A novel flow-based geometrical upscaling method to represent three-dimensional complex sub-seismic fault zone...

Area of Science:

• Geoscience
• Petroleum Engineering
• Computational Modeling

Background:

• Hydrocarbon reservoirs contain complex, heterogeneous, and anisotropic 3D fault zones.
• Representing 3D fault structures in 2D planar surfaces is a major challenge for standard reservoir flow simulators due to limited functionality.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel flow-based geometrical upscaling (FBGU) method.
• To effectively capture the impact of 3D fault zone structures in low-resolution reservoir flow simulation models.

Main Methods:

• Developed a new flow-based geometrical upscaling (FBGU) method.
• Calculated across-fault and up-fault transmissibility from 3D flow paths.
• Integrated these transmissibilities as implicit connections in upscaled models.

Main Results:

• FBGU method accurately represents 3D fault zone structures in conventional low-resolution models.
• High-resolution models with explicit 3D fault geometry were compared to models using FBGU.
• Flow results demonstrated the high accuracy and geometric flexibility of the FBGU method.

Conclusions:

• The developed FBGU method is highly accurate for upscaling complex fault structures.
• This method offers geometric flexibility, enhancing reservoir flow simulation capabilities.
• FBGU effectively bridges the gap between detailed 3D fault geometry and practical 2D simulation models.