Limitations of Streamline Simulation: A Crossflow Investigation
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Streamline based simulation has numerous advantages over the traditional finite-difference simulation, the most important being the speed up and reduced numerical dispersion. Nonetheless, the method makes assumption of independent streamlines, thus neglecting the crossflow of fluids across the streamlines. The accuracy of streamline simulators in displacements where crossflow mechanisms are present is the focus of this study. The aim is to aid the simulation engineer to know when to use streamline-based simulation and when to use other simulation methods. To aid in this comparison, these crossflow mechanisms are scaled in terms of dimensionless numbers. Through computer simulation these scaled quantities were verified to be accurate measures of the crossflow mechanism in a two-layer stratified reservoir. The following measures were considered in determining the limits of the streamline simulators. a) Recovery curves b) Saturation maps c) Saturation difference plots d) Vector diagrams. The results suggest that streamline simulators could be used up to a capillary number of 2 for a unit mobility ratio displacement with reasonable error limits and this number decreases with increase in the mobility ratio. Also for displacements with gravity number greater than 27, the so much desired speed up from streamline simulation is lost and many pressure solves are required to get a converged solution. A stratified model was used as the simplest form of reservoir heterogeneity and the effects of capillary crossflow and gravity were considered, the approach used in this study and results obtained should provide a basis for analyzing fluid displacements in more complicated reservoir.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Date created | June 2002 |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Sam-Olibale, Linda |
|---|---|
| Primary advisor | Orr Jr, Franklin M. |
| Degree granting institution | Stanford University, Department of Petroleum Engineering |
Subjects
| Subject | School of Earth Energy & Environmental Sciences |
|---|---|
| Genre | Thesis |
Bibliographic information
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Preferred citation
- Preferred Citation
- Sam-Olibale, Linda. (2002). Limitations of Streamline Simulation: A Crossflow Investigation. Stanford Digital Repository. Available at: https://purl.stanford.edu/tz803mx7913
Collection
Master's Theses, Doerr School of Sustainability
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- brannerlibrary@stanford.edu
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