THE IMPACT OF POROUS MEDIA HETEROGENEITY ON FLOW INSTABILITIES:

UNIFORM AND RANDOM ISOTROPIC PERMEABILITY DISTRIBUTION

Amanda T. Goes1,2 - amanda.tavares33@gmail.com

Igor F.F. Monteiro2,3 - igorfmonteiro@gmail.com
Konstantinos Christou2 - r02kc14@abdn.ac.uk
Jefferson L.M.A. Gomes2 - jefferson.gomes@abdn.ac.uk
1 School of Engineering, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) - Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
2 Environmental and Industrial Fluid Mechanics Group, School of Engineering, University of
Aberdeen - Aberdeen, UK
3 Petroleum Engineering School, Catholic University of Petrópolis (UCP) - Petrópolis, RJ, Brazil

Abstract. Numerical modelling of multiphase flows in porous media has application in a wide
range of disciplines, from hydrocarbons exploration and extraction to groundwater operations.
This paper describes a conservative computational multi-fluid porous media flows model able
to exploit the latest mesh generation methods on fully-unstructured triangular grids. The model
is based upon two key numerical characteristics: (a) the family of Pn DG-Pm DG finite element
pairs and (b) a consistent overlapping control volume finite element method (CVFEM) formu-
lation. In particular, the P1 DG-P1 DG element (i.e., discontinuous and piecewise linear shape
functions to discretise velocity and pressure fields) is introduced as the basis of the discreti-
sation and also as the CVFEM counterpart. In addition to the unstructured grid used for the
simulations, uniform and random permeability distribution are introduced. The formulation is
applied to saturated porous media systems.

Keywords: Porous media, Finite element methods, Control volume, Discontinuous Galerkin,
Multi-fluid flows, Multi-physics methods.

1 INTRODUCTION

Rock properties such as porosity and permeability show wide spatial variability which lead
to first-order effects in flow and transport through geologic formations (Bear, 1972; Dagan,
1989; Gelhar, 1993). In addition to such spatial variation in rock properties, physical properties
of groundwater contaminant such as density, viscosity, and diffusivity on the concentration of
the dissolved species can also vary in space and time due to non-linear dependence (Flowers &
Hunt, 2007). A contaminant can be more viscous than the ambient fluid, furthermore, its viscos-
ity may change with time due to phase separation, evaporation of lighter volatile components
and dissolution (Mercer & Cohen, 1990).
Under certain conditions, the displacement of a more viscous fluid by a less viscous one
in porous media is unstable and can cause hydrodynamic instabilities, known as fingers. This
phenomenon is referred to as viscous fingering (Bensimon et al., 1986; Homsy, 1987). These

Proceedings of XVIII ENMC - National Meeting on Computational Modelling and VI ECTM - Meeting on Materials Science and Technology
Salvador, BA - 13-16 October 2015
small disturbances in the interface between the fluids generate plume structures in the form of
fingers, which protrude in the low-mobility region of the flow, as result of the adverse viscosity
ratio.
Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) is the process of extracting liquid hydrocarbons from reser-
voirs without using conventional methods. These conventional methods produce around 40% of
the initial oil, which means that at least half of the oil cannot be effectively recovered. Viscous
fingering has a direct impact on EOR since it decreases the sweep efficiency of the extraction
operation. The efficiency diminishes as the injected fluid in the reservoir will develop preferen-
tial routes into the production wells, without displacing the bulk of oil. Hence the importance of
viscous fingering studies in porous media and the development and optimisation of algorithms
to better predict multiphase porous media flows in all length-scales. The advance on this area
could lead to new technologies that can be used to forecast potential oil reserves that would be
an attractive target to EOR operations (Scovazzi et al., 2013).
The main objective of this paper is to present a study of the impact of heterogeneous porous
media in fingers formation using a FEM-based unstructured and fixed mesh multi-fluid model
with uniform and random permeability distribution. In addition, the study focused in flow
instabilities determined by the viscosity ratio. In the simulations presented in this paper the
P1 DG-P1 DG element pairs and the overlapping control volume finite element method (CVFEM)
model were used, in which the dual velocity-pressure fields are embedded in FEM space with
simultaneous projection into CV space. Scalar fields (e.g., saturation, concentration, density,
etc) are represented in the control volume space. High-order accurate downwind schemes on
element boundaries on discontinuous scalar fields are flux-limited (based on NVD approach) to
obtain bounded and compressive (capturing the interfaces) solutions (see Radunz et al., 2014,
for a detailed description). Section 2 summarises the numerical formulation used in this work,
followed by description of the computational experiment. Finally, conclusions are drawn in
Section 4.

2 NUMERICAL FORMULATION

This section summarises the numerical formulation to solve multiphase porous media flow
equations — the overlapping control volume - discontinuous Galerkin finite element method
(OCV-DGFEM). This method is based on both, an overlapping scheme for CVFEM mixing
formulation and the recently developed Pn DG-Pm DG group of FE types. The underlying mass
balance equations (eg, saturation, density, mass fraction, etc.) are solved in CV space and a
Petrov-Galerkin FEM is used to obtain the high order fluxes on the control volume boundaries
which are limited to achieve bounded mass-based fields (e.g., positiveness of densities and
saturations ranging from zero to one).
The new family of Pn DG-Pm element pair was originally introduced by Cotter et al. (2009)
(see also Cotter et al., 2011, for geophysical fluid dynamics, GFD, applications). In particu-
lar, the P1 DG-P2 element pair – linear discontinuous polynomial FE basis function for velocity

Proceedings of XVIII ENMC - National Meeting on Computational Modelling and VI ECTM - Meeting on Materials Science and Technology
Salvador, BA - 13-16 October 2015
Figure 1- Schematics of the saturation (top) and permeability (bottom) distribution in the simulated
2


domain in cm .

(P1 DG) and quadratic polynomial FE basis function for pressure (P2 ), was developed to rep-
resent the balance of geostrophic pressure and velocity without introducing spurious pressure
modes. Any numerical discretisation that is not based upon quads and hexs meshes very of-
ten results in spurious pressure modes due to the unbalancing number of velocity and pressure
degrees-of-freedom (Cotter et al., 2009; Sollie & Bokhve, 2006). However, tests on the P1 DG-
P2 element-pair proved that this element is LBB stable and does not present spurious pressure
modes on arbitrary unstructured meshes. Additionally, this family of finite element pairs, when
used with the OCV-DGFEM, results in the exact balance in the extended Darcy equation.
Darcy’s law for single phase flow can be extended for immiscible multiphase flow as,
Krk (Sk ) K
qk = − (∇pk − suk ) , (1)
µk
where qk is the k (∈ {1, Np })-phase Darcy flow rate. S, K, Krk (Sk ) and µ are saturation,
absolute permeability tensor, phase relative permeability and viscosity, respectively. su is a

Proceedings of XVIII ENMC - National Meeting on Computational Modelling and VI ECTM - Meeting on Materials Science and Technology
Salvador, BA - 13-16 October 2015
source term (e.g., gravity force) associated with the force balance and p is the pressure. Defining
the advective velocity averaged over the entire domain – uk = qk /Sk , then we may rewrite
Eq.(1),

σ k uk = −∇p + suk , (2)

σ k = µk Sk (Krk K)−1 represents the implicit linearisation of the viscous frictional forces, and is
piecewise constant within each FE and is obtained via basis functions local to each CV within
each element. Although this approach can be attractive due to high-order accuracy, the associate
computational costs would be prohibitive for simulations in complex 3D geometries and larger
number of calculated fields. In order to overcome such major computational cost, overlapping
(or hybrid) basis functions are introduced (Gomes et al., 2015; Jackson et al., 2013) to combine
finite element representation for velocity and pressure and control volume representation for
saturation. The FE velocity and pressure are obtained from basis function Q and P ,
Nu Np
X X
uk = Qj uk,j and p= Pj p j (3)
j=1 j=1

where Np and Nu are the number of degrees of freedom for the FE velocity and pressure repre-
sentations, respectively. The FEM solution, ΨFEM , is related to the CV solution, Ψ, by (Gomes
et al., 2012)
Z
Ni (ΨFEM − Ψ) dV = 0, ∀i ∈ {1, 2, ..., N },
Ω

where Ni is the FE basis function associated with the i-th degree of freedom. In addition, the
FEM representation of Ψ can be expressed as,
N
X
ΨFEM = Nj ΨFEMj .
j=1

For the control volume space, the basis function Mj is used and correlated to Ni by,

BΨFEM = QΨ, (4)

with
Z Z
B= Ni Nj dV and Q = Ni Mj dV,
Ω Ω

and

ΨFEM = (ΨFEM1 , . . . , ΨFEMN )T and Ψ = (Ψ1 , Ψ2 , . . . , ΨM )T

Proceedings of XVIII ENMC - National Meeting on Computational Modelling and VI ECTM - Meeting on Materials Science and Technology
Salvador, BA - 13-16 October 2015
 Each component of the weak form of Eq.(2) is tested with the velocity basis function space
to obtain:
XZ   1
I
Qi σ k uk + ∇p − suk dV + Qi n (p − pnab ) dΓ
E Ω
2 ΓE
E
I
+ Qi n (p − pbc ) dΓ = 0, (5)
ΓΩ

where ΩE and ΓE are the volume and boundary of element E, respectively, and ΓΩ is the surface
bounding of the computational domain. The pressure appearing in the jump condition pnab is
the pressure value on the other side of the element boundary neighbouring element E. Equation
(5) can be represented, in matrix form, as:
Mσ u = −Cp + su , (6)
where Mσ , C and su are the sigma-weighted mass matrix, gradient matrix and discretised
source terms, respectively.
The saturation equation,
∂Sk
φ + ∇ · (uk Sk ) = scty,k , (7)
∂t
(where φ represents the porosity) can be discretised in space by testing with CV basis functions
Mi with the θ-method (Gomes et al., 2012) in time. Summing the discretised equation over all
Nk phases, the global continuity equation is obtained,
Nk
(Z
φ Sk n+1 n


− S
I h   i
k 1
n+ 12
X i i
Mi dV + θn+ 2 n · un+1
k Sk
n+1
+ 1 − θ n · u n n
k k dΓ
S
k=1 Ω ∆t Γ CV i
Z 
n+θ
− Mi scty,k dV = 0, (8)
Ω

with the mass conservation constraint,

Nk
X
Sk ni = 1, ∀n
k=1

In matrix form Eq. (8) becomes,

BT un+1 = sp . (9)

The global mass balance equation (Eq. (9)) and force balance equation (Eq. (6)) are solved
by vanishing the velocity term and solving the system of equations for pressure. At time level
n + 1, Eqs. (6 and 9) can be rewritten as:
Mσ un+1 = Cpn+1 + sn+1

u
BT un+1 = sn+1 p

Proceedings of XVIII ENMC - National Meeting on Computational Modelling and VI ECTM - Meeting on Materials Science and Technology
Salvador, BA - 13-16 October 2015
Figure 2- Snapshots of saturation profile of phase 1 at t=0.125 s and t=0.5 s. Simulations were per-
formed with three viscosity ratio values, 1, 3 and 25, in a fixed mesh. Initial saturation and permeability
distribution is shown in Fig. 1.

Application of a discontinuous FEM for velocity leads to a block-diagonal Mσ matrix that

can be readily inverted, each block being local to an element. This system of equation can be
rewritten to produce the pressure equation,

BT M−1
σ Cp
n+1
= sn+1
p − BT Mσ−1 sn+1
u . (10)

The computationally demanding effort to solve the pressure matrix equation (arising from the
fully discontinuous FEM formulation) is achieved using a multigrid-like approach.

Proceedings of XVIII ENMC - National Meeting on Computational Modelling and VI ECTM - Meeting on Materials Science and Technology
Salvador, BA - 13-16 October 2015
Figure 3-

Schematics of the simulated domain with randomly-generated permeability (K) distribution
2
in cm .

3 RESULTS

A non-linear advection equation for the relative saturation fluid phases, representing two-
phase immiscible flows in porous media has been simulated. The fluid 1 is injected at a velocity
u1 φ = 1. At the right hand side of the formation, at the outlet boundary, the pressure level is
set to zero and all remaining boundary conditions are naturally applied. Fixed time-step size
of 1×10−4 was used in the fixed mesh grids. All simulations shown in this Section used the
overlapping mixed FEM (Section 2) with piecewise linear variation of the velocity and pressure
within each element (P1 DG-P1 DG). Saturation is collocated at the pressure nodes and although
it is calculated using a CV formulation, a FEM interpolation is used to form the high-order
fluxes, the saturation profile for the cases are shown in Fig. 1. All permeability values presented
are in cm2 .

3.1 Case 1: Heterogeneous Porous Media under uniform Permeability Values

In this set of simulations, Fluid 1 is injected from the left boundary (Figs. 1-b). Figure 2
shows snapshots of saturation distribution in simulations performed in fixed mesh (1545 nodes
in 2938 triangular elements) and viscosity ratios of 1, 3 and 25. Fingers are mainly formed (or
triggered) in high-permeability regions and are more pronounced in flows with viscosity ratio
larger than 3. In this work, the 2-D domain heterogeneity is introduced by imposing 4 distinct
absolute permeability (K) values, as shown in Fig. 1-b. There is no flow across the bottom and
top edges (no-slip condition) and the initial velocity of Fluid 2 is set to zero. Gravity is assumed
negligible.
By focusing the grid resolution in the saturation front (with a P1 DG-P2 adaptive mesh),
Christou et al. (2015) (see also Radunz et al., 2014) demonstrated the explicit formation of fin-
gers formed due to the instability in the pressure field and triggered by viscosity ratio. In our

Proceedings of XVIII ENMC - National Meeting on Computational Modelling and VI ECTM - Meeting on Materials Science and Technology
Salvador, BA - 13-16 October 2015
Figure 4- Snapshots of water saturation (fluid 1) distribution (left) at t = 0.5 s for three viscosity ratio
values (1, 3 and 25). Integral of fluids 1 (water) and 2 (oil) in the domain over time (right).

simulation, there are two high-permeability regions in the upper part of the domain, (K1 and K2
– Fig. 1-b), in which the flow accelerates (i.e., cross flows between regions of distinct perme-
abilities). In the lower part of the domain (K3 and K4 ), Fluid 1 percolates the medium with a
relatively low velocity. Although, the solutions presented in this work are grid-independent (see
Jackson et al., 2013), no fingers could be observed due to mesh coarseness (fingers were ob-
served in finer uniform and adaptive meshes using the same methods presented here in Christou
et al., 2015), and the low-resolution P1 DG-P1 DG element-pairs (see also Gomes et al., 2015).
Initial finger formation can be noticed around the fully saturated squared-region (Fig. 2-c and
Fig. 2-f).

Proceedings of XVIII ENMC - National Meeting on Computational Modelling and VI ECTM - Meeting on Materials Science and Technology
Salvador, BA - 13-16 October 2015
3.2 Case 2: Heterogeneous Porous Media under Random generated Permeability Values

In the simulations performed here, fixed mesh with 701 nodes (in 1298 triangular elements),
viscosity ratios of 1, 3 and 25, and random permeability distribution were used. Figure 3 shows
the permeability distribution, 1×10−4 ≥ K ≥ 1×10−8 cm2 .
The initial shape of Fluid 1’s front, near the inlet is similar to the cases studied in the previ-
ous section (Fig. 4). Due to the strong permeability gradient across the domain the formation of
fingers is intensified. This behaviour can be noticed in Fig. 4, where this phenomenon is better
illustrated in the case of viscosity ratio 25. Figure 4-(d,e), highlight two breakpoints. These are
greatly relevant because they represent the point in time where the reservoir starts recovering
more water than oil. In Fig. 4-(f), there is no visible breakpoint, there would be necessary longer
simulation to capture this convergence point.

4 CONCLUSIONS

This article summarises the new overlapping control volume finite element method for
multi-fluid flows. The formulation is based upon a dual consistent pressure-velocity repre-
sentation in CV and FEM spaces and used a new family of element types, Pn DG-Pm DG. The
aim of this paper is to extend and further apply the formulation (embedded in the Fluidity soft-
ware framework (Fluidity Project, 2015)) to multiphase flows in heterogeneous porous media
combined with either uniform or random generated permeability distribution.
Random permeability was used in this study to better represent the rock formation of a
reservoir, since the permeability values change between the rocks. This method was chosen to
improve the precision of the calculations, to best represent the results that we would obtain in
real life.
So far, the results illustrate that the displacing fluid tends to flow easier towards the zones
with higher values of permeability (spatial acceleration / deceleration of flow – fingers forma-
tion). It can also be seen that finger like structure will remain connected as it travels towards the
outlet while it will grow faster in zones with higher permeability. This behaviour is triggered
by the permeability contrast among layers.
As can be seen from Fig. 4 the higher the viscosity ratio the easier it is for the uniform front
of the injected fluid to break into fingers that will decrease the recovery of hydrocarbon content.
Also, the higher the viscosity ratio, more to the right the breakpoint is shifted, in the time axis.
The increased viscosity ratio increases the computational cost and requires the decrease of the
solution’s time-step.
Both the geometrical domain and the development of the flow, as can be seen in Fig.4-c
follow the linear tip-splitting finger behaviour. In addition properties such as porosity and sat-
uration can be readily up-scaled using statistical methods.To conclude, up-scaling or averaging
the geological model can assist in running reservoir models faster and as close as possible to
fine geological model.

Proceedings of XVIII ENMC - National Meeting on Computational Modelling and VI ECTM - Meeting on Materials Science and Technology
Salvador, BA - 13-16 October 2015
Acknowledgements

Miss Goes and Mr Monteiro would like to acknowledge the support of the Brazilian Re-
search Council, CNPq, under the Science without Borders scholarship programme.

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Proceedings of XVIII ENMC - National Meeting on Computational Modelling and VI ECTM - Meeting on Materials Science and Technology
Salvador, BA - 13-16 October 2015