell Collection  |   Subscriptions   |   Geological Society  |   Email alerts  |   Online bookshop  |   Help

Keywords:
Author:
Advanced search>>
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Request Permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Matthäi, S. K.
Right arrow Articles by Heinrich, C. A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
GeoRef
Right arrow GeoRef Citation
Geological Society, London, Special Publications; 2007; v. 292; p. 405-429;
DOI: 10.1144/SP292.22
© 2007 Geological Society of London

Articles

Numerical simulation of multi-phase fluid flow in structurally complex reservoirs

S. K. Matthäi1, S. Geiger2, S. G. Roberts3, A. Paluszny1, M. Belayneh1, A. Burri4, A. Mezentsev1, H. Lu1, D. Coumou5, T. Driesner5 & C. A. Heinrich5

1 Department of Earth Sciences, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2AZ, UK (e-mail: s.matthai{at}imperial.ac.uk)
2 Institute of Petroleum Engineering, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh EH14 4AS, UK and Edinburgh Collaborative on Subsurface Science and Engineering (ECOSSE)
3 Department of Mathematics, Mathematical Sciences Institute, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 02000, Australia
4 Department of Mathematics, ETH Zürich, Rämistrasse 101. 5, CH-8092, Zurich, Switzerland
5 Department of Earth Sciences, ETH Zürich, Clausiusstrasse 25, CH-8092, Zurich, Switzerland

Realistic simulation of structurally complex reservoirs (SCR) is challenging in at least three ways: (1) geological structures must be represented and discretized accurately on vastly different length scales; (2) extreme ranges and discontinuous variations of material properties have to be associated with the discretized structures and accounted for in the computations; and (3) episodic, highly transient and often localized events such as well shut-in have to be resolved adequately within the overall production history, necessitating a highly adaptive resolution of time. To facilitate numerical experiments that elucidate the emergent properties, typical states and state transitions of SCRs, an application programmer interface (API) called complex systems modelling platform (CSMP++) has been engineered in ANSI/ISO C++. It implements a geometry and process-based SCR decomposition in space and time, and uses an algebraic multigrid solver (SAMG) for the spatio-temporal integration of the governing partial differential equations. This paper describes a new SCR simulation workflow including a two-phase fluid flow model that is compared with ECLIPSE in a single-fracture flow simulation. Geologically realistic application examples are presented for incompressible 2-phase flow, compressible 3-phase flow, and pressure-diffusion in a sector-scale model of a structurally complex reservoir.





This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Geological Society, London, Special PublicationsHome page
D. A. Ferrill, A. P. Morris, and K. J. Smart
Stratigraphic control on extensional fault propagation folding: Big Brushy Canyon monocline, Sierra Del Carmen, Texas
Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 2007; 292: 203 - 217.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]