Application of Large Computers to Reservoir Engineering Problems

Abstract

Abstract The primary applications of automatic computing equipment to the field of engineering are (1)the development of engineering information more economically and (2) the production of improved engineering analyses. While experience has demonstrated that both large and small computers are useful in the first application, it presently appears that the large computer will be required to investigate multiphase flow and to predict the flow behavior of oil and gas reservoirs considering two- and three-space dimensions. Some of the mathematical difficulties which arise in connection with the equations describing flow of fluids in oil and gas reservoirs are briefly reviewed, and some of the recent developments in the application of numerical techniques to reservoir engineering problems are discussed. The general computational requirements for typical problems of this type are included, and the specific time requirements for effective application of a few of the newer analyses to actual reservoir cases using both large and small computers are compared. Introduction The advantages of using high-speed computing equipment in engineering work fall generally into two categories. First, it is possible to conserve engineering manpower in that the inherent high computing rate of these devices can be directed so as to perform the engineering calculation work of many men. The second and potentially more significant advantage afforded by effective application of the high-speed computer is the ability to produce information which otherwise would not be available to the engineer. This is usually made possible by employing new or improved methods of analysis. New and improved methods of engineering analysis are beginning to evolve from the aggressive research programs on the application of numerical methods which various industrial research groups initiated five to 10 years ago. Techniques have been developed for studying problems in reservoir mechanics, such as unsteady gas flow and flow of single-phase fluids in two- and three-space dimensions, and improvements have been made in techniques for studying multiphase flow.