HR: 1340h
AN: H13C-1391    [Abstracts]
TI: New capillary interface conditions for three-phase flow in fractured rock masses
AU: Olatunji, I
EM: idris.olatunji@pet.hw.ac.uk
AF: Institute of Petroleum Engineering, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, EH14 4AS, United Kingdom
AU: * Geiger, S
EM: sebastian.geiger@pet.hw.ac.uk
AF: Institute of Petroleum Engineering, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, EH14 4AS, United Kingdom
AU: Van Dijke, R
EM: rink@pet.hw.ac.uk
AF: Institute of Petroleum Engineering, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, EH14 4AS, United Kingdom
AB: Discrete fracture models are a very promising tool to simulate multiphase fluid flow in fractured reservoirs realistically because they retain the natural geometry of the fracture network and calculate the contribution of fluid flow from each individual fracture accurately. However, discrete fracture models are currently limited to two-phase flow simulations only. Recently, the first Black-Oil three-phase discrete fracture model has been introduced (Geiger et al., 2007). This model cannot yet simulate capillary pressure effects between fracture and matrix because it lacks an appropriate capillary interface condition for the three phases, oil, gas, and water, at nodes that are shared by the matrix as well as the fracture. In this work we present a new fracture-matrix capillary pressure interface condition that can be used in generic three-phase discrete fracture simulations. We have extended the two-phase Brooks-Corey and the van Genuchten capillary pressure-saturation relations to the three-phase case. We have determined the conditions when capillary pressures are continuous and discontinuous. This allows us to calculate the saturations at each side of the interface. Our theoretical models have been compared to numerical simulations, which match the theoretical predictions. Geiger S, Matthai SK, Niessner J, Helimg R, 2007. Black-Oil simulations for three-component - three-phase flow in fractured porous media. SPE Paper 107485, 2007.
DE: 1828 Groundwater hydraulics
DE: 1849 Numerical approximations and analysis
DE: 8010 Fractures and faults
SC: Hydrology [H]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting