Statistical upscaling workflow for warm solvent injection processes – Longitudinal and transverse dispersivity and thermal conductivity

Abstract

Accurately simulating, upscaling, and optimizing the warm solvent injection process (WSI) is challenging due to its complex heat and mass transfer mechanisms. This manuscript presents a comprehensive two-step flow-based upscaling workflow designed explicitly for WSI simulation in heterogeneous reservoirs. The technique builds upon previous research on particle transport in single-phase flow and extends the upscaling method to incorporate multiple correlated properties relevant to the process physics. Specifically, the upscaling methodology considers the correlation between longitudinal and transverse dispersivities. The influence of scale variation on thermal conductivity is examined. The proposed statistical upscaling technique does not rely on explicit assumptions about the distribution of heterogeneity. The results highlight the directionality in dispersivity. Due to the limited temperature variation observed in the case study, upscaling thermal conductivity has little impact. The method's efficiency can be verified by coarser model simulations that capture similar fine-scale model responses with less computational run time.