Simulation of Oil-Water Flow in a Shale Reservoir Using a Radial Basis Function

Abstract

Due to the difficulties associated with preprocessing activities and poor grid convergence when simulating shale reservoirs in the context of traditional grid methods, in this study an innovative two-phase oil-water seepage model is elaborated. The modes is based on the radial basis meshless approach and is used to determine the pressure and water saturation in a sample reservoir. Two-dimensional examples demonstrate that, when compared to the finite difference method, the radial basis function method produces less errors and is more accurate in predicting daily oil production. The radial basis function and finite difference methods provide errors of 5.78 percent and 7.5 percent, respectively, when estimating the daily oil production data for a sample well. A sensitivity analysis of the key parameters that affect the radial basis function’s computation outcomes is also presented.