Front Tracking Applied to the Simulation of Water Flooding in a Braided River System

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Front Tracking Applied to the Simulation of Water Flooding in a Braided River System Knut Sovold; Knut Sovold Scandpower A.S. Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Dag Terje Rian; Dag Terje Rian Scandpower A.S. Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Arnfinn Sandvik Arnfinn Sandvik Scandpower A.S. Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Paper presented at the SPE Latin America Petroleum Engineering Conference, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, October 1990. Paper Number: SPE-21084-MS https://doi.org/10.2118/21084-MS Published: October 14 1990 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Get Permissions Search Site Citation Sovold, Knut, Rian, Dag Terje, and Arnfinn Sandvik. "Front Tracking Applied to the Simulation of Water Flooding in a Braided River System." Paper presented at the SPE Latin America Petroleum Engineering Conference, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, October 1990. doi: https://doi.org/10.2118/21084-MS Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentAll ProceedingsSociety of Petroleum Engineers (SPE)SPE Latin America and Caribbean Petroleum Engineering Conference Search Advanced Search AbstractThis paper describes the application of a front tracking simulator for studying flow in a 2D cross-section of a braided river system. The internal sand body geometries were based on a braided river outcrop from the USA. Rock properties were derived from a North-Sea oil field.Front tracking represents a direct, accurate and fast method to simulate oil and water flow in highly hetergeneous reservoirs. In the front tracking simulator the saturation solution is decoupled from the grid and its accuracy is to a large extent independent of grid block sizes end geometry. This makes the reservoir simulator well suited for modelling of complex geological architectures. The simulator has been compared with analytical methods and traditional finite difference simulators.Results from a water-oil displacement process in a braided river system are presented, showing fingering of the saturation fronts due to par-ability contrasts. For coarse grid systems. the front tracking simulator proved superior to the finite difference simulator with respect to the numerical solution.An automatic grid fitting option that utilizes triangular grid cells enabled an easy and fast construction of the complex geological model.IntroductionThe increasing use of statistical geological models implies a more detailed geological description and necessitates an increased number of geological realizations. This in turn calls for simulators which are able to correctly describe detailed deterministic models without an excessive CPU-consumption. It is also required that the construction of new realisations can be carried out in an easy and time efficient manner.The use of standard five-point finite difference simulators has practical limitations. A detailed geological description demands in itself a large number of grid blocks and to avoid inaccuracies in the numerical solution, a dense grid system is required.The front tracking simulator as presented in this paper fully meets the above requirements, both in terms of CPU- and man-time efficiency, as well as accuracy in the numerical solution.To demonstrate the capabilities of the front tracking simulator, water flooding in a cross-section from a braided river system has been simulated.THEORETICAL ASPECTSThe reservoir simulators most commonly used today are based on finite difference methods to approximate the partial differential equations that describe fluid flow in porous media. Since both the pressure and the saturation equation are solved iteratively, and stable solutions require restricted time step times. such models can be CPU-demanding, particularly when simulating larger grid systems. Usually. a five-point difference scheme is used and unwanted grid effects will occur in case of skewed grid cells. Hence, such simulators have their limitations when modelling irregular reservoir geometries. Also. numerical dispersion can be significant when large grid blocks are used. This creates a need for larger grid systems to obtain reliable simulation results.The front tracking simulator is based on a different numerical method compared with traditional finite difference simulator, but the mathematical foundation is the same. Keywords: upstream oil & gas, reproduction, grid, flow in porous media, spe 21084, fluid dynamics, siaulator, simulator, grid cell, saturation front Subjects: Reservoir Characterization, Reservoir Fluid Dynamics, Reservoir Simulation, Flow in porous media This content is only available via PDF. 1990. Society of Petroleum Engineers You can access this article if you purchase or spend a download.