2019 EJRNL PP BEHZAD POULADI 1.pdf
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Terbatas Suharsiyah
» ITB
Terbatas Suharsiyah
» ITB
Fluid flow in hydrocarbon reservoirs and consequently optimum scenario for hydrocarbon production, is
heavily influenced by reservoir heterogeneities. Faults are one of the most common types of heterogeneity found in reservoirs. Leaky faults, baffles (limited extent faults) and complex multiple fault geometries are among the most complicated and important types of faults that are difficult to characterize.
Leaky faults, unlike the sealing faults, are in partial communication with other portions of the reservoir.
Because of faults' effect on reservoir connectivity and possible infill drilling plan for accessing all parts of
the reservoirs, possible communication across the fault must be precisely modeled.
In order to detect the effect of a fault on communication within the reservoir, we need to analyze
dynamic data. There are a few analytical methods for modelling partially communicating faults, however,
these methods may not be accurate enough and may be limited in application, especially in complex
situations. Numerical methods (i.e. finite difference or finite element) are also not computationally
economical when a large number of grid blocks are simulated. In the current work, the Fast Marching
Method (FMM) is applied to effectively mimic fluid flow in the heterogeneous areas, such as complex
faults. It is shown that FMM can capture the effect of different fault configurations on the bottom hole
pressure and is also able to capture different linear, radial and spherical flows.