Characterizing flow in oil reservoir rock using smooth particle hydrodynamics

Tilke, Peter G., Holmes, David W., and Williams, John R. (2010) Characterizing flow in oil reservoir rock using smooth particle hydrodynamics. In: AIP Conference Proceedings (1254) pp. 278-283. From: Third International Conference on Porous Media and its Applications in Science, Engineering and Industry, 20-25 June 2010, Montecatini, Italy.

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Abstract

In this paper, a 3D Smooth Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) simulator for modeling grain scale fluid flow in porous rock is presented. The versatility of the SPH method has driven its use in increasingly complex areas of flow analysis, including flows related to porous rock for both groundwater and petroleum reservoir research. Previous approaches to such problems using SPH have involved the use of idealized pore geometries (cylinder/sphere packs etc.). In this paper we discuss the characterization of flow in models with geometries acquired from 3D X‐ray microtomograph images of actual porous rock. One key advantage of SPH is realized when considering the complexity of multiple fluid phases (e.g., water and oil). By incorporating interfacial physics such as surface tension and wettability, it is possible to model the capillary behavior of multiple fluid phases with accuracy. Simulation results for permeability will be presented and compared to those from experimentation and other numerical methods showing good agreement and validating the method. By accurately reproducing the flow characteristics of actual porous rock samples, this work has made significant progress towards validating SPH for such applications.

Item ID: 17977
Item Type: Conference Item (Research - E1)
ISBN: 978-0-7354-0803-6
ISSN: 0094-243X
Keywords: Smooth Particle Hydrodynamics; no-slip boundary conditions; friction coefficient; permeability; consolidated porous media; imbibition
Funders: Schlumberger-Doll Research, Saudi ARAMCO
Date Deposited: 28 Oct 2014 04:04
FoR Codes: 09 ENGINEERING > 0915 Interdisciplinary Engineering > 091501 Computational Fluid Dynamics @ 30%
04 EARTH SCIENCES > 0404 Geophysics > 040403 Geophysical Fluid Dynamics @ 20%
01 MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES > 0103 Numerical and Computational Mathematics > 010301 Numerical Analysis @ 50%
SEO Codes: 97 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 970109 Expanding Knowledge in Engineering @ 70%
85 ENERGY > 8502 Mining and Extraction of Energy Resources > 850203 Oil and Gas Extraction @ 30%
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