Application of spectral element method in simulation of fractured porous media domains modeled by fracture-only technique

Abstract

In this paper, a new application of the spectral element method (SEM) is proposed, which is combined by the features of the fracture-only reservoir simulation technique. This method has been examined with the numerical simulation of waterflooding recovery mechanism. The effect of co-current imbibition is exhibited by a fracture flow analysis with an impermeable porous media. This analysis has been then repeated to study counter-current imbibition effect considering a homogeneous porous media. The capability of the fracture-only technique has been demonstrated more by analyzing fracture flow with heterogeneous porous media. All the presented SEM's results have shown a closeness agreement with the valid results obtained by analytical and streamline-based formulations. The SEM presented 36% higher accuracy when compared to the solution obtained by the finite element method (FEM).