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We describe a new approach for simulation of multiphase flows through heterogeneous porous media, such as oil reservoirs. The method, which is based on the wavelet transformation of the spatial distribution of the single-phase permeabilities, incorporates in the upscaled computational grid all the relevant data on the permeability, porosity, and other important properties of a porous medium at all the length scales. The upscaling method generates a nonuniform computational grid which preserves the resolved structure of the geological model in the near-well zones as well as in the high-permeability sectors and upscales the rest of the geological model. As such, the method is a multiscale one that preserves all the important information across all the relevant length scales. Using a robust front-detection method which eliminates the numerical dispersion by a high-order total variation diminishing method (suitable for the type of nonuniform upscaled grid that we generate), we obtain highly accurate results with a greatly reduced computational cost. The speedup in the computations is up to over three orders of magnitude, depending on the degree of heterogeneity of the model. To demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of our methods, five distinct models (including one with fractures) of heterogeneous porous media are considered, and two-phase flows in the models are studied, with and without the capillary pressure.

We have developed an accurate and highly efficient method for upscaling and simulation of immiscible displacements in three-dimensional (3D) heterogeneous reservoirs, which is an extension of the technique that we developed previously for 2D systems. The method utilizes wavelet transformations (WTs) to upscale the geological model of a reservoir, based on the spatial distribution of the single-phase permeabilities and the locations of the wells in the reservoir. It generates a non-uniform grid in which the resolved structure of the fine grid around the wells, as well as in the high-permeability sectors, are preserved, but the rest of the grid is upscaled. A robust uplayering procedure is used to reduce the number of the layers, and the WTs are used to upscale each layer areally. To demonstrate the method's accuracy and efficiency, we have applied it to the geological model of a highly heterogeneous reservoir put forward in the tenth Society of Petroleum Engineers comparative solution project (the SPE-10 model), and carried out simulation of waterflooding in the upscaled model. Various upscaling scenarios were examined, and although some of them resulted in efficient simulations and accurate predictions, the results when non-uniform upscaling is used based on the WT technique are in excellent agreement with the solution of the same problem in the fine grid of the SPE-10 model. Most importantly, the speed-up factors that we obtain are several orders of magnitude. Hence, the method renders it unnecessary to use massively parallel computations for such problems.

Based on analogy between isothermal drying of porous media and molecular diffusion in a single-block model containing a volatile liquid during lean gas injection, a detailed procedure is presented for two-dimensional quasi-static pore network modelling of diffusion. A modified invasion percolation algorithm is used to account for evaporation of liquid clusters formed during gas injection process. Diffusion in gas phase, capillaryinduced flow in liquid phase, and evaporation in gas-liquid interface were modelled to trace the movement of gas-liquid interface and desaturation profile. Using a set of throat sizes with normal distribution, 15 cases of a regular pore network model were proposed by rearranging throat positions in the model. Results of this study indicate that diffusion time, breakthrough time, vapour partial pressure gradient, liquid saturation gradient, liquid cluster frequency, gas-liquid interface frequency, and evaporation potential are strong functions of throat sorting. Correlation coefficient of throat size with position was used to capture the disorder of porous medium. It was shown that such a correlation coefficient is not capable of describing diffusion characteristics.

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Discrete fracture modeling (DFM) is currently the most promising approach for modeling of naturally fractured reservoirs and simulation of multiphase fluid flow therein. In contrast with the classical double-porosity/double permeability models, in the DFM approach all the interactions and fluid flow in and between the fractures and within the matrix are modeled in a unified manner, using the same computational grid. There is no need for computing the shape factors, which are crucial to the accuracy of the double-porosity models. We have exploited this concept in order to develop a new method for the generation of unstructured computational grids. In the new approach the geological model (GM) of the reservoir is first generated, using square or cubic grid blocks. The GM is then upscaled using a method based on the multiresolution wavelet transformations that we recently developed. The upscaled grid contains a distribution of the square or cubic blocks of various sizes. A map of the blocks' centers is then used with an optimized Delauney triangulation method and the advancingfront technique, in order to generate the final unstructured triangulated grid suitable for use in any general reservoir simulator with any number of fluid phases. The new method also includes an algorithm for generating fractures that, contrary to the previous methods, does not require modifying their paths due to the complexities that may arise in spatial distribution of the grid blocks. It also includes an effective partitioning of the simulation domain that results in large savings in the computation times. The speed-up in the computations with the new upscaled unstructured grid is about three orders of magnitude over that for the initial GM. Simulation of waterflooding indicates that the agreement between the results obtained with the GM and the upscaled unstructured grid is excellent. The method is equally 123 196 M. Sahimi et al. applicable to the simulations of multiphase flow in unfractured, but highly heterogeneous, reservoirs.

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