Monotonicity conditions for control volume methods on uniform parallelogram grids in homogeneous media

Control volume methods are frequently used in porous media flow. This article gives an example on how one method, the Multipoint Flux Approximation method (MPFA), fails to satisfy the maximum principle for strong anisotropies or grid skewnesses, and develops conditions for when the monotonicity property holds for uniform parallelogram grids in homogeneous media. The conditions developed are applicable to any nine-point scheme in 2D or 27-point scheme in 3D, and is useful when the method produces a system matrix which is not an M-matrix.     

The Andra Couplex 1 Test Case: Comparisons Between Finite-Element, Mixed Hybrid Finite Element and Finite Volume Element Discretizations

We present here results for the Andra Couplex 1 test case, obtained with the code Cast3m. This code is developped at the CEA (Commissariat l'nergie atomique) and is used mainly to solve problems of solid mechanics, fluid mechanics and heat transfers. Different types of discretization are available, among them finite element, finite volume and mixed hybrid finite element method. Cast3m is also a componant of the platteform Alliances (co-developped by Andra, CEA), which will be used by Andra for the safety calculation of an underground waste disposal in year 2004. We solve the Darcy equation for the water flow and a convection–diffusion transport equation for the Iodine 129 which escapes from a repository cave into the water. The water flow is calculated with a MHFE discretization. It is shown that this method provides sharp results even on relatively coarse grids. The convection–diffusion transport equation is discretized with FE (Finite Element), MHFE (Mixed Hybrid Finite Element) and FV (Finite Volume) methods. In our comparison, we point out the differences of these methods in term of accuracy, respect of the maximum principle and calculations cost. Neither the finite element nor the mixed hybrid finite element approach respects the maximum principle. This results in the presence of negative concentrations near the repository cave, whereas FV calculations respect the monotonicity. We show that mass lumping techniques suppress this problem but with strong restrictions on the grid. FE and MHFE approaches are more accurate than FV for the diffusion equation, but the overall results are equivalent since the advective terms are dominant in the far field and are discretized with centered schemes. We conclude by studying the influence of the grid: a very fine grid near the repository solves almost all the problems of monotonicity, without employing mass lumping techniques. We also observed a very important increase of the accuracy on a structured grid made up of rectangles.     

A finite volume scheme with improved well modeling in subsurface flow simulation

We present the latest enhancement of the nonlinear monotone finite volume method for the near-well regions. The original nonlinear method is applicable for diffusion, advection-diffusion, and multiphase flow model equations with full anisotropic discontinuous permeability tensors on conformal polyhedral meshes. The approximation of the diffusive flux uses the nonlinear two-point stencil which reduces to the conventional two-point flux approximation (TPFA) on cubic meshes but has much better accuracy for the general case of non-orthogonal grids and anisotropic media. The latest modification of the nonlinear method takes into account the nonlinear (e.g., logarithmic) singularity of the pressure in the near-well region and introduces a correction to improve accuracy of the pressure and the flux calculation. In this paper, we consider a linear version of the nonlinear method waiving its monotonicity for sake of better accuracy. The new method is generalized for anisotropic media, polyhedral grids and nontrivial cases such as slanted, partially perforated wells or wells shifted from the cell center. Numerical experiments show noticeable reduction of numerical errors compared to the original monotone nonlinear FV scheme with the conventional Peaceman well model or with the given analytical well rate.     

Multiscale mixed/mimetic methods on corner-point grids

Multiscale simulation is a promising approach to facilitate direct simulation of large and complex grid models for highly heterogeneous petroleum reservoirs. Unlike traditional simulation, approaches based on upscaling/downscaling, multiscale methods seek to solve the full flow problem by incorporating subscale heterogeneities into local discrete approximation spaces. We consider a multiscale formulation based on a hierarchical grid approach, where basis functions with subgrid resolution are computed numerically to correctly and accurately account for subscale variations from an underlying (fine-scale) geomodel when solving the global flow equations on a coarse grid. By using multiscale basis functions to discretise the global flow equations on a (moderately sized) coarse grid, one can retain the efficiency of an upscaling method and, at the same time, produce detailed and conservative velocity fields on the underlying fine grid. For pressure equations, the multiscale mixed finite-element method (MsMFEM) has been shown to be a particularly versatile approach. In this paper, we extend the method to corner-point grids, which is the industry standard for modelling complex reservoir geology. To implement MsMFEM, one needs a discretisation method for solving local flow problems on the underlying fine grids. In principle, any stable and conservative method can be used. Here, we use a mimetic discretisation, which is a generalisation of mixed finite elements that gives a discrete inner product, allows for polyhedral elements, and can (easily) be extended to curved grid faces. The coarse grid can, in principle, be any partition of the subgrid, where each coarse block is a connected collection of subgrid cells. However, we argue that, when generating coarse grids, one should follow certain simple guidelines to achieve improved accuracy. We discuss partitioning in both index space and physical space and suggest simple processing techniques. The versatility and accuracy of the new multiscale mixed methodology is demonstrated on two corner-point models: a small Y-shaped sector model and a complex model of a layered sedimentary bed. A variety of coarse grids, both violating and obeying the above mentioned guidelines, are employed. The MsMFEM solutions are compared with a reference solution obtained by direct simulation on the subgrid.     

An Introduction to Multipoint Flux Approximations for Quadrilateral Grids

Control-volume discretizations using multipoint flux approximations (MPFA) were developed in the last decade. This paper gives an introduction to these methods for quadrilateral grids in two and three dimensions. The introduction is kept on a basic level, and a brief summary to more advanced results is given. Only the O-method with surface midpoints as continuity points is discussed. Flux expressions are derived both in physical and in curvilinear space. Equations for calculation of the transmissibility coefficients are given, and an explicit solution is shown for constant coefficients. K-orthogonality, stability and monotonicity are discussed, and an iterative solution technique is presented. Two numerical examples close the paper.     

Monotone multiscale finite volume method

The MultiScale Finite Volume (MSFV) method is known to produce non-monotone solutions. The causes of the non-monotone solutions are identified and connected to the local flux across the boundaries of primal coarse cells induced by the basis functions. We propose a monotone MSFV (m-MSFV) method based on a local stencil-fix that guarantees monotonicity of the coarse-scale operator, and thus, the resulting approximate fine-scale solution. Detection of non-physical transmissibility coefficients that lead to non-monotone solutions is achieved using local information only and is performed algebraically. For these ‘critical’ primal coarse-grid interfaces, a monotone local flux approximation, specifically, a Two-Point Flux Approximation (TPFA), is employed. Alternatively, a local linear boundary condition can be used for the dual basis functions to reduce the degree of non-monotonicity. The local nature of the two strategies allows for ensuring monotonicity in local sub-regions, where the non-physical transmissibility occurs. For practical applications, an adaptive approach based on normalized positive off-diagonal coarse-scale transmissibility coefficients is developed. Based on the histogram of these normalized coefficients, one can remove the large peaks by applying the proposed modifications only for a small fraction of the primal coarse grids. Though the m-MSFV approach can guarantee monotonicity of the solutions to any desired level, numerical results illustrate that employing the m-MSFV modifications only for a small fraction of the domain can significantly reduce the non-monotonicity of the conservative MSFV solutions.     

Open-source MATLAB implementation of consistent discretisations on complex grids

Accurate geological modelling of features such as faults, fractures or erosion requires grids that are flexible with respect to geometry. Such grids generally contain polyhedral cells and complex grid-cell connectivities. The grid representation for polyhedral grids in turn affects the efficient implementation of numerical methods for subsurface flow simulations. It is well known that conventional two-point flux-approximation methods are only consistent for K-orthogonal grids and will, therefore, not converge in the general case. In recent years, there has been significant research into consistent and convergent methods, including mixed, multipoint and mimetic discretisation methods. Likewise, the so-called multiscale methods based upon hierarchically coarsened grids have received a lot of attention. The paper does not propose novel mathematical methods but instead presents an open-source Matlab? toolkit that can be used as an efficient test platform for (new) discretisation and solution methods in reservoir simulation. The aim of the toolkit is to support reproducible research and simplify the development, verification and validation and testing and comparison of new discretisation and solution methods on general unstructured grids, including in particular corner point and 2.5D PEBI grids. The toolkit consists of a set of data structures and routines for creating, manipulating and visualising petrophysical data, fluid models and (unstructured) grids, including support for industry standard input formats, as well as routines for computing single and multiphase (incompressible) flow. We review key features of the toolkit and discuss a generic mimetic formulation that includes many known discretisation methods, including both the standard two-point method as well as consistent and convergent multipoint and mimetic methods. Apart from the core routines and data structures, the toolkit contains add-on modules that implement more advanced solvers and functionality. Herein, we show examples of multiscale methods and adjoint methods for use in optimisation of rates and placement of wells.     

Multiscale mass conservative domain decomposition preconditioners for elliptic problems on irregular grids

Multiscale methods can in many cases be viewed as special types of domain decomposition preconditioners. The localisation approximations introduced within the multiscale framework are dependent upon both the heterogeneity of the reservoir and the structure of the computational grid. While previous works on multiscale control volume methods have focused on heterogeneous elliptic problems on regular Cartesian grids, we have tested the multiscale control volume formulations on two-dimensional elliptic problems involving heterogeneous media and irregular grid structures. Our study shows that the tangential flow approximation commonly used within multiscale methods is not suited for problems involving rough grids. We present a more robust mass conservative domain decomposition preconditioner for simulating flow in heterogeneous porous media on general grids.     

Velocity interpolation and streamline tracing on irregular geometries

Streamline tracing on irregular grids requires reliable interpolation of velocity fields. We propose a new method for direct streamline tracing on polygon and polytope cells. While some numerical methods provide a basis function that can be used for interpolation, other methods provide only the fluxes at the faces of the elements. We introduce the concept of full- and raw-field methods. Full-field methods have built-in interpolation but are often not defined on general grids such as polygonal and polyhedral grids which we examine here. Also, reliability issues may arise on non-simplicial meshes in terms of not being able to reproduce constant velocity fields. We propose an interpolation in H(div) and H(curl) valid on general grids that is based on barycentric coordinates and that reproduces uniform flow. The interpolation can be used to compute the streamline directly on the complex cell geometry. The method generalizes to convex polytopes in 3D, with a restriction on the polytope topology near corners that is shown to be satisfied by several popular grid types. Numerical results confirm that the method is applicable to general grids and preserves uniform flow.     

Coupling multipoint flux mixed finite element methodswith continuous Galerkin methods for poroelasticity

We study the numerical approximation on irregular domains with general grids of the system of poroelasticity, which describes fluid flow in deformable porous media. The flow equation is discretized by a multipoint flux mixed finite element method and the displacements are approximated by a continuous Galerkin finite element method. First-order convergence in space and time is established in appropriate norms for the pressure, velocity, and displacement. Numerical results are presented that illustrate the behavior of the method.     

A model for conductive faults with non-matching grids

In this paper, we are interested in modeling single-phase flow in a porous medium with known faults seen as interfaces. We mainly focus on how to handle non-matching grids problems arising from rock displacement along the fault. We describe a model that can be extended to multi-phase flow where faults are treated as interfaces. The model is validated in an academic framework and is then extended to 3D non K-orthogonal grids, and a realistic case is presented.     

Higher resolution total velocity <Emphasis Type="Italic">Vt</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Va</Emphasis> finite-volume formulations on cell-centred structured and unstructured grids

Novel cell-centred finite-volume formulations are presented for incompressible and immiscible two-phase flow with both gravity and capillary pressure effects on structured and unstructured grids. The Darcy-flux is approximated by a control-volume distributed multipoint flux approximation (CVD-MPFA) coupled with a higher resolution approximation for convective transport. The CVD-MPFA method is used for Darcy-flux approximation involving pressure, gravity, and capillary pressure flux operators. Two IMPES formulations for coupling the pressure equation with fluid transport are presented. The first is based on the classical total velocity Vt fractional flow (Buckley Leverett) formulation, and the second is based on a more recent Va formulation. The CVD-MPFA method is employed for both Vt and Va formulations. The advantages of both coupled formulations are contrasted. The methods are tested on a range of structured and unstructured quadrilateral and triangular grids. The tests show that the resulting methods are found to be comparable for a number of classical cases, including channel flow problems. However, when gravity is present, flow regimes are identified where the Va formulation becomes locally unstable, in contrast to the total velocity formulation. The test cases also show the advantages of the higher resolution method compared to standard first-order single-point upstream weighting.     

A Finite-Volume Method with Hexahedral Multiblock Grids for Modeling Flow in Porous Media

This paper presents a finite-volume method for hexahedral multiblock grids to calculate multiphase flow in geologically complex reservoirs. Accommodating complex geologic and geometric features in a reservoir model (e.g., faults) entails non-orthogonal and/or unstructured grids in place of conventional (globally structured) Cartesian grids. To obtain flexibility in gridding as well as efficient flow computation, we use hexahedral multiblock grids. These grids are locally structured, but globally unstructured. One major advantage of these grids over fully unstructured tetrahedral grids is that most numerical methods developed for structured grids can be directly used for dealing with the local problems. We present several challenging examples, generated via a commercially available tool, that demonstrate the capabilities of hexahedral multiblock gridding. Grid quality is discussed in terms of uniformity and orthogonality. The presence of non-orthogonal grid and full permeability tensors requires the use of multi-point discretization methods. A flux-continuous finite-difference (FCFD) scheme, previously developed for stratigraphic hexahedral grid with full-tensor permeability, is employed for numerical flow computation. We extend the FCFD scheme to handle exceptional configurations (i.e. three- or five-cell connections as opposed to the regular four), which result from employing multiblock gridding of certain complex objects. In order to perform flow simulation efficiently, we employ a two-level preconditioner for solving the linear equations that results from the wide stencil of the FCFD scheme. The individual block, composed of cells that form a structured grid, serves as the local level; the higher level operates on the global block configuration (i.e. unstructured component). The implementation uses an efficient data structure where each block is wrapped with a layer of neighboring cells. We also examine splitting techniques [14] for the linear systems associated with the wide stencils of our FCFD operator. We present three numerical examples that demonstrate the method: (1) a pinchout, (2) a faulted reservoir model with internal surfaces and (3) a real reservoir model with multiple faults and internal surfaces.     

含不同半径孔洞的颗粒体模型的力学行为数值模拟

本文通过编程建立了非连续介质(颗粒体材料)模型,采用FLAC软件模拟了静水压力条件下不同半径的巷道围岩中的剪切应变增量、最小主应力及最大主应力的分布规律。研究表明,随着孔洞半径的增大,呈圆环形的剪切应变增量与最小主应力的高值区的圈数、呈辐射状的最大主应力的高值区的延伸范围及剪切应变增量的最大值都呈先慢后快的增长趋势。模型中最大的拉应力接近于在模型四周所施加的压应力,而最大的压应力约为所施加的压应力的5～10倍。模型内部的剪切应变增量、最小主应力及最大主应力的分布是高度不均匀的。具有较高的差应力的位置与具有较高的剪切应变增量的位置具有很好的一致性。     

渝东北地区WX2井页岩气赋存特征及其勘探指示意义

为了深入研究渝东北地区龙马溪组页岩气赋存特征,该文以WX2井页岩高温高压等温吸附及覆压孔隙度实验数据为 基础,通过误差最小原则挑选了适合研究区的吸附模型,并基于孔隙度随有效应力变化关系建立游离气模型,综合分析了 吸附气、游离气及总含气随埋藏深度的变化特征。研究结果表明：WX2井页岩不同温度下过剩吸附量随着压力增大,均呈 现先增大后减小的趋势,随着温度的升高,最大吸附量逐渐减小,而校正后的绝对吸附量随压力增加,先迅速增大后增速 放缓,且用D-A模型拟合绝对吸附量数据平均误差最小,基本可以反应研究区页岩真实吸附过程。页岩样品在加压过程中 孔隙及微裂隙会逐渐闭合,卸压时绝大部分会重新打开,存在部分塑性变形造成的不可逆损伤,但不可逆损伤所占比重较 轻。不同方向样品孔隙度与有效应力之间具有负指数关系,富含层理页岩平行样品较垂直样品具有更大的初始孔隙度以及 更强的孔隙应力敏感性。页岩气赋存特征综合受控于储集层特征、吸附能力、温度及压力等因素,其中温度对吸附气和游 离气含量为负效应,储层压力为正效应;吸附气、游离气及总含气量均遵循先增大后减小的总体趋势,其中吸附气及游离 气含量分别主要受控于温度及储层压力。此外,临界深度上下,页岩吸附态与游离态相对含量发生变化,其对页岩气富集 评价具有重要意义。     

Variational method for objective analysis of scalar variable and its derivative

In this study real time data have been used to compare the standard and triangle method by performing the objective analysis of mean sea level pressure. In the standard method, derivative fields are obtained from the grid point data using finite difference scheme whereas in the triangle method, a set of non-overlapping triangles are formed from the observations and the scalar and the spatial derivatives are computed directly at the centroid of each of the non-overlapping triangles. These scalars and their derivatives are then mapped to uniform grids by using the standard method. It has been found that objectively analysed scalar field obtained using standard method is superior to the scalar field derived by the triangle method, whereas the derivative fields produced by triangle method are superior to the derivative fields produced using standard method. A variational objective analysis scheme has been developed and an experiment has been carried out with depression case of June (11–15) 2004. It is found that the new scheme (variational) is able to extract the better parts of both triangle and standard methods. The results of this study will be useful in carrying out diagnostic calculations that involve derivative estimates.     

Analysis and comparison of mixed finite element and multipoint flux approximation methods for homogeneous media

We consider discretization on quadrilateral grids of an elliptic operator occurring, for example, in the pressure equation for porous-media flow. In a realistic setting – with non-orthogonal grid, and anisotropic, heterogeneous permeability – special discretization techniques are required. Mixed finite element (MFE) and multipoint flux approximation (MPFA) are two methods that can handle such situations. Previously, a framework for analytical comparison of MFE and MPFA in special cases has been suggested. A comparison of MFE and MPFA-O (one of two main variants of MPFA) for isotropic, homogeneous permeability on a uniformly distorted grid was also performed. In the current paper, we utilize the suggested framework in a slightly different manner to analyze and compare MFE, MPFA-O and MPFA-U (the second main variant of MPFA). We reconsider the case previously analyzed. We also consider the case of generally anisotropic, homogeneous permeability on an orthogonal grid.     

Interpretation of well-cell pressures on hexagonal grids in numerical reservoir simulation

Peaceman’s equivalent well-cell radius for 2D square grids has been generalized to 2D grids consisting of regular hexagons. The development consists of the following steps. Firstly, the analytical solution for the pressure drop between injector and producer for wells in a seven-spot pattern is determined. Secondly, this solution is compared with the numerical solution on hexagonal grids for a sixth of a seven-spot pattern. Finally, the equivalent well-cell radius is calculated, and its asymptotic behavior for infinitely fine grids is derived. The results are valid for both steady-state and unsteady-state conditions.