.

Comparisonof multiphasemodels
MANY

structed
-" [
Por ...:

'J'hree.pbue,

ly coastructed
- + aa)+
different

to study
types

fluid-now

~men8onalsimulat.on

as the poeral-purpo8e
of raervoir

pbeDomeua.
simulaton

raervoir
are
caD be

frequent-

problem
C8-

A.k~ . . ~
... p.,- A.II:k.. It. (-
CIp. +,.-aa )
.

IOIver. .

~ JA.B. ~ ~ ~ ~
T1Uatype 01 model can be ... for makiIIcthe Iarp

( ,.--'-
reservoir studies, Cl'OI8 I8Ctioa studies,. pilot waterflood

ltudies-juat

occurs, except
about

tor
all

the
problems

~..ben
wbere

IDdividual
maltipbue

well
flow

prob-
+
A. II:kr.
a.. -~ + j~.. - Q, - QJI. - Q.a..
lema

Individual
must be atudied.

weJI-probIem modIk. IUCh as water or au

1'.8.. ~ ~
c:onin&, try to simulate multipbue flow in the immediate

H: + -: + -;)]
vicinity 01 the well bore.

This requires very amaU &rid sizes aI'OU8II dII8 weD

~
bore, and. as a result, IpeCIaJ tecbniquea malt be aed
=v,,- (3)

to keep InstabUlties tnJm d8YeJapiq iD the c:aJcu1aUaas..

~
Thus. special purpoee mode18are COD8tructed
to study
problems of this type. .
Now. lOme meaDS must be dII'Yt8edb1wbich tbe8e du-.
The puI"pC* of thia article 18 to pre8eDt a compm.. 01 equations
ca be~. PInt. apand die .. aWe
ame of the types of tJvee.pbue raeI 'IOir aimulatan avan-

able aDd tb8 problema encountered with certabI 01 tbeIe

01 Equat*- 1. ~ aDd3 u follows:
modeIa.

cateaories:
~

metbod 01 lOIutioa., aDd

(1)
aimulatan

The impUdt
are a-raUY

p~icit
ct-~

aturatioa
III two

. v.:J~
) = v.n ~\ ( II. + s...1(+18->
] <48)
lDIutiaa.
(2) The aimul~ metbocI 01
~\ B. ~ II. oJ-.,at ~
The IOIutioa method
aimultaDeous can be brob8 into

numerous catqories. depeadiDa 011 wbicb variables GD8

a r;;~ [( +1 -as.,. +5... a<+lB.> ]
at -B. =v- -
v_- B. ., at
wtabes to tlDd. Tbe variablel generally cbo8en are the pra-

of the three pbues. but. GD8 could al8O~0De at (4b) .

or

.
more saturatioas as the UD1Inowa variable.

ID aae d1men8ioa,
tbe eqaliou to be 1DIwd' an:

For oil:- v- ~ (+[2 + a.s.+ "'5.1\ = V{ t!...\ ?JS.

(~ ~ .. II. B. JJ \a.'~+1 at
- 3 fA. It k.. az\l
: (:)(1)
~ l~ -;-+.,. ~'JJax-
~=v,

+s...
a<+1B1)
at
+
II.
l.,
(-+a. -+s...
as.. a<+R.IB.)
at ~
F01' water.

~.. A. It ~.. -+,

(~ az)] h-Q.=V.-
a ( -.
fS.) (21
+
( - ) -CIS. + s... a(+Jt..IB.>
] (41:)
~ "...B.. ~ ~ at B..
B'. 'I at ~

~
 In theseforms. n+ 1 and D refer to the new and old time variables. To obtain tI8b equatlca. one must make use
ieYe1lrespectively.This is required for a coa8lswatex- 01 the ~latlcnship:
pansioa.Combining
Equations~. ~. and4c with E.-.
tiooa I, 2, and 3 rearranging term. I1i&btly, we obt8.ta: s. + s.. + S. =1
.. (8)
~ as.. ~
F~oil: -+-+-=0

-
a [(
TRo -
ap,.

+ p..-
1n )~

Ix - Q.. - Vr.S...
a<.lBu) ~
~
at at

ax ax ax at Fint, IOIve for --.: in Eq_tiaa . aDd IUbititute thiJ ex.

at

-
preabl into EqaatkJ8 7. Tbe rilbt.-haDd 8d8 01 E....

= v~
(
-. ) -
B.. 'I
~'

at
(5) 7 DOWc:oatainl
~..
-at
aDd
~

at

~ as...
For water. Sol" for - in Equatiaa 5 aDd - ID Equatiaa 8 and
a [ ap.. ]
1na<.IB..) ~ ~
- TR.. (- + p.. -) ax - Q.. - V..s....
ax ax ~ at. lUb8tihl into Equation 7.
If W now define the. left-hand side of Equation 5 as
( ~ ~ (LHS), he left-hand aide of Equation 8 as LHS and
= V~'~ -= (8) the ~ft :1d side 01 Equation 7 as (LHS)_, we finally ab-
B.. 'I at lain.

LHS),..= - [( B. -..\ (LHS)..,

For p.s: B. ').'1-

~ [~~ + ~ :) + TU.t + ~ :)' +(~ - ~1.. (lBS)- J ~

+ TR.. R ~- . + p.. -1n \~ h - Q. -Q..R. -Q..R.. 01 ~ ~Ol

Equal' on
Itil1YOIume
aID'.'" factor, porosity, 01
derlvatiV88 aacI
.. ~ I~ l...~ II

~ ~ 1 rabO With Jeet to time, .

SiDceI variables are ,,~ " prI88Ure,these
derivative: 'y be taJtea witlt f8IIIIICC . pressure;
and
[ a(.IB.) . a(.R.lB.J . ~ IB..) ] then take . !erivative ot pressure with rapect to time.
- v~ 5... + 8 + $ As an e ole, let us look at the foliowinl term and
at ~ ~ expand It 10 ' pressure becomes the dependent variable.

=V~ -. ) -~
~(
B. 'I
, ., ) ,
~
-.R. -as.. -
B..'I
.

at B..
}
'I
-~.. ] (7)
~
~.. =...,
a(~ )

~(1lBo)
a(1JB..)

~
.. +- 8...
1

1 ~
~
-;
.

= fl." - + -- (10)

()p.. ~ B... ~

wbere TR is the transmissibility term for oil, .water .. ... a(lIB.)

ImpUdt preaures., npIIdt satand8L Equaticas 5, .. 'The term can be evaJ_t8d from a table of B.
and. 7a~ arranged so that the left-hand side 01 e8Ch equa- ()p..
tion contains pressures or variables which are functions of
pres$Ure, except f_the relative permeability and the sat. 1
uratlon values which we will take at time Itep D, .. - va. P ID tbe vic;inity of tbe DeW. preaure; and the
All variables at time step n are known 80 that values B..
for ~1ative permeability and saturations are available.
The right-hand side of Equations 5, I, and 7 CODtaiM pol"Olity, .p. baa been defined as prasure dependeat by the
the cbaqe of. saturation with respect to time, Tbese threeequatlan:
equations can be combined to form one equation whkb
contains oil, water, and Bas pressures.. the I8Ibcnn .= ( 1 + Cdp.. - Po I.)] (11)

41

~
 2. DERIVATION OF THE FLOW EQUATIONS

Many derivations of the oil, water, and gas fluid flow equations exist
in the literature, e.g. Crichlow (1977) and Peaceman (1977).
Consequently, only a brief discussion will be presented here.

Conservation of Mass

We begin by considering the flow of fluid into and out of a single

reservoir block (Figure 2.1). Assume fluid flows into x (J the block at )
x
and out of the block at x + ~x (J A) J denotes the fluid flux and
.

x -~'-\X
is defined as the rate of flow of mass per unit cross-sectional area
normal to the direction of flow, which is the x-direction in the present
case. By conservation of mass, we have the equality:

mass entering the block - mass leaving the block

= accumulation of mass in the block.

I f the block has length ~x, width ~y, and depth ~z, then we can ...,rite
the mass entering the block in a time interval ~t as

.r(J x )6y6z+(J
x . y ) y6x6z+(J) ~ z 6x6y]6t = Mass in (2.1)

where we have generalized to allow the and z directions as

well. The notation (J ) denotes flux at location x,
x ~ .

with analogous mean1ogs tor the remaining terms.

Figure 2.1. Reservoir block:

convention follows (1978).

Jx

Corresponding to mass entering is a term for mass exiting which has the
form

(2.2)

+ q~x~y~z~t = Mass out

3
 where we have added a source! sink term q ~1hich represents mass flow into
(source) or out of (sink) a well. A producer is represented by q >0.
and an inj ector by q < O.

Accumulation of mass in the block is the change in concentration of

phase p (C ) in the block over the time interval~t. If the
concentrat~on Cisdefinedas the total mass of phase p (oil, water. or
gas) in the ent~re reservoir block divided by the block volume, then the
accumulation term becomes

[(e )t+llt - (C
p .
p)t]llXt,yt,Z (2.3)
(2.3)

Using Equations (2.1) through (2.3) i.n the mass conservation equality

Mass in - Mass out = Mass accumulation

gives
[(J )6y6z +
+ (J ) t:.xt:.z + (J) t:.x6y]6t
x x Y Y z z

- . (J ) . + , t:.xt:.z
. (J)
[(J X ) x + uX
A 6yAz
. y y uy Z Z+ uZ
,6x6y]6t qt>xt>yt>ztlt

= (C (2 . 4)
[(Cp)t+l:It- P) t ]6x6y6z

Dividing Equation (2.4) by II x tsy tsz ts t and rearranging gives

(Jz)z+~z - (Jz>z
q =
(Cp)t+~t - (Cp)t
(2.5)
6z. 6t

In the limit as ~x. ~y, ~z and 6t go to zero Equa~ion-{2.5) becomes

the continuity equation

aJ ~J ac
x z -1?
q (2.6)
ax dZ at

The oil, water, and gas phases each satisfy a mass conservation equation
havi.ng the form of Equation (2.6).

~
 i

\ Flow Equations For Three-Phase Flow

The flow equations for an oil, water, and gas system are determined by
!
j specifying the fluxes and concentrations of the conservation equations
for each of the three phases; A flux in a given direction can be
written as the density of the fluid times its velocity in the given
direction. Letting the subscripts 0, w, and g denote oil, water, and
, gas,repectively, the fluxes become:
!
-+
, (J)
0
= P
osc
~
Vo
(2
.
7)
I
I
i Bo
-+ -+
i
(J)w = Pwsc v (2.8)
- w
Bw
-+
,
i (J) g = Pgsc -+ RsoPgsc -+ RswPgsc -+ (2.9)
v + v + B v
B g Bow
g 0 w

where Rand R are gas solubilities in SCF/STB, B , B , and Bare

formatigg volum~wfactors in units of reservoir volumg/st~ndard v81ume,
the subscripts sc denote standard conditions (usually 600F and 14.7
psia) , and p denotes fluid densities. The velocities ~ are assumed to
be Darcy velocities and their x-components are

i
I
!
v
xo
= - Kx A0 a
ax
[ p,
0
P
- ~ gz ] *
I (2.10)
I
llf4g c
j

,
v XW = -
Kx Aw -axa P
[w -
0wI:'az ]
144
(2.11)
1
'I
gc

t
1
ill
v xg = - Kx Ag -a [gp - p ggz ]
(2.12)
ax 144
gc

2
where ~ is the acceleration of gravity in ft/sec , and g is 32.174
, c
ft/sec (BOAST assumes g =g ).
c

* Similar expressions can be written for the y and z components.