Modelling of Conductive Faults with a Multiscale Approach

N. Henn (1) , Michel Quintard (2) , B. Bourbiaux (3) , S. Sakthikumar (4)

1 Gaz De France
2 IMFT - Institut de mécanique des fluides de Toulouse
3 IFPEN - IFP Energies nouvelles
4 Total Exploration Production

Some of the most productive oil and gas reservoirs are found in formations crossed by multiscale fractures/faults. Among them, conductive faults may closely control reservoir performance. However, their modelling encounters numerical and physical difficulties linked with: - the necessity to keep an explicit representation of faults through small-size gridblocks; - the modelling of multiphase flow exchanges between the fault and the neighbouring medium. In the present work, a physically representative and numerically efficient modelling approach is proposed to incorporate subvertical conductive faults in single- and dual-porosity simulators. To validate our approach and demonstrate its efficiency, simulation results of multiphase displacements in representative field sector models are presented.

Domains: Physics [physics]

N. Henn, Michel Quintard, B. Bourbiaux, S. Sakthikumar. Modelling of Conductive Faults with a Multiscale Approach. Oil & Gas Science and Technology - Revue d'IFP Energies nouvelles, 2004, 59 (2), pp.197-214. ⟨10.2516/ogst:2004015⟩. ⟨hal-02017296⟩