Reservoir modeling is playing an increasingly important role in developing and producing hydrocarbon reserves. In this paper, we provide a brief overview of some main challenges in reservoir modeling, i.e., accurate and efficient modeling of complex reservoir geometry and heterogeneous reservoir properties. We then present modeling techniques we recently developed in addressing these challenges, including a method for generating constrained Voronoi grids and a generic global scale-up method. We focus on the Voronoi gridding method, which is based on a new constrained Delaunay triangulation algorithm and a rigorous method of adapting Voronoi grids to piecewise linear constraints. The global scale-up method based on generic flows is briefly described. Numerical examples are provided to demonstrate the techniques and the advantage of combining them in constructing accurate and efficient reservoir models.

Usually extended two-phase capillary pressures are used in three-phase simulations, because three-phase capillary pressures are not possible or hard to measure. In this work three-phase capillary pressure surfaces are created by at pore network model. The input parameters to this network model are found by matching two-phase capillary pressure curves. This matching is done with a slightly modified EnKF routine. Tables with three-phase capillary pressures are created and used as input to flow simulations.

In this paper, we apply streamline-diffusion and Galerkin-least-squares finite element methods for 2D steady-state two-phase model in the cathode of polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) that contains a gas channel and a gas diffusion layer (GDL). This two-phase PEFC model is typically modeled by a modified Navier-Stokes equation for the mass and momentum, with Darcy's drag as an additional source term in momentum for flows through GDL, and a discontinuous and degenerate convection-diffusion equation for water concentration. Based on the mixed finite element method for the modified Navier-Stokes equation and standard finite element method for water equation, we design streamline-diffusion and Galerkin-least-squares to overcome the dominant convection arising from the gas channel. Meanwhile, we employ Kirchhoff transformation to deal with the discontinuous and degenerate diffusivity in water concentration. Numerical experiments demonstrate that our finite element methods, together with these numerical techniques, are able to get accurate physical solutions with fast convergence.

We describe an operator splitting technique based on physics rather than on dimension for the numerical solution of a nonlinear system of partial differential equations which models three-phase flow through heterogeneous porous media. The model for three-phase flow considered in this work takes into account capillary forces, general relations for the relative permeability functions and variable porosity and permeability fields. In our numerical procedure a high resolution, nonoscillatory, second order, conservative central difference scheme is used for the approximation of the nonlinear system of hyperbolic conservation laws modeling the convective transport of the fluid phases. This scheme is combined with locally conservative mixed finite elements for the numerical solution of the parabolic and elliptic problems associated with the diffusive transport of fluid phases and the pressure-velocity problem. This numerical procedure has been used to investigate the existence and stability of nonclassical shock waves (called transitional or undercompressive shock waves) in two-dimensional heterogeneous flows, thereby extending previous results for one-dimensional flow problems. Numerical experiments indicate that the operator splitting technique discussed here leads to computational efficiency and accurate numerical results.

A physically based numerical approach is presented for modeling multiphase flow and transport processes in fractured rock. In particular, a general framework model is discussed for dealing with fracture-matrix interactions, which is applicable to both continuum and discrete fracture conceptualization. The numerical modeling approach is based on a general multiple-continuum concept, suitable for modeling any types of fractured reservoirs, including double-, triple-, and other multiple-continuum conceptual models. In addition, a new, physically correct numerical scheme is discussed to calculate multiphase flow between fractures and the matrix, using continuity of capillary pressure at the fracture-matrix interface. The proposed general modeling methodology is verified in special cases using analytical solutions and laboratory experimental data, and demonstrated for its application in modeling flow through fractured vuggy reservoirs.

Aerosol modelling is very important to study and simulate the behavior of aerosol dynamics in atmospheric environment. In this paper, we consider the general nonlinear aerosol dynamic equations which describe the evolution of the aerosol distribution. Continuous time and discrete time wavelet Galerkin methods are proposed for solving this problem. By using the Schauder's fixed point theorem and the variational technique, the global existence and uniqueness of solution of continuous time wavelet numerical methods are established for the nonlinear aerosol dynamics with sufficiently smooth initial conditions. Optimal error estimates are obtained for both continuous and discrete time wavelet Galerkin schemes. Numerical examples are given to show the efficiency of the wavelet technique

Morales-Casique et al. (Adv. Water Res., 29 (2006), pp. 1238-1255) developed exact first and second nonlocal moment equations for advective-dispersive transport in finite, randomly heterogeneous geologic media. The velocity and concentration in these equations are generally nonstationary due to trends in heterogeneity, conditioning on site data and the influence of forcing terms. Morales-Casique et al. (Adv. Water Res., 29 (2006), pp. 1399-1418) solved the Laplace transformed versions of these equations recursively to second order in the standard deviation σY of (natural) log hydraulic conductivity, and iteratively to higher-order, by finite elements followed by numerical inversion of the Laplace transform. They did the same for a space-localized version of the mean transport equation. Here we recount briefly their theory and algorithms; compare the numerical performance of the Laplace-transform finite element scheme with that of a high-accuracy ULTIMATE-QUICKEST algorithm coupled with an alternating split operator approach; and review some computational results due to Morales-Casique et al. (Adv. Water Res., 29 (2006), pp. 1399-1418) to shed light on the accuracy and computational efficiency of their recursive and iterative solutions in comparison to conditional Monte Carlo simulations in two spatial dimensions.

Modeling and numerical simulations of fractured, vuggy, porus media is a challenging problem which occurs frequently in reservoir engineering. The problem is especially relevant in flow simulations of karst reservoirs where vugs and caves are embedded in a porous rock and are connected via fracture networks at multiple scales. In this paper we propose a unified approach to this problem by using the Stokes-Brinkman equations at the fine scale. These equations are capable of representing porous media such as rock as well as free flow regions (fractures, vugs, caves) in a single system of equations. We then consider upscaling these equations to a coarser scale. The cell problems, needed to compute coarse-scale permeability of Representative Element of Volume (REV) are discussed. A mixed finite element method is then used to solve the Stokes-Brinkman equation at the fine scale for a number of flow problems, representative for different types of vuggy reservoirs. Upscaling is also performed by numerical solutions of Stokes-Brinkman cell problems in selected REVs. Both isolated vugs in porous matrix as well as vugs connected by fracture networks are analyzed by comparing fine-scale and coarse-scale flow fields. Several different types of fracture networks, representative of short- and long-range fractures are studied numerically. It is also shown that the Stokes-Brinkman equations can naturally be used to model additional physical effects pertaining to vugular media such as partial fracture with fill-in by some material and/or fluids with suspended solid particles.

This paper is to present a finite volume element (FVE) method based on the bilinear immersed finite element (IFE) for solving the boundary value problems of the diffusion equation with a discontinuous coefficient (interface problem). This method possesses the usual FVE method's local conservation property and can use a structured mesh or even the Cartesian mesh to solve a boundary value problem whose coefficient has discontinuity along piecewise smooth nontrivial curves. Numerical examples are provided to demonstrate features of this method. In particular, this method can produce a numerical solution to an interface problem with the usual O(h²) (in L² norm) and O(h) (in H¹ norm) convergence rates.

We develop a family of characteristic discontinuous Galerkin methods for transient advection-diffusion equations, including the characteristic NIPG, OBB, IIPG, and SIPG schemes. The derived schemes possess combined advantages of Eulerian-Lagrangian methods and discontinuous Galerkin methods. An optimal-order error estimate in the L² norm and a superconvergence estimate in a weighted energy norm are proved for the characteristic NIPG, IIPG, and SIPG scheme. Numerical experiments are presented to confirm the optimal-order spatial and temporal convergence rates of these schemes as proved in the theorems and to show that these schemes compare favorably to the standard NIPG, OBB, IIPG, and SIPG schemes in the context of advection-diffusion equations.