Study on a Dual Embedded Discrete Fracture Model for Fluid Flow in Fractured Porous Media

Abstract

Simulation of fluid flow in the fractured porous media is very important and challenging. Researchers have developed some models for fractured porous media. With the development of related research in recent years, the prospect of embedded discrete fracture model (EDFM) is more and more bright. However, since the size of the fractures in the actual reservoir varies greatly, a very fine grid should be used which leads to a huge burden to the computing resources. To address this challenge, in the present paper, an upscaling based model is proposed. In this model, the flow in large-scale fractures is directly described by the EDFM while that in the small-scale fractures is upscaled through local simulation by EDFM. The EDFM is used to simulate the large- and small-scale fractures independently two times, so the new model is called dual embedded discrete fracture model (D-EDFM). In this paper, the detailed implementation process of D-EDFM is introduced and, through test cases, it is found the proposed model is a feasible method to simulate the flow in fractured porous media.