Spe 98108 Pa
Spe 98108 Pa
Spe 98108 Pa
⭸Sw CV Discretization
− ⵜ ⭈ wⵜ⌽w − qw = 0, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (2)
⭸t We use the CV methodology for the spatial discretization of both
the flow potential and saturation equations. In this method, the
where is the porosity, i is the mobility of phase i defined by integration is performed over the CV cells, which are constructed
i=kkri /i , and k is the absolute permeability; kri , i , and qi are the as the median dual of a Delaunay triangulation in 2D or tetrahe-
relative permeability, viscosity and source/sink term of phase i, drization in 3D. Fig. 1a shows the 2D CV cell formed by joining
respectively, ⌽w is the water flow potential, Sw is the water satu- the barycenters of Delaunay triangles with their edge midpoints for
ration, and ⌽c is the capillary flow potential which is defined unfractured media. In Fig. 2, we show the CV cell for fractured
(Karimi-Fard and Firoozabadi 2003) by media with homogeneous matrix (Fig. 2a) and with heterogeneous
⌽c = ⌽n − ⌽w = Pc + 共n − w兲gz. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (3) matrix (Fig. 2b) media.
Eqs. 1 and 2 have three types of terms:
In Eq. 3, Pc is the capillary pressure, i is the density of phase i, g 1. Time derivative, ⭸Sw /⭸t.
is the acceleration of gravity, and z is the vertical coordinate, 2. Source/sink, qi for i⳱{n, w}.
positive in the upward direction. 3. Divergent term ⵜ·F, where the flux vector F⳱F(Sw) may be
Eq. 1 is referred to as the flow-potential equation, which is either (w+n)ⵜ⌽w and nⵜ⌽c in Eq. 1, or wⵜ⌽w in Eq. 2.
elliptic in nature, while Eq. 2 is referred to as the saturation equa- All mobilities are computed at the boundaries of the CV cell
tion, which can be seen as a diffusion-convection equation (Peace- with the proper upwinding, based on the flow direction at the
man 1977). The main variables are the wetting-phase flow poten- boundary. Next, we provide the discretization of all these terms for
tial, ⌽w , and saturation, Sw. In most of our numerical simulations, 2D fractured media with homogeneous and heterogeneous matrix.
the boundary conditions are assumed to be impervious: Extension to 3D media is straightforward.
vi ≡−iⵜ⌽i⳱0 for both phases i⳱{n, w}, where vi is the velocity
vector of phase i. We have also incorporated the Dirichlet bound-
Discretization for Fractured Media With Homogeneous Ma-
ary condition to include an aquifer in a field-scale problem that
trix. In the following, we first add the matrix and fracture terms
will be simulated in this work. In that case, ⌽w⳱⌽D and Sw⳱1 at
and then approximate the integration in the finite-volume.
the bottom of the reservoir.
Time Derivative.
兰 ⭸t 共S 兲dA ≈ 冉 A 冊
Formulation for Fractured Media. Details of the formulation for
⭸ ⭸S wm ⭸S wf
fractured media are provided in Monteagudo and Firoozabadi m m
+ Af f , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (7)
(2004). The most remarkable feature of the formulation is that no
w
⭸t ⭸t
A
computation of matrix-fracture transfer term is required. This is
possible because of the integration in the CV cell and the use of the where superscripts m and f denote matrix and fracture variables.
crossflow equilibrium concept, which leads to capillary continuity Eq. 7 represents the change in the volume of the wetting phase in
(Firoozabadi and Hauge 1990; van Duijn et al. 1994). Using the the volume element per unit time. It consists of two terms, one
crossflow equilibrium, we write the equality of flow potentials at from the matrix contribution and the other from the fracture con-
the interface between the matrix and fractures: tribution. If there is no fracture in the volume elements, then the
contribution is from the matrix only. Note that in 2D, the product
⌽ im = ⌽ if for i = 兵n, w其. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (4) Amm (Am is the area of the matrix in the element; in 3D it should
be replaced by the volume of the matrix in the element) and Af f
From Eq. 4, we readily obtain
(Af is the area of the fracture in the element) provide the volume of
⌽ cm共S wm 兲 = ⌽ cf 共S wf 兲. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (5) the matrix and fracture in the volume element, respectively. We
can express Eq. 7 in terms of S m w by using Eq. 6 and the chain rule:
冉 冊
Eq. 5 implies that water saturation may be discontinuous across the
⭸ dS wf ⭸S wm
matrix-fracture interface with different matrix and fracture capil-
lary pressure functions. A clear physical relationship is established 兰 ⭸t S dA ≈
w Amm + Af f
dS wm ⭸t
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (8)
between S m f
w and S w :
A
Source/Sink Term.
S wf = 关P cf 兴−1P cm共S wm兲. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (6)
Therefore, the system of Eqs. 1 and 2 can be integrated with the
CV method in terms of matrix variables only.
兰q dA≈A q
A
w
m m
w + Afq wf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (9)
兰q dA ≈ 兺 A q
nb
兰ⵜ · FdA = 兰F · n d⌫ ≈ 兺 关F · ne兴 .
A ⌫A
A
j=1
j . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (10)
A
w
k=1
k k
w. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (14)
冋 册
the initial water saturation is zero. Because capillary continuity
nm
⭸ dS wk ⭸ + expressed by Eq. 6 must be satisfied at the interface during the
兰 ⭸t 共S 兲dA ≈ 兺 dS
A
w
k=1
+
w
kAk S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (13)
⭸t w
imbibition, S fw⳱0 and dS fw /dS m
w ⳱0 along the path from A to B for
capillary pressures depicted in Figs 3a and 3b. On the other hand,
f m
along the path from B to C the derivative dS w /dS w will be If Pc>, then
much larger when Bf ⳱0.1 atm (Fig. 3b) than when Bf ⳱0.6 atm
⭸ ⭸S wm
(Fig. 3a). From this analysis, one can observe that in the event of
Bf⳱0 then Bm /Bf→⬁ and there is apparently no way to relate S m w
兰A
⭸t
共Sw兲dA ≈ 共Amm兲
⭸t
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (18)
and S fw along the path B to C with the formulation outlined pre-
viously because dS w /dS w ⳱⬁. To avoid this numerical problem,
f m
Otherwise,
the left term in Eq. 8 may be expressed in an alternative way:
⭸ ⭸S wf
兰 ⭸t 共S 兲dA ≈ 共A 兲
冉 冊 冉 冊
f f
, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (19)
dS wf ⭸S wm dS wm ⭸S wf
w
⭸t
A
Amm + Af f ≡ Amm + Af f . . . (17)
dS wm ⭸t dS wf ⭸t where is a tolerance.
Then we have two equivalent expressions for the left term in Eq. Numerical Examples
8 that can be distinctly used along different sections of the imbi- In this section, we present several numerical examples. First, we
bition path shown in Fig 3b. If chosen correctly, the numerical simulate oil production from data extracted from a large fractured
problem described here is avoided. Eq. 17 also provides a physical reservoir. The second example covers data from a laboratory test
interpretation of the imbibition process inside the CV cell; for the of water injection in a stack of matrix blocks at different injection
w ⳱0, which implies imbibition in the matrix
path A-B, dS fw /dS m rates. Next, we present the results of numerical simulation for
alone, and for the path B-C dS mw /dS w⳱0, mainly only the fracture
f
water injection in 2D and 3D for mixed-wettability state. The 2D
saturation changes. We have implemented this criterion in our and 3D meshes were generated with the packages triangle (Shew-
model to switch between the two equivalent expressions in Eq. 17. chuk 1996) and tetgen (Si 2002), respectively. All simulations
That is, were run with a Pentium PC 2.66 GHz.
The aquifer is treated as the Dirichlet boundary, where water flow Lab-Scale Example for a Stack of Matrix Blocks. We simulate
potential and saturation are specified. the displacement of n-decane by water from a stack of chalk matrix
Fig. 6 shows the conforming tetrahedrization in the fractured blocks. Description of the equipment and experimental data are
region. The horizontal well 6H is shown as a dashed thick line. We provided by Pooladi-Darvish and Firoozabadi (2001). Previous
have incorporated three main and seven minor fractures as quad- attempts to model the waterflooding have not been successful
rilaterals (see Table 1 for vertex coordinates). Fracture thickness when one focuses on the water/oil front in the fractures (Pooladi-
was set to 0.1 cm. The mesh contains 4,000 nodes. Preliminary Darvish and Firoozabadi 2001; Terez and Firoozabadi 1999).
sensitivity study showed that with this refinement, there is very In the setup, 12 matrix blocks were assembled; fractures are the
little change in oil-recovery predictions. Fluid and rock properties space between blocks and between blocks and the container walls.
are shown in Tables 2 and 3, respectively. The reservoir is lay- The 3D conforming mesh for the porous media with 1,800 nodes
ered. Fig. 7 shows the permeability distribution. Rock-fluid inter- is presented in Fig. 11 (note that there are three matrix blocks per
actions are shown in Fig. 8. Note that the relative permeability and row). Tables 4 and 5 present fluid and rock properties, respec-
capillary pressure curves may not show a consistent wettability state. tively. Rock-fluid interactions parameters are shown in Table 6.
The initial distribution of fluids is determined using the vertical The capillary pressure model used is defined by Eq. 12, and the
equilibrium criterion (Pooladi-Darvish and Firoozabadi 2001): relative permeabilities are modeled with power laws:
Pc共z兲 = Pco − g共n − w兲z , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (20) krw = k rw
0
S wnw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (21)
where Pco is the capillary pressure at the bottom of the reservoir krn = k0rn共1 − Sw兲nn, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (22)
(z⳱0) and z is the vertical coordinate (positive in the upward
direction). Once Pc is known, Sw is computed from Eq. 12. where Sw is the normalized saturation defined by Eq. 15. All the
The simulation was carried out to 140 years of production, rock-fluid interaction parameters are reported in Pooladi-Darvish
keeping a constant total flow rate of 2400 B/D. The total CPU time and Firoozabadi (2001). Fig. 12 depicts the capillary pressure and
for this simulation was 12 hours. Water saturation contours at relative permeability. Note that capillary pressure in the fracture is
time⳱70 years are shown in Fig. 9. The corresponding simulated considered zero, as was evidenced by observation of a flat oil/
oil recovery curve is shown in Fig. 10. The initial reservoir pres- water interface in the fractures. The relative permeability for the
sure was 2,500 psia at z⳱0. The predicted average pressure across matrix shows a strong-water-wetting state.
the horizontal well after 17 years of production was approximately Using the previously described data (without any adjustment),
1.500 psia. The reported data for the same time period is 1,550 we simulated the experiments. There is good agreement between
psia. Our preliminary results are on the order of the reported data the simulation results and measured recovery data for all three
Conclusions
1. We have extended the control-volume discrete-fracture method
(Monteagudo and Firoozabadi 2004) to account for important
physical aspects in reservoir simulation, such as heterogeneity in
matrix rock and rock-fluid properties, different wettability con-
ditions, and large contrast in the matrix-fracture capillary pressures.
2. We propose the use of capillary continuity concept in order to
solve the problem of having a heterogeneous CV cell with rocks Fig. 7—Permeability field of the layered reservoir.
Fig. 9—Water saturation contours after 70 years of production. (a) Fracture contours; (b) matrix contours.
Swi ⳱
irreducible water saturation
Si ⳱
normalized saturation of phase i⳱{n, w} (Eq. 15)
t ⳱
time, s
␣ ⳱
parameter in Eq. 16
⌫A ⳱
boundary of CV cell A
⳱
tolerance
i ⳱
mobility of phase i, L3t/m, m2/Pa-s
t ⳱
total mobility, L3t/m, m2/Pa-s
i ⳱
viscosity of phase i, m/Lt, Pa-s
i ⳱
density of phase i, m/L3, kg/m3
⳱
porosity
⌽c ⳱
capillary potential, m/Lt2, Pa
⌽D ⳱
flow potential specified at Dirichlet boundary, m/Lt2,
Pa
⌽i ⳱ flow potential of phase i, m/Lt2, Pa
Subscripts
n ⳱ nonwetting phase
Fig. 10—Oil recovery for the field-scale simulation. w ⳱ wetting phase
Fig. 14—Simulated and experimental fracture waterfront at different PV displacement in the stack of matrix blocks. (a) Front level
in the fracture; (b) water saturation in the fractures.
Fig. 16—Conforming tetrahedrization mesh for 3D mixed-wet fractured media. (a) Fracture; (b) matrix.
Fig. 17—Mixed-wet fractured system (rock-fluid properties). (a) Capillary pressure; (b) relative permeability.
Fig. 19—Water saturation contours at 20% PV displacement for injection into a 3D mixed-wet system where initial Sw field is
computed with vertical equilibrium concept. (a) Fracture contours; (b) matrix contours.