Modeling and Simulation for Multiphase Flow

in Petroleum Reservoirs

Zhangxing Chen
University of Calgary
Sponsors
Synergia
Polygen Ltd
 Outline

•  Part I: Modeling and Simulation

of Conventional Oil
•  Part II: Investigation of
Compositional Grading
•  Part III: Current Research in
Heavy Oil Modeling
 Outline, Part I

•  My Research Background
•  Models
•  Current Developments
•  Difficulties
•  Conclusions and References
 Reservoir Simulation
Basin Modeling
From Basin Modeling to
Reservoir Filling to
Reservoir Simulation
 Problem Description

Idealization

Conceptual Model

Development of a
numerical model Model validation Measurements
Mathematical Model and process
Model verification identification Lab experiments

Initial and
boundary Comparison
conditions
Application

Analytical solution Numerical model

Simulation
Verification Lab scale
Models: History of Numerical
Reservoir Simulation

- 1950 – 1970, Study of dynamics of fluid flow and transport

through porous media
- 1970 – 1980, Various reservoir simulators (black oil,
compositional, thermal, dual porosity) based on the finite
difference method
- 1980 – 1990, Commercial reservoir simulators
(fully implicit method, fast solvers, EOS, vector computers)
- 1990 – 2000, Workstation computer techniques, advanced
GUIs, integration with geo-modeling, geomechanics, parallel
computer techniques (PVM, MPI, clusters)
- After 2000, Commercial unstructured grids simulators, large
scale simulation on PC (64 bites), new history matching and
optimization techniques, new computer hardware (multiple
cores, GPUs, OpenMP, hybrid OpenMP-MPI, blue gene)
 Models (cont’d):
Oil production methods

•  Primary recovery: simple

natural decompression
•  Secondary recovery: water
injected
•  Enhanced recovery:
-Miscible displacement
-Chemical processes
-Thermal processes
 Models (cont’d): Types of fluid
flows in porous media

•  Primary recovery: single-phase

•  Secondary recovery: two-phase
(above a bubble pressure) or three-
phase black oil (water, liquid, and gas)
•  Enhanced recovery: multicomponent,
multiphase, isothermal or non-
isothermal
 Models (cont’d): Major laws

•  Conservation of mass
•  Conservation of momentum
•  Conservation of energy
 Models (cont’d):
Single phase flow
- Mass conservation equation:

- Darcy’s law:
 Models (cont’d):
Two-phase flow
- Mass conservation equation

- Darcy’s law

Pc=Po-Pw
 Models (cont’d):
Three-phase flow
•  Governing equations

•  Darcy’s Law
 Models (cont’d):
Three-phase flow

–  Constraint equation

–  Capillary pressures
 Models (cont’d):
Compositional flow
 Models (cont’d):
Thermal flow
•  Mass conservation
•  Darcy’s law
•  Phase package
•  Conservation of energy:
 Models (cont’d):
Mathematical Issues

•  Existence of a solution
•  Uniqueness of the solution
•  Solution regularity
 Current Developments

Geo- Software
models Research

Field Scale Validation &

Models Applications
Journeying to
the Reservoir

Solvers &
Gridding Parallelizatio
Numerical
Models n
 Current Developments
(cont’d): Upscaling

•  Mathematical techniques:
homogenization, volume
averaging, etc.
•  Numerical upscaling:
- purely numerical:
renormalization, power law
averaging, harmonic mean, etc.
- multiscale methods
 Current Developments
(cont’d): Dynamical Gridding

–  Irregular geometric
feature presentation
•  boundaries (and
BCs)
•  faults
•  fractures
•  pinch-outs
 Current Developments
(cont’d): Dynamical Gridding

–  Complex features
•  complicated well
architecture
•  local reaction
zones
•  different spatial
and temporal
scales
•  geomechanics
 Current Developments
(cont’d): Numerical Methods

– Finite difference methods

– Finite volume (control
volume) methods
– Finite element methods
 Current Developments
(cont’d): Fast Linear Solvers
•  Large scale systems (million unknowns)
•  Coupling of different physical variables
•  Highly nonsymmetric and indefinite matrices
•  Ill conditioned systems
•  Matrix structure spoiled by well perforation and
unstructured grids
•  80-90% of the total simulation time spent on the
solution of large linear systems
•  Limitation of problem size and space resolution on
a single processor
 Current Developments
(cont’d): Fast Linear Solvers
•  Fast and robust solvers:
- ORTHOMIN (orthogonal minimum residual)
- GMRES (generalized minimum residual)
- BiCGSTAB (biconjugate gradient stabilized)
•  Efficient preconditioners:
- ILU(k)
- CPR (constrained pressure residual)
- AMG (algebraic multigrid)
•  Taking advantage of modern parallel architecture
 Difficulties

Large scale Surface

systems facilities
coupling High
Heterogeneity resolution

RESERVOIR
SIMULATION Instability
Irregular
and
geometric
fingering
features

Strong
Complex
coupling & Small
well
nonlinearity diffusion
architecture
 Difficulties (cont’d):
Upscaling

•  Integration
–  Disparate data with different scales
–  Coupling of different flow, transport and
chemical processes

•  Upscaling
–  Geological models with tens of millions
of cells to reservoir models with over
one million cells

•  Speed of computation
–  Fast enough for timely decisions
 Difficulties (cont’d):
Gridding

•  Grid adaptivity in space

and time
•  Wells with complex
features
•  Easy integration
 Difficulties (cont’d):
Numerical Methods

–  Multipoint upstream
winding
–  Multipoint flux
approximation
–  Instability and
fingering
–  Small diffusion/
dispersion
representation
–  Mass and energy
conservation
 Difficulties (cont’d): Solvers

•  Large scale systems (million unknowns

and long time integration )
•  Coupling of different physical variables
•  Highly nonsymmetric and indefinite
matrices
•  Matrix structure spoiled by well
perforation and unstructured grids
•  Ill conditioned systems
•  Limitation of problem size and space
resolution on a single processor
Current Research
 Current Research (cont’d)

Modelling Complex
Layers & Slanted
THAI Model Wells
Wells

Water
Complex Flow Due to Oil & Water
Mixture
Heterogeneous Geology Oil

Modelling of a Reservoir
Validation of Simulator:
n-Component (cont’d)
Rayleigh Number Validation
 Reservoir with Baffles for
n-Component Mixing (cont’d)
 Conclusions

•  Development of simulator integrating

geological and reservoir processes
•  Good features: flexibility, speed,
accuracy, interface, etc.
•  Incorporation of more physics: fluid
flow, heat transfer, chemistry, and
geomechanics
•  All these mean significant savings in
capital costs
Three Recent Books

•  Finite Element Methods

and Their Applications
•  Z. Chen
•  Year 2005
•  Over 1,000 copies sold
Three Recent Books (cont’d)

•  Computational Methods
for Multiphase Flows in
Porous Media
•  Year 2006
•  Z. Chen, G. Huan and Y.
Ma
•  1st Edition out
Three Recent Books (cont’d)

•  Reservoir Simulation:
Mathematical Techniques
in Oil Recovery
•  Year 2007
•  Z. Chen
•  NSF Summer School