Modelling temperature effects on multiphase flow through porous media

Abstract

We consider strong temperature effects on two-phase immiscible flow through a porous medium. A dependency on temperature is introduced via a temperature-dependent viscosity for one of the phases. The purpose is to develop a simple prototype model for simulating the injection of steam into a porous medium, which is saturated with highly viscous oil. To solve the problem, a Galerkin finite element model is formulated, with special residual-based terms added to stabilise the problem when advective transport processes dominate and to capture the discontinuities that develop at oil-water interfaces. It is also discussed how the mathematical representation of the numerical model can be transformed into computer code automatically, and two test cases are presented that demonstrate that this simplified model can capture typically observed phenomena robustly.

Keywords:

• porous media
• multiphase flow
• numerical modelling

Acknowledgements

Part of this research was carried out within the context of the ISAPP Knowledge Centre. ISAPP (Integrated Systems Approach to Petroleum Production) is a joint project of the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research TNO, Shell International Exploration and Production, and Delft University of Technology.