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

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]