Title: A novel approach for automatic unstructured grid generation for dynamic simulation of heterogeneous reservoirs

Authors: Forough Ameli; Bahram Dabir

Addresses: Department of Chemical Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology, Iran; Energy Research Center, Amirkabir University of Technology, Iran ' Department of Chemical Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology, Iran; Energy Research Center, Amirkabir University of Technology, Iran

Abstract: Precise studying of the static and dynamic characteristics of the reservoir plays a key role in the accurate evaluation of the reservoir performance. In this paper, a novel technique has been presented for generating a dynamic mesh in which static and dynamic parameters of the reservoir were combined with the capability of updating. Static parameters including permeability distribution and the location of active wells were combined with fluid patterns in the reservoir. An exact element size map was generated by comparing all mentioned effective parameters and making the element size indicator by selecting the maximum value. This element size map was applied for unstructured mesh generation. This intelligent mesh generator was employed in multi-phase flow simulation. Results showed that the generated grid is capable of predicting the results of breakthrough time more accurately in comparison to uniform grid. Moreover, it is faster and computationally less expensive in comparison to the fine model. [Received: August 15, 2014; Accepted: March 2, 2015]

Keywords: flow-based grid generation; permeability maps; streamline; steerable filters; breakthrough time; unstructured grid generation; dynamic modelling; reservoir simulation; heterogeneous reservoirs; reservoir performance; permeability distribution; well location; active wells; fluid patterns; multi-phase flow; oil and gas reservoirs.

DOI: 10.1504/IJOGCT.2016.078749

International Journal of Oil, Gas and Coal Technology, 2016 Vol.13 No.2, pp.119 - 141

Received: 19 Aug 2014
Accepted: 02 Mar 2015
Published online: 02 Sep 2016 *

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