Robust Coarse Scale Modeling of Flow and Transport in Heterogeneous Reservoirs

Abstract

Techniques for the generation of accurate coarse scale simulation models are described and applied. An iterative procedure for the calculation of upscaled transmissibilities, referred to as an adaptive localglobal method, is presented. This approach uses a global coarse scale flow solution for the determination of the local boundary conditions required for the upscaling computations. Enhanced accuracy relative to existing techniques is demonstrated. For transport calculations, the method is applied in the context of multiscale modeling (which entails a reconstruction of the fine scale velocity field followed by a fine scale transport solution) and is also linked to a generalized convection-diffusion model. The latter approach provides a fully coarse scale simulation model, though pre-processing calculations are required to determine the coarse scale functions. Results using either approach in conjunction with the adaptive local-global transmissibility upscaling demonstrate the high levels of accuracy attainable for flow and transport calculations.