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Society of Petroleum Engineers

SPE 25253

Development of a Mixed Finite-Element-Based Compositional


Reservoir Simulator
L.J. Durlofsky and M.C.H. Chien, * Chevron Petroleum Technology CO.
'SPE Member

Copyright 1993, Society of Petroleum Engineers, Inc.

This paper was prepared for presentation at the 12th SPE Symposium on Reservoir Simulation held in New Orleans, LA, U.S.A., February 28-March 3, 1993.

This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE Program Committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper,
as presented, have not been reviewed by the Society of Petroleum Engineers and are subject to correction by the author(s). The material, as presented, does not necessarily reflect
any position of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, its officers, or members. Papers presented at SPE meetings are subject to publication review by Editorial Committees of the Society
of Petroleum Engineers. Permission to copy is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words. Illustrations may not be copied. The abstract should contain conspicuous acknowledg-
ment of where and by whom the paper is presented. Write Publications Manager, SPE, P.O. Box 833836, Richardson, TX 75083-3836, U.S.A. Telex, 163245 SPEUT.

Abstract 1. Introduction

Geometrically complex geological features, such as Triangle based discretization methods offer some dis-
faults, cross stratified beds and large scale inclined strata, tinct advantages over standard finite difference methodolo-
can have very significant effects on the flow of reservoir fluids. gies for the modeling of flow through complex geological
Standard finite difference methodology lacks the geometric features. Through the use of unstructured triangular grids
flexibility required for modeling flow through or around such in conjunction with a triangle based finite element method,
structures. Triangle based discretization methods, by con- flow through or around complicated geological structures and
trast, offer an attractive means to discretize and simulate stratigraphies can be readily modeled. Such modeling is
flow through geometrically complex features accurately. quite difficult, if at all possible, with standard finite differ-
ence approaches. Finite element methods have not, however,
In this paper, a triangle based mixed finite element - been developed to the stage where they can be routinely ap-
finite volume technique for compositional reservoir simula- plied to reservoir simulation problems. As yet, finite element
tion is developed. The formulation is of IMPES type and
methods have been applied to a more limited class of prob-
is applicable to three phase, multicomponent systems in two
lems such as simulations of two phase immiscible and first
dimensions. Most previous mixed finite element formulations contact miscible displacements. It is the purpose of this pa-
were restricted to two phase or fully miscible systems. The per to extend previous finite element formulations to com-
compositional approach presented here extends these earlier positional systems and to develop a compositional reservoir
techniques though it retains the general structure of the more
simulator based on a triangular mixed finite element - finite
limited formulations. Specifically, the governing equations
volume method.
are cast in terms of a pressure equation and a series of com-
ponent mass balance equations expressed in terms of the 'to- The equations describing the flow of three phase, mul-
tal' velocity. A triangle based mixed finite element method is ticomponent systems share some important similarities with
applied to the solution of the pressure equation while a finite the simpler equations describing two phase immiscible or first
volume technique is employed for solution of the component contact miscible displacements. Because these more limited
mass balance equations. The overall methodology is partic- systems have been successfully modeled with mixed finite el-
ularly well suited for the modeling of flow through complex ement methods, we shall use the same general framework for
geological strata characterized by heterogeneous, generally the compositional formulation presented here. Specifically,
anisotropic permeability fields. This is demonstrated explic- in analogy with formulations applicable to the more limited
itly through application of a preliminary implementation of systems, we express the three phase, multicomponent flow
the method to the simulation of flow through a faulted cross equations in terms of a global pressure equation, comprised of
section with a complex permeability description. Extension a 'total' Darcy law equation and conservation of total mass,
of the formulation to the three dimensional case is also dis- and a sequence of component mass balance equations. This
cussed. representation of the governing equations separates the sys-
tem into parabolic and hyperbolic parts, allowing for the use
References and figures at end of paper of different, specialized methods for each of the two types

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2 MIXED FINITE ELEMENT COMPOSITIONAL SIMULATOR SPE 25253

of equations. The pressure equation, which is parabolic in method is applied, while in [2] a more efficient finite volume
character and displays highly discontinuous coefficients (due technique is employed (see [2] for further discussion). Earlier
to permeability heterogeneity), is solved using a mixed finite investigators [5,6] formulated methodologies coupling mixed
element method. Mixed methods are particularly applica- finite element solutions of the pressure equation with modi-
ble to the solution of the pressure equation for two impor- fied method of characteristics solutions of the saturation or
tant reasons. First, unlike standard Galerkin finite element concentration equation. These approaches continue to be re-
methods, mixed methods are very well suited to the solution fined and enhanced but to date have only been reported for
of parabolic or elliptic equations with highly discontinuous rectangular discretizations and have not been extended to
coefficients. And second, again unlike other methods, mixed compositional systems.
methods yield the secondary or flux variable to the same de-
Previous investigators have also applied control volume
gree of accuracy as the primary variable (pressure). This
is significant because it is primarily through fluxes that the finite element methods to the modeling of flow through ge-
pressure and component mass balance equations couple. ometrically complex porous media; see, e.g., Ref. 7. These
methods are based on a standard Galerkin finite element
The component mass balance equations, which are es- representation for the pressure equation which does not opti-
sentially hyperbolic in character (capillary pressure terms mally weight the mobilities and does not yield continuous ve-
introduce small dispersive effects), are solved using a finite locities across element edges. This problem is circumvented
volume method specifically applicable to the solution of hy- in the control volume finite element approaches by defin-
perbolic conservation laws. The overall method is of IMPES ing control volumes, which essentially constitute an auxiliary
type and is formulated for two dimensional systems. Exten- grid. Velocities computed on this auxiliary grid are contin-
sions to three dimensional systems discretized via tetrahedra uous, but their accuracy is not of the level attained by the
could be achieved, though, for such systems, some efficiency mixed finite element method applied in the current study.
issues must be addressed, as will be discussed below. Finally, we note that the development of nine point finite
difference methods, suitable for the modeling of flow through
The compositional formulation adopted here is a mod-
complex geological features, is a related area of research. To
ification of the ZKF approach employed in [1] as the ba-
date these methods do not offer the flexibility or accuracy of
sis for a general purpose reservoir simulator. By using an
triangle based mixed finite element approaches, but they do
approach consistent with [1], our finite element formulation
have the advantage of fitting more naturally into pre-existing
can be readily implemented into this general purpose simu-
finite difference reservoir simulators.
lator. The ZKF approach entails tracking the composition
of each component in each phase and forming mass balance This paper proceeds as follows. In 2 we present the
equations for each component by summing over phases. The equations governing compositional reservoir simulation. A
total mass of each component (per unit discretized volume) total Darcy law is formed; this equation, combined with a
constitutes primary variables. total mass balance, constitutes the pressure equation. Indi-
vidual component mass balance equations, written in terms
The triangle based mixed finite element - finite volume of the total velocity, are also developed. The mixed finite ele-
technique employed in this study is quite analogous to that
ment and finite volume approximations are introduced in 3.
developed in [2] for two phase immiscible displacements. In
The discretized system relating total velocity and pressure,
[2], the governing equations are cast in terms of an average
as well as the finite volume representation of the C()mponent
pressure equation and a water saturation equation. A mixed
mass balances, are presented. An example demonstrating the
finite element method is applied to the solution of the pres-
applicability of the method for the modeling of flow through
sure equation and a triangle based, second order accurate
geometrically complex strata is presented in 4. Conclusions
TVD (total variation diminishing) type finite volume tech-
and some discussion of future directions are presented in 5.
nique is applied to the saturation equation. This approach
was shown to be very suitable for the modeling of two phase
flow through geometrically complex reservoirs characterized 2. Compositional Flow Equations
by heterogeneous, generally anisotropic permeability fields
[2]. The compositional simulator developed here utilizes an In this section we formulate the equations for composi-
approach similar to that of [2] with the exception that the tional reservoir simulation. The reservoir fluid is composed of
compositional formulation, for now, applies only a first or- multiple components and can consist of up to three phases:
der accurate finite volume technique to the solution of the oil, gas and water. The system is considered isothermal.
component mass balances. Mass transfer is allowed between the oil and gas phases. Ei-
ther a K-value or an equation of state approach can be used
Previous workers [3:,4] developed and applied triangle to establish the local thermodynamic equilibrium of these
based mixed methods for the simulation of two phase im- two phases. The water phase will be considered to be im-
miscible systems. The main difference between the approach miscible with the other two phases.
of [2] and that of [3,4] is in the handling of the saturation
equation. Specifically, in [3,4] a discontinuous finite element Three phase, multicomponent fluid flow is described by a
set of material balance equations subject to some constraints.

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SPE 25253 L.J. DURLOFSKY and M.C.H. CHIEN 3

The material balance equations can be written as follows [1]: To rewrite Eq. (1) in terms of Vt, we relate Vt to Vj via an
expression that does not involve pressure. For this purpose,
(1) it is useful to manipulate Eq. (2b) to eliminate the \7p term
as follows:
with
= \7[(Pjo - Plo) - (Pj - PI)D],
Fi = L XijPjVj, (2a)
ml . Vj - mj"vi -mi mj .

j=l,Np ,l=l,Np ,j=/=l. (5)


j=O,D,W

and Combining Eqs. (4) and (5) and rearranging gives:

Vj = -mj . \7(p+ Pjo - pjD), j = 1, Np , (2b)


Vj = Ijvt + L Ijml . \7 [(Plo .- Pjo) - (PI - Pj )D] , (6)
Ij
where subscript i refers to the component and subscript j
to the phase, z! is the total mass of component i per unit where Ii, the fractional flow of phase j, is defined as
volume, t is time, the 0, 9 and W subscripts refer to the oil,
gas and water phases, Xij is the composition of component i
in phase j, Vj is the phase velocity, Pj is the phase density, (7)
q; is the injection or production rate of component i per unit
volume, P is the oil phase pressure, Pjo is the pressure dif- Substituting Eq. (6) in Eq. (2a) gives the flux functions, and
ference between phase j and the oil phase, D is depth times thus the material balance equations, in terms of v t:
gravitational acceleration, N c is the total number of compo-
nents and Np' is the number of phases. Note that Xwj = Dwj,
where D represents the delta function (water is present only Fi = L Xij Pj Ii [Vt +L mi \7 (Plo - Pjo) - (PI - Pj) D)].
in the aqueous phase) and Xiw = Diw (no hydrocarbons are j Ij
present in the aqueous phase). The Pjo represents the gas (8)
phase capillary pressure when j = 9 and the negative water This equation, in conjunction with Eq. (1), represents the de-
phase capillary pressure when j = W; it is equal to zero when sired form for the component mass balance equations. It is
j = o. The phase mobility, mj, is defined as
completely analogous to the water saturation equation which
appears in the simulation of two phase immiscible displace-
k rj ments.
mj =k-, (3)
Pj The system is fully defined with the addition of fugacity
and saturation constraints. The saturation constraint will be
where k is the position dependent absolute permeability ten- considered in detail below. The fugacity constraint is simply
sor, k rj is the relative permeability of phase j and Pj is the expressed as:
phase viscosity. As written, Eq. (2a) does not include phys-
(9)
ical dispersion terms, though it could be readily modified to
capture these effects. where lij represents the fugacity of component i in phase j.
This relation can be used to relate [{-values to pressure and
Our intent is to manipulate Eqs.(l) and (2) into a se- total component mass; i.e., it can be manipulated to express
quence of essentially hyperbolic material balance equations,
written in terms of the total velocity (defined below), and
[{-value dependency in terms of P and z;
only. Thus, the
mass balance equations and the saturation constraint can be
a parabolic pressure equation. This representation of the considered to be dependent only on pressure and total com-
governing equations will allow us to apply the mixed finite ponent mass. See [1] for further discussion of the treatment
element - finite volume methodology to the numerical solu- of the fugacity constraint in compositional reservoir simula-
tion of the system, in analogy with the approach of [2] for two tion.
phase immiscible systems. To apply the mixed finite element
method to the solution of the pressure equation, the pressure We will now apply the saturation constraint for the
equation is itself expressed as two equations: a total Darcy derivation of the total mass conservation equation. The sat-
law and conservation of total mass. We now proceed with uration constraint is given by:
the formulation of the component mass balance and pressure
equations. (10)
The total velocity, Vt, is defined as
where Sj is the saturation (volume fraction) of phase j. For
Vt = LVj nearly incompressible flow without mass transfer between
j phases, Eqs. (1), (4), (8) and (10) can be readily manipulated
(4)
= - Lmj. \7(p+ Pjo - pjD). to yield the pressure equation. In the general case considered
j here, however, the derivation of a pressure equation is more

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4 MIXED FINITE ELEMENT COMPOSITIONAL SIMULATOR SPE 25253

complicated. We shall first form the pressure equation for flow of a two phase immiscible, slightly compressible system,
the general system and then demonstrate that it reduces to as considered in [2] (in comparing Eq. (4) above with the
the correct equation for the case of two phase immiscible, analogous equation in [2], note that p is defined in [2] to be
slightly compressible flow. the average pressure while p is here the oil phase pressure).
As mentioned above, the pressure equation is comprised The mathematical structure of the compositional reser-
of two equations: a total Darcy law [Eq. (4)] and conserva- voir simulation equations, written in terms of pressure and
tion of total mass. To derive the latter equation, we expand component mass balance equations very similar to those pre-
Eq. (10) in a Taylor series expansion as follows: sented here, was analyzed in detail by Trangenstein and Bell
[8]. These authors demonstrated that, under reasonable as-
{)(~ . S9) L ()(~ .S9) sumptions regarding physical properties and three phase rel-
L.,J
{)p
J Ap +
.
. ,
_ L.,J J A ~ + 0
{) I
Zi
Z.
(60 2 ) " = 0 (11) ative permeabilities, the system is of a mathematical struc-
ture very similar to that of the black oil model, considered
where the superscript 0 refers to some reference state, 60p = in detail in [9]. More specifically, Trangenstein and Bell
p_pO, 6oz; = z;-(zDO and 60 2 represents second order terms. showed that the pressure equation is parabolic (elliptic for in-
Differentiating with respect to time gives compressible systems) and that the component mass balance
equations are hyperbolic, in the absence of capillary pressure
{)SO {)p " {)SO {)z; 0 (60 2 ) = 0 terms. These findings are completely analogous to those for
{)p {)t +~ {)z; {)t + , (12a) black oil systems. Thus, because the mathematical struc-
tures of the two systems are similar, and because the mixed
where we have defined finite element - finite volume methodology was shown to be
applicable in [2] to two phase immiscible systems (which are
(12b) two phase, two component analogs of black oil systems), we
can expect the general approach to be equally valid for the
compositional systems considered here.
Introducing Eq. (1) to eliminate {)zUat yields
In the numerical solution of the pressure equation for
the general system, the statement of conservation of total
mass is not applied in the exact form of Eq. (13). Rather,
a very similar equation, equivalent to Eq. (13) to first or-
der in 60p and 6oz:, is applied. This new equation derives
This equation represents the general form of the total mass from a discrete form of the saturation constraint, as will be
balance. For a general compositional simulation, the higher shown below. Thus, although Eq. (13) will not be applied
order terms in Eq. (13) must be evaluated explicitly during directly in our numerical solution, its derivation allows for a
the course of the iteration procedure. However, for a slightly clear demonstration of the relationship between the pressure
compressible, two phase immiscible flow, considerable sim- equations for the compositional and two phase immiscible
plification is possible. Specifically, {or such a case, systems and also allows for a more direct application of the
results of [8]. These two observations are less obvious once
(14) the pressure equation is written in discrete form.

3. Numerical Implementation
where J is the porosity. The first order derivatives of SO are
then given by: In this section we present the triangle based mixed finite
i'~SO
-- = -Ct, (15a) element - finite volume solution technique for the equations
{)p developed above. The mixed finite element method is applied
{)SO 1 to the pressure equation and the finite volume technique to
(15b) the component mass balance equations. An IMPES-type
8z; - JPi'
procedure is applied to the overall system; thus the coupling
where Ct is the total compressibility (note that, because the between the pressure and component mass balance equations
system is immiscible in this case, i and j can be used inter- is largely through the total velocity. We now proceed with
changeably). In addition, for this case {)2 So / {)( zD 2 = 0 and the description of the mixed finite element method.
{)2S0 /{)p2 can be neglected. As a result, Eq. (13) reduces to
3.1 Solution of the Pressure Equation
{)p q~
JCt -
{)t
+ "'il . Vt = L. ....!.,
Pi
(16)
The pressure equation for the three phase multicompo-
nent system involves the total Darcy law statement and the
where we have also used Eq. (8). This equation, in combina- conservation of total mass, satisified through application of
tion with Eq. (4), is precisely the pressure equation for the a volume balance constraint. In the mixed finite element

224
SPE 25253 L.J. DURLOFSKY and M.C.H. CHIEN 5

method, p and Vt are approximated individually. The ap- This equation can be expressed analogously as a volume bal-
proximation spaces for these variables are discussed in, e.g., ance:
[3]. The lowest order basis functions for p and Vt, applied LV! = ~~k, (21)
in this study, are as follows. Pressure is approximated via j
a basis function wk which is piecewise constant throughout
the solution domain. The total velocity is approximated via
where V! is the volume of phase j in element k and v,kis the
pore volume of element k. The volume balance constraint is
a vector basis function ~rn whose normal component is re-
a nonlinear equation which can be solved iteratively through
quired to be continuous across the interfaces of adjacent el-
use of a Newton procedure. The linearized form of this con-
ements. We designate the total number of elements in the
straint is given by
domain Nh and the total number of element edges (i.e., tri-
angle sides) NJ. Then, the total velocity and pressure fields
can be represented in terms of degrees of freedom urn and pk
and basis functions ~rn and wk as follows:
NI
Vt = L urn~rn, (17a)
rn=l
where
Nb ~z~ = z~,l+l _ z~,l, (22b)
t t t
p= LpkWk, (17b)
~pk is defined analogously, and the superscript I indicates
k=l
the estimate for the variables at the previous iteration. Note
where wk = lover element k and zero elsewhere and ~rn that we now use zf, the total mass of component i in element
llq = 6rnq with llq designating the normal to the edge q. The k, rather than z~, as the primary variable.
~rn basis function is nonzero only over the two elements that
share edge m. The equation expressing conservation of total volume
can be derived in a manner similar to that applied to the sat-
The variational form of the total Darcy law is expressed uration constraint in 2 above. The Zi appearing in Eq. (1)
by weighting Eq. (4) with the ~q basis functions, giving will be represented discretely as piecewise constant over each
element; i.e., zf will replace z~ in these equations. This is
Inm;-l'Vt.~qdA=- In 'ilp.~qdA accomplished by integrating Eq. (1) over element k; i.e.,
(18a)
-1 Lf;'il(pjo-pjD).~qdA, (23a)
{) j

n indicates the entire solution domain and


where

(18b)
where
qf = Lq~ dA, (23b)

!:i indicates element k and z:,n


represents zf at time step n,
Introducing the approximations for p and Vt and applying the previous time. The conservation of total volume equation
the divergence theorem, can now be obtained by eliminating ~zf from Eq. (22a) using
Eq. (23a). The resulting equation is given by
I
LN urn
rn=l {)
1m;-l . ~rn. ~qdA - Lp
Nb

k=l
k
{)
1
('il. ~q) wkdA

=- ( Ph~q lldl-1 L f; 'il(Pjo - Pi D) . ~qdA, (24)


JeJO {) j
(19)
where Ph represents prescribed pressure boundary data.
Note that the velocity coefficients, urn, appear in Eq. (24)
The equation expressing conservation of total mass will through the Fi terms. Because P and Vt are approximated
now be developed. This equation takes the form of a volume separately in the mixed finite element method, Eqs. (19) and
balance constraint, which derives from a variational form of (24) together represent the pressure equation. Note further
the saturation constraint. Specifically, we weight Eq. (10) that the zf appear only at the previous iteration or at the
with porosity and the wk basis functions to obtain: previous time step; i.e., Eq. (24) is explicit in zf.
The total Darcy law, Eq. (19), is linear in urn and pk.
However, this equation can be easily rewritten in terms of
~pk through modification of the right hand side. Also, urn

225
6 MIXED FINITE ELEMENT COMPOSITIONAL SIMULATOR SPE 25253

appearing in Eqs. (19) and (24) refers to urn,I+l; that is, the The mixed finite element solution of the pressure equa-
system is implicit in urn. just as it is in pl:. Equations (19) tion yields Vt at each element edge at iteration 1+ 1. This
and (24) can now be solved for unknowns ApI: and urn,l+i. quantity is designated V~+i. Given v~+l, Eq. (1) can be read-
The corresponding system of linear equations is given by ily integrated via a finite volume method to yield z;,I+l. The
method employed is a first order accurate analog of the sec-
ond order method originally developed in [10] and applied in
(25)
[2] for solution of the water saturation equation in two phase
immiscible systems. Following the presentation in [10], the
In the above, A is a square matrix of dimension N B is a method proceeds by first integrating Eq. (1) over element k,
nonsquare matrix of dimension N, x Nb' Cis N b X N, " and D represented lUI f)"ABC in Fig. 1. This integration yields
is a square, diagonal ma.trix of dimension Nb. The A and B
matrices are formed from Eq. (19) and the C and D matrices
are formed from Eq. (24). The hi vector, of dimension N"
is the right hand side of Eq. (19), while h 2 , of dimension N b ,
represents known quantities in Eq. (24). Solution ofEq. (25) where Fa is given by Eq. (8). Applying the divergence theo-
can be accomplished using either direct or iterative methods. rem gives, for f)"ABC,

We have now fully specified the procedure for the solu-


tion of the pressure equation. The Xij, Pj, Ii, k rj , J.lj and
Pio are evaluated at the beginning of the time step and are (28)
held constant throughout the time step. The zf are updated
sequentially via a finite volume technique, which we shall
describe next. We note finally that the procedure described At this point, a numerical approximation to F i . n across
above for solution of the pressure equation conserves total each edge of f)"ABC is required. The states in the two el-
mass exactly at each Newton iteration. ements sharing a particular edge are used to evaluate this
flux. Specifically, if we consider edge AB, the two elements
3.2 Solution of the Component Mass Balance Equations involved are f)"ABC and f)"ABF. Now, from knowledge of Vt,
the quantity
We now describe the finite volume technique employed
to solve the component mass balance equations. Equations
(1) and (8) represent a system of essentially hyperbolic con-
vj = v~+i + LIDI \7 (Plo - Pjo) - (PI - Pi) D), (29)
Ii
servation laws. This system can be represented as
which is equal to Vj/Ii, [see Eq. (6)], can be readily com-
OZ' puted. In this calculation, the capillary pressure and gravi-
7ft = -\7. F(z'), (26) tational terms are approximated using a 'centered difference'
type approach; i.e., information from both elements sharing
where the flux function F represents the convective and grav- the edge is averaged to evaluate these terms. Once vj is com-
itational terms in Eq. (8) and we have for now neglected puted, nAB vj can be formed. This quantity determines the
the capillary pressure and source terms. As discussed in [8], overall 'flow' direction for the flux of phase j through edge
the system of equations above is strictly hyperbolic, assum- AB (recall that Ii 2: 0) and can therefore be used to deter-
ing reasonable physical properties and a suitable three phase mine the upwind element for evaluation of the Xii Pi Ii terms
relative permeability model. As such, proper treatment of in Eq. (8). In this way the numerical fluxes are evaluated
the system technically requires diagonalization of the ma- and the three integrals in Eq. (28) are computed. The zf are
trix of/ OZ' followed by calculation of the numerical flux for then updated via an explicit Euler time integration; i.e.,
each field. Capillary pressure terms should be isolated and
treated separately, as these effects are diffusive, rather than
advective, in nature. (30)

The approach described above is rather complex to im- This gives z;,'+i for use in Eq. (24) at the next (/+2) Newton
plement and typically a more simplified treatment is used in
iteration. In this manner the pressure equation and compo-
general purpose reservoir simulators. This latter method en- nent mass balance equations are solved sequentially. At any
tails treating each component separately and upwinding the
iteration, the pressure equation solution is implicit in pres-
fluxes based on the directions of the phase velocities. Though
sure and velocity and explicit in all other variables, while the
this approach is not as rigorous as that described above, it
solution of the component mass balance equations is fully ex-
is generally sufficiently accurate and stable. Therefore, in
plicit.
this first implementation of our triangle based methodology
for compositional systems, we shall employ this simpler ap- This completes our description of the finite volume ap-
proach, as described below. proach for solution of the component mass balance equations.

226
SPE 25253 1.J. DURLOFSKY and M.C.H. CHIEN 7

It is appropriate here to briefly discuss the coupling of the five point finite difference stencil, can give unreliable sim-
mixed finite element solution of the pressure equation and ulation results in many cases. Triangle based mixed finite
the finite volume solution of the component mass balance element methods, by contrast, can readily grid geometrically
equations. As discussed above, this coupling is primarily complex regions and provide accurate simulation results for
through the total velocity Vt. Further, in many cases the Vt these cases. We note that the development of nine point
terms represent the dominant contribution to F; in Eq. (8). finite difference methods, designed to both model geomet-
These terms appear in the finite volume solution through ric complexity and accurately represent generally anisotropic
integrals of the form permeability fields, is an area of active research.
We now consider an example problem involving a ge-
(31) ometrically complex reservoir with a complex permeability
field. The reservoir structure used in this example is that of
The mixed finite element solution of the pressure equation is an offshore Louisiana field. GOCAD [12], a comprehensive
known to yield superconvergent fluxes at edge midpoints. In- geological modeling package, was used to generate a three
tegrals of the above form are likewise superconvergent. This dimensional geological model of the field. A cross section
indicates that the mixed finite element representation ofVt is containing three faults was selected for flow modeling. This
optimally incorporated into the finite volume solution of the cross section was then triangulated via a Delaunay triangula-
component mass balance equations. Alternative approaches tion procedure, with control points added as needed to main-
which employ Vt (or Vj) directly, rather than integrated as tain a prescribed maximum nodal spacing and maximum and
in Eq. (31) above, do not couple the two solution techniques minimum angles in any triangle. The initial control points
in an optimal fashion. were distributed regularly, resulting in regular, equilateral
triangles in regions away from the domain boundaries. Such
4. Numerical Results elements are desirable for both the mixed finite element and
finite volume solution procedures. The resulting finite ele-
In this section we shall apply the methodology devel- ment mesh is shown in Fig. 2; the three faults are indicated
oped above to model flow through a geologically complex in the figure. The mesh contains 963 elements and 1530
reservoir cross section. The results presented are generated edges.
using a preliminary implementation of the general approach, The heterogeneous permeability field for this exam-
which is applicable to two phase immiscible systems. The ple case was synthesized unconditionally and was not con-
coding necessary to implement the full three phase multi- strained to be representative of the permeabilty field of the
component case into a general purpose reservoir simulator is offshore Louisiana reservoir. The reservoir is assumed to
still in progress. contain five distinct geologic layers, each with a well defined
Before presenting our numerical results, it is appropriate average permeability and variance. Further, the permeabil-
first to briefly review some previous findings regarding the ity at each point in the reservoir is assumed to be oriented
applicability of mixed finite element methods, and the limita- 'stratigraphically,' meaning that the principal directions of
the permeability tensor are oriented parallel and perpendic-
tions of standard finite difference methods, for the modeling
of flow through geologically complex strata. In [11], several ular to the local orientation of the reservoir, rather than hor-
issues concerning the proper modeling of flow through com- izontally and vertically. This assumption is consistent with
plex beds were considered. There, it was shown that the a geological scenario where deposition preceeds deformation.
permeability fields associated with complex geological strata See Ref. 11 for further discussion of stratigraphically oriented
are often not of diagonal tensor form but rather of a full permeability.
tensor forin. Standard finite difference methods typically The permeability field used in this example is displayed
do not represent permeability as a full tensor quantity and in Fig. 3. The figure depicts the magnitude of the local
therefore are unable to adequately model the permeability permeability tensor [i.e., (k : k)1/2], where lighter shades
of complex strata. The error resulting from finite difference indicate higher permeabilities. The faults act to offset the
flow simulations using this inaccurate representation of the geologic layers, as is apparent in the figure. In this example,
permeability field, which is substantial in many cases, was the magnitudes of the average layer permeabilties vary by a
quantified for several example problems in [11]. The trian- factor of about 400; the ratio of the magnitude of the maxi-
gle based mixed finite element methodology applied in this mum permeability to the minimum is over a factor of 1000.
study is not subject to any difficulties in representing per- The permeability tensor for each element is prescribed to
meability in full tensor form and therefore can readily model be oriented parallel and perpendicular to the local reservoir
the permeability fields of complex geological strata. orientation; the component of permeability in the direction
parallel tothe local orientation is fixed to be 10 times greater
Finite difference methods are additionally limited in
their ability to grid geometrically complex geological struc- than the component perpendicular to the local orientation.
tures. Simple corner point geometry approaches, which al- The flow scenario considered isa water-oil two phase
low more general, nonorthogonal grids but retain the usual

227
8 MIXED FINITE ELEMENT COMPOSITIONAL SIMULATOR SPE 25253

immiscible displacement. No gas phase is present. Porosity simulators are particularly ill-suited for problems of this sort,
is assumed constant throughout the reservoir and the system as they cannot represent either complex geometries or com-
is essentially incompressible. The ratio of oil viscosity to plex permeability fields accurately.
water viscosity is 5 and relative permeabilities are given by:
5. Conclusions and Future Directions
krw = S~, (32a)
The purpose of this paper was to formulate a composi-
(32b) tional reservoir simulator based on a mixed finite element -
where Sw is the water saturation and So is the oil saturation. finite volume solution methodology. The formulation is ap-
Capillary pressure effects are assumed negligible. Initially, plicable to two dimensional models of three phase multicom-
So = 1 throughout the reservoir. The governing flow equa- ponent systems. The method is specifically developed for tri-
tions are solved in dimensionless form. The relevant param- angular discretizations and can therefore readily model flow
eter describing the ratio of gravitational effects to convective through geometrically complex geological features. Perme-
effects is given by [2]: ability is treated as a full tensor quantity so the generally
anisotropic permeability fields of complex strata can be mod-
eled accurately.
(33)
The general numerical formulation, which is analogous
to earlier approaches for more limited (e.g., two phase immis-
where k c is a characteristic permeability (e.g., some average
cible or single phase miscible) systems, entails the solution of
of the element permeabilities), 6.p = Pw - Po, 9 is the accel-
a pressure equation and a series of component mass balance
eration due to gravity, V c is the characteristic total velocity,
equations. The pressure equation is solved implicitly using a
and Po (defined earlier) is the oil viscosity. Gravity stable
triangle based mixed finite element method, which yields ac-
displacements can be expected for Gd 1. Computing k c
curate results for total fluxes. The component mass balance
as the harmonic mean of the layer permeabilites, Gd is varied
in the simulations from 0 to 1.75. equations are then solved explicitly through application of
a finite volume method. This technique makes optimal use
The flow is driven by four injectors along the bottom of of the accurate fluxes provided by the mixed finite element
the reservoir and two producers along the top. The injectors solution of the pressure equation. The overall method fits
inject equal amounts of water; one of the producers produces into the framework of a pre-existing general purpose reser-
twice the total fluids of the other. Initial streamlines for the voir simulator.
flow (the initial streaml.ines are unaffected by the value of
Gd ) are displayed in Fig. 4. The injectors and producers are Results for two phase flow through a faulted cross sec-
tion, with a generally anisotropic, stratigraphically oriented
as indicated. The second (counting from the bottom) and
permeability field, were presented in 4. The example prob-
fifth (top) layers are of the highest permeability. The high
lem demonstrates some of the capabilities ofthe solution pro-
concentration of streamlines in these regions is evident in the
cedure, such as the ability to model flow through geometri-
figure.
cally complex regions characterized by full tensor permeabil-
Water saturation contours at 0.25 PVI (pore volumes ity fields. Following the full implementation of the compo-
injected) at three values of G d are shown in Figs. 5-7. The sitional formulation presented in this paper, several exten-
contours corrrespond to Sw = 0.1,0.2, ... ,0.9. At Gd =0 sions of the current methodology appear worthwhile. The
(Fig. 5), the displacement is controlled largely by permeabil- implementation of a fully implicit solution approach could
ity heterogeneity and permeability anisotropy. For Gd = 1.75 be quite useful for some problems. Extension of the scheme
(Fig. 6), gravity has a dominant effect on the displacement. to the fully implicit case basically entails coupling Eqs. (19)
The fronts are sharper and have progressed less distance for and (24) to Eq. (28). The higher order solution of the compo-
this case compared to the previous case. Results for an in- nent mass balance equations could also be of considerable use
termediate value, Gd = 0.35, are displayed in Fig. 7. Here, in many cases. This could be accomplished (for explicit so-
both effects are important and, depending on the region, one lution of the component mass balances) through application
or the other may domina.te. Figure 8 displays simulation re- of the TVD-type higher order solution techniques described
sults for Gd = 1.75 at 0..5 PVI. The fronts remain reasonably in [2] and [10].
sharp, though the heterogeneity of the permeability field ap-
A more substantial extension of the formulation would
pears to have a greater effect on the displacement than at
earlier times. be the implementation of the methodology for three dimen-
sional systems. The approach presented above generalizes
The results of Figs. 5-8 demonstrate some of the capa- quite naturally into three dimensions, with three dimensional
bilities of the general method. Full implementation of the space discretized using tetrahedra. Several complltational
methodology presented in 3 will allow compositional simu- issues, particularly the implementation of an efficient lin-
lation for problems involving complex strata and generally ear equation solver suitable for sparse, unstructured systems,
anisotropic permeability fields. Standard finite difference must be addressed for three dimensional modeling to become

228
SPE 25253 L.J. DURLOFSKY and M.C.H. CHIEN 9

practically viable. In addition, the capability to readily gen- 8. Trangenstein, J .A. and Bell, J .B. "Mathematical Struc-
erate a reservoir simulation model from the three dimensional ture of Compositional Reservoir Simulation," SIAM J.
geological model must be enhanced. This capability will re- Sci. Stat. Comput., 10 (1989) 817-845.
quire the discretization and visualization of complex three
9. Trangenstein, J .A. and Bell, J .B. "Mathematical Struc-
dimensional geological structures as well as the assignment
ture of the Black-Oil Model for Petroleum Reservoir
of physical property data, such as porosity and permeability,
to the elements of an unstructured mesh. Progress in these Simulation," SIAM J. Appl. Math., 49 (1989) 749-783.
areas, in conjunction with further development of numerical 10. Durlofsky, L.J., Engquist, B. and Osher, S. "Triangle
techniques such as those presented in this paper, will allow Based Adaptive Stencils for the Solution of Hyperbolic
for the realistic modeling of flow through complex three di- Conservation Laws," J. Compo Phys., 98 (1992) 64-73.
mensional strata.
11. Durlofsky, L.J. "Modeling Fluid Flow Through Com-
plex Reservoir Beds," SPEFE (Dec. 1992).
Acknowledgments
12. Mallet, J.L., Jacquemin, P. and Cheimanoff, N. "GO-
We are grateful to W.H. Chen for providing us with CAD Project: Geometric Modeling of Complex Geo-
useful insights regarding compositional reservoir simulation, logical Surfaces," paper presented at the 1989 Annual
to R.C. Jones for developing the triangulation technique to International SEG Meeting, Dallas, Oct. 29 - Nov. 2.
generate a finite element mesh from a GOCAD reservoir de-
scription, to J.W. Gibson for providing us with the GOCAD
reservoir model, and to E.Y. Chung for encouraging this work
in its early stages.

References

1. Chien, M.C.H, Lee, S.T. and Chen, W.H. "A New Fully
Implicit Compositional Simulator," paper SPE 13385
presented at the 1985 SPE Symposium on Reservoir
Simulation, Dallas, Feb. 10-13.
2. Durlofsky, L.J. "A Triangle Based Mixed Finite El-
ement - Finite Volume Technique for Modeling Two
Phase Flow Through Porous Media," J. Compo Phys.
(to appear, 1993).
3. Chavent, G. and Jaffre, J. Mathematical Models and Fi-
nite Elements for Reservoir Simulation, North-Holland,
New York (1986).
4. Chavent, G., Cohen, G., Jaffre, J., Eymard, R., Gueril-
lot, D.R. and Weill, L. "Discontinuous and Mixed Finite
Elements for Two-Phase Incompressible Flow," SPERE
(Nov. 1990), 567-575.
5. Russell, T.F. and Wheeler, M.F. "Finite Element
and Finite Difference Methods for Continuous Flows in
Porous Media," in The Mathematics of Reservoir Simu-
lation, 35-106, R.E. Ewing, ed., SIAM, Phila. (1983).
6. Ewing, R.E., Russell, T.F. and Wheeler, M.F. "Simu-
lation of Miscible Displacement Using Mixed Methods
and a Modified Method of Characteristics," paper SPE
12241 presented at the 1983 SPE Symposium on Reser-
voir Simulation, San Francisco, Nov. 15-18.
7. Fung, L.S.-K., Hiebert, A.D. and Nghiem, L.X. "Reser-
voir Simulation with a Control-Volume Finite-Element
Method," SPERE (Aug. 1992), 349-357.
229
SPE252 53

0.4
E~-----+-----_D

........
\ ~
z 0.2
I
}l)
\
o
o 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.6 1.0
x
F

Figure 1. Schematic of a Portion of the Triangular Mesh. Figure 2. Finite Element Mesh for Faulted Reservoir.

N
Co)
o 0.4,.-----------------------.....,

z 0.2

\
I

0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.6 1.0
Figure 3. Permeability Field for Faulted Reservoir.
x

Figure 4. Streamlines for Flow Through Faulted Reservoir.


SPE2525,

0.4-.------------------------, 0.4-r-----------------------....
p

z 0.2

o-l-----.,.....----.,.----""T'"----.,-----.
o
O+----.....,~---""T""---.....,~---""T""---._.
0.4
0.2 0.6 0.8 1.0 o 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
x x

Figure 5. Water Saturation Contours at 0.25 PVI for Gd = O. Figure 6. Water Saturation Contours at 0.25 PVI for Gd = 1.75.

... 0.4_._----------------------,
N
Co)

p
O.4-r------------:
p
-----------,

z 0.2

o +----..,......;..--.,..----,...----r----~
0.8 1.0 o 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
x x

Figure 7. Water Saturation Contours at 0.25 PVI for Gd = 0.35. Figure 8. Water Saturation Contours at 0.5 PVI for Gd = 1.75.

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