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RESERVOIR SIMULATION
PHASE MASS BALANCES AND THE
DIFFUSIVITY EQUATION
MASS BALANCE OF A PHASE IN CARTESIAN COORDINATES
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MASS BALANCE OF A PHASE IN CARTESIAN COORDINATES
Consider compressible flow of multiple fluid phases in a one-dimensional (1D) porous medium.
The control volume is taken to be a small slice of the porous domain, ∆𝑉 = ∆𝑥∆𝑦∆𝑧, where a 𝑎 = ∆𝑦∆𝑧 is the cross-sectional
area of the domain and ∆𝑥 is the length of the control volume.
The Law of Conservation of Mass states that over any arbitrary control volume, the total mass that enters the control volume
minus the mass that exits, plus any mass generated or consumed from a source, must be equal to the mass accumulated in the
control volume.
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MASS BALANCE OF A PHASE IN CARTESIAN COORDINATES
Using a conservation equation, one can write a mass balance on each phase in the control
volume.
Fluid can be generated or consumed in the control volume from a source (e.g., injection
well) or sink (e.g., producer well).
Collecting all terms results in a mass balance in 1D for phase a in the control volume:
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MASS BALANCE OF A PHASE IN CARTESIAN COORDINATES
The variables in the equation are then defined as follows:
where ∆𝑉 is the volume of the control volume, the source terms, 𝑞𝛼 , have
units of time-1, 𝑆𝛼 is the phase saturation, and 𝑢𝑥,𝛼 , is the velocity in x-
direction of the flowing phase.
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MASS BALANCE OF A PHASE IN CARTESIAN COORDINATES
These expressions in are substituted into mass blance equation and the equation is divided
through by the control volume (∆𝑉 = 𝑎∆𝑥) and the time interval (∆𝑡) to give:
The limit as both ∆𝑥 and ∆𝑡 go to zero results in partial derivatives. Hence, The one-
dimensional mass balance on a phase in Cartesian coordinates is obtained:
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MASS BALANCE OF A PHASE IN CARTESIAN COORDINATES
The general form of the phase mass balance in any coordinate
system and dimensions is written
where ∇ is the del, or vector differential, operator for
multidimensions and any coordinate system.
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THE CONTINUITY EQUATION
Phase mass balance equation can be summed over all phases, 𝑁𝑝 , to obtain an overall
mass balance, which is known as the continuity equation:
The continuity equation simply states that the total accumulation of mass from all phases
is equal to the net flow of mass into the control volume plus the net amount of mass that
enters the control volume from a source, such as a well.
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THE CONTINUITY EQUATION
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THE CONTINUITY EQUATION
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THE CONTINUITY EQUATION
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THE DIFFUSIVITY EQUATION
The continuity includes phase saturations explicitly in the time derivative,
which limits its direct use in multiphase reservoir simulation.
However, the phase balances can be weighted by the inverse of phase
density, 𝜌𝛼 , and then summed over all phases:
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THE DIFFUSIVITY EQUATION
The dimensions of this equation terms are time-1. Expansion of the time
derivatives in using a product rule gives:
The multiphase form of Darcy’s law can be substituted for phase velocities:
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THE DIFFUSIVITY EQUATION
The time derivatives can be further expanded using a product and chain rule
to give:
Using the definition of formation and phase compressibilities we can obtain:
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THE DIFFUSIVITY EQUATION
If gravity and capillary pressure are negligible, we can write:
This equation is often referred to as the pressure equation because both
temporal and spatial derivatives are written explicitly in terms of pressure.
Saturation does not appear, but is indirectly included in the total
compressibility, 𝑐𝑡 , relative permeability, and capillary pressure.
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SINGLE-PHASE FLOW
A special case of the diffusivity equation is single-phase flow. By single-phase flow, it could
mean only one fluid phase is present, such as brine flowing in an aquifer.
It could also mean that only one phase is flowing but other fluid phases are present and
immobile (i.e., capillary-trapped fluid).
Such is the case during primary production and no aquifers present when an oleic phase is
flowing and produced from wells but the aqueous phase is at irreducible/residual saturation
and not flowing, or flows at negligible rates.
Likewise, near the end of a waterflood, the aqueous phase is flowing but the oleic phase is at
or near residual oil saturation and is immobile
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SINGLE-PHASE FLOW
For the case of single-phase flow without gravity, the diffusivity equation can
be simplified as follows where 𝜌𝛼 now refers to the density of the single,
0
flowing phase and the endpoint relative permeability, 𝑘𝑟𝛼 , is now used
because if other phases are present, they are assumed to be at residual
saturation.
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SLIGHTLY COMPRESSIBLE LIQUIDS
Slightly compressible fluids, such as an aqueous phase or an undersaturated oleic phase,
are defined here as a compressibility ≤ ~5 × 10−5 psi-1. For these fluids, the diffusivity
equation can be further simplified by employing the product rule on the spatial
derivatives:
Then the chain rule for the density gradient gives:
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SLIGHTLY COMPRESSIBLE LIQUIDS
The fluid compressibility, 𝑐𝛼 , is small as is the square of the modulus of
pressure gradient. Therefore, the second term on the right-hand side (RHS) is
negligible which simplifies to:
where gravity is neglected but can be included by substituting potential for
pressure in the spatial derivatives. This equation can be expanded in
Cartesian coordinates:
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SLIGHTLY COMPRESSIBLE LIQUIDS
For flow in a 1D, homogenous medium and viscosity and no sources
or sinks (wells) the equation further simplifies:
where the diffusivity constant, 𝛼, is defined as:
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SLIGHTLY COMPRESSIBLE LIQUIDS
This is a parabolic PDE; it is second-order in space and first-order in time. The PDE describes
many phenomena in physics, mathematics, and engineering and is therefore commonly found
in these fields.
It is sometimes referred to as the heat equation because when pressure, 𝑝, is substituted with
temperature, 𝑇, it describes heat flow in 1D.
It can also be used to describe diffusion of component species when the concentration, 𝐶, is
substituted in for pressure.
Although its derivation required many assumptions (1D, single-phase flow, homogeneous
permeability, negligible gravity effects, small fluid compressibility, no sources/sinks, etc.), it is
the starting point for numerical simulation of flow through porous media
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SLIGHTLY COMPRESSIBLE LIQUIDS
Single-phase slightly compressible equation can also be expanded in
cylindrical coordinates:
where again a diagonal permeability tensor is assumed applicable and gravity
neglected. For flow in a 1D homogenous medium and no sources or sinks:
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SLIGHTLY COMPRESSIBLE LIQUIDS
This equation is commonly used to approximate
flow around a wellbore.
Analytical solutions can be obtained under
different boundary conditions and are the basis
for important reservoir engineering techniques
such as well testing and decline curve analysis.
Analytical solutions are also used as benchmarks
for numerical techniques.
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COMPRESSIBLE GASES
The general single-phase flow equation is valid for any single phase, including a gaseous
phase. However, the approximation of small compressibility used to obtain the parabolic
“heat equation” is not valid for gases because of their large compressibility.
However, a linearization procedure can be performed to transform the equation into one
similar in form to slightly-compressible equation by introducing pseudopressure, 𝜓:
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COMPRESSIBLE GASES
The pseudopressure does not have much physical meaning and in fact is not a
“pressure” at all. The units of 𝜓, psi2/cp, are not even the same as pressure.
However, the mathematical transformation does result in a simpler, more
linear PDE. In 1D, homogeneous, and in the absence of wells, the
transformation results in:
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COMPRESSIBLE GASES
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COMPRESSIBLE GASES
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COMPRESSIBLE GASES
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