Mathematical Models And Finite Elements For Reservoir Simulation

Numerical simulators for oil reservoirs have been developed over the last twenty years and are now widely used by oil companies. The research, however, has taken place largely within the industry itself, and has remained somewhat inaccessible to the scientific community. This book hopes to remedy the situation by means of its synthesized presentation of the models used in reservoir simulation, in a form understandable to both mathematicians and engineers.The book aims to initiate a rigorous mathematical study of the immiscible flow models, partly by using the novel `global pressure' approach in treating incompressible two-phase problems. A finite element approximation technique based on the global pressure variational model is presented, and new approaches to the modelling of various kinds of multiphase flow through porous media are introduced.Much of the material is highly original, and has not been presented elsewhere. The mathematical and numerical models should be of great interest to applied mathematicians, and to engineers seeking an alternative approach to reservoir modelling.

Numerical simulators for oil reservoirs have been developed over the last twenty years and are now widely used by oil companies. The research, however, has taken place largely within the industry itself, and has remained somewhat inaccessible to the scientific community. This book hopes to remedy the situation by means of its synthesized presentation of the models used in reservoir simulation, in a form understandable to both mathematicians and engineers.The book aims to initiate a rigorous mathematical study of the immiscible flow models, partly by using the novel `global pressure' approach in treating incompressible two-phase problems. A finite element approximation technique based on the global pressure variational model is presented, and new approaches to the modelling of various kinds of multiphase flow through porous media are introduced.Much of the material is highly original, and has not been presented elsewhere. The mathematical and numerical models should be of great interest to applied mathematicians, and to engineers seeking an alternative approach to reservoir modelling.

The emergence of complex enhanced recovery procedures in the field of hydrocarbon extraction techniques has emphasized the need for sophisticated mathematical tools, capable of modeling intricate chemical and physical phenomena and sharply changing fluid interfaces. This volume explains which problems need to be addressed, why they are difficult, what has been done previously to treat these difficulties, and which new techniques appear to possess potential for obtaining good simulation results.

The main aim of this paper is to present some new and general results, ap plicable to the the equations of two phase flow, as formulated in geothermal reservoir engineering. Two phase regions are important in many geothermal reservoirs, especially at depths of order several hundred metres, where ris ing, essentially isothermal single phase liquid first begins to boil. The fluid then continues to rise, with its temperature and pressure closely following the saturation (boiling) curve appropriate to the fluid composition. Perhaps the two most interesting theoretical aspects of the (idealised) two phase flow equations in geothermal reservoir engineering are that firstly, only one component (water) is involved; and secondly, that the densities of the two phases are so different. This has led to the approximation of ignoring capillary pressure. The main aim of this paper is to analyse some of the consequences of this assumption, especially in relation to saturation changes within a uniform porous medium. A general analytic treatment of three dimensional flow is considered. Pre viously, three dimensional modelling in geothermal reservoirs have relied on numerical simulators. In contrast, most of the past analytic work has been restricted to one dimensional examples.

This book covers and expands upon material presented by the author at a CBMS-NSF Regional Conference during a ten-lecture series on multiphase flows in porous media and their simulation. It begins with an overview of classical reservoir engineering and basic reservoir simulation methods and then progresses through a discussion of types of flows—single-phase, two-phase, black oil (three-phase), single phase with multicomponents, compositional, and thermal. The author provides a thorough glossary of petroleum engineering terms and their units, along with basic flow and transport equations and their unusual features, and corresponding rock and fluid properties. The practical aspects of reservoir simulation, such as data gathering and analysis, selection of a simulation model, history matching, and reservoir performance prediction, are summarized. Audience This book can be used as a text for advanced undergraduate and first-year graduate students in geology, petroleum engineering, and applied mathematics; as a reference book for geologists, petroleum engineers, and applied mathematicians; or as a handbook for practitioners in the oil industry. Prerequisites are calculus, basic physics, and some knowledge of partial differential equations and matrix algebra.Contents List of Figures; List of Tables; List of Notation; Preface; Introduction; Chapter 1: A Glossary of Petroleum Terms; Chapter 2: Single-Phase Flow and Numerical Solution; Chapter 3: Well Modeling; Chapter 4: Two-Phase Flow and Numerical Solution; Chapter 5: The Black Oil Model and Numerical Solution; Chapter 6: Transport of Multicomponents in a Fluid and Numerical Solution; Chapter 7: Compositional Flow and Numerical Solution; Chapter 8: Nonisothermal Flow and Numerical Solution; Chapter 9: Practical Topics in Reservoir Simulation; Bibliography; Index.

Reservoir Simulation: Machine Learning and Modeling helps the engineer step into the current and most popular advances in reservoir simulation, learning from current experiments and speeding up potential collaboration opportunities in research and technology. This reference explains common terminology, concepts, and equations through multiple figures and rigorous derivations, better preparing the engineer for the next step forward in a modeling project and avoid repeating existing progress. Well-designed exercises, case studies and numerical examples give the engineer a faster start on advancing their own cases. Both computational methods and engineering cases are explained, bridging the opportunities between computational science and petroleum engineering. This book delivers a critical reference for today's petroleum and reservoir engineer to optimize more complex developments.

Two finite element hydrodynamic models, one for two-dimensional free surface flow in the horizontal plane and one for the vertical plane are being evaluated. Although the models are formulated to solve dynamic flow problems, all work to date has been with steady state solutions. Recent research has focused on mass continuity performance of the models, proper boundary condition specification, and comparison with finite difference techniques. The objective of this research is to develop generalized mathematical models for routine use by the engineering community. This paper presents recent results of evaluation and application of the models. (Author).

The use of numerical reservoir simulation with high-speed electronic computers has gained wide acceptance throughout the petroleum industry for making engineering studies of a wide variety of oil and gas reservoirs throughout the world. These reservoir simulators have been designed for use by reservoir engineers who possess little or no background in the numerical mathematics upon which they are based. In spite of the efforts to improve numerical methods to make reservoir simulators as reliable, efficient, and automatic as possible, the user of a simulator is faced with a myriad of decisions that have nothing to do with the problem to be solved. This book combines a review of some basic reservoir mechanics with the derivation of the differential equations that reservoir simulators are designed to solve.

In this book, the author presents a detailed complex mathematical and computational model for the simulation of fluid flow in reservoirs. The research was conducted in collaboration with Dr. John M. Tyler of LSU and was funded by the United States Department of Energy. The results were published in a Ph.D. dissertation and at several international conferences. Oil and Gas Reservoirs Hydrocarbons and their associated impurities occur in rock formations that are usually buried thousands of feet or meters below the surface. Scientists and engineers often call rock formations that hold hydrocarbons "reservoirs." Oil does not flow in underground rivers or pool up in subterranean lakes, contrary to what some people think. crude oil and natural gas occur in buried rocks and, once produced from a well, companies have to refine the crude oil and process the natural gas into useful products. Further, not every rock can hold hydrocarbons. To serve as an oil and gas reservoir, rocks have to meet several criteria.