Implementation of a Numerically Stable Algorithm for Capillary Hysteresis in Gas Hydrate Deposits

Abstract

We develop a numerically stable algorithm of intrinsic capillary hysteresis for numerical simulation of gas hydrate deposits where cyclic drainage and imbibition processes occur. The algorithm is motivated by the elastoplastic return mapping, and it is an extension of the recently developed algorithm of two-phase immiscible flow, which provides numerical stability with the fully implicit method. We consider the effective gas and aqueous saturations normalized by total fluid phase saturation implicitly affected by the dynamic formation and dissociation of hydrates. Specifically, gas saturation is additively decomposed into the reversible and irreversible parts, and the algorithm computes the reversible and irreversible parts dynamically during the evolution of gas saturation. We perform numerical tests, including a field-scale case, by implementing the code of the capillary hysteresis in a gas hydrate flow simulator. We find that the developed algorithm is stable and robust for repeated drainage and imbibition processes in gas hydrate systems. Since cyclic depressurization is one of the promising production scenarios for gas production from marine gas hydrate deposits, the developed algorithm and code will provide robust and high-fidelity simulation in the forward simulation of multiphase flow.