Two-Way Coupled Geomechanical Analysis of Naturally Fractured Oil Reservoir's Behavior Using Finite Element Method

Abstract

In this paper to the coupled hydrodynamic and geomechanical simulation is presented. The physical poroelastic problem is mathematically interpreted and is solved within numerical simulation of fluid flow in reservoir and corresponding deformation processes. Special theoretical methods and their implementation in practice are presented for the problem of geomechanical and filtration processes occurring in the case of naturally fractured medium. The proposed algorithm is realized via special software created within the study. The process of developing a three-dimensional numerical dynamical geomechanical model of oil and gas field characterized by naturally fractured rocks is considered. Effect of mechanical parameters on the production rates is analyzed using a set of computational models, the appropriate sections of oil and gas field. The effect of changes in the pore pressure on the collector conductivity and ultimately on the characteristics of the production well is investigated.

A critical review on coupled geomechanics and fluid flow in naturally fractured reservoirs

“…In two-way coupling, reservoir geomechanics and fluid flow simulators are run sequentially (Jin et al, 2000) based on two distinct sets of equations that are solved independently, and the information is conveyed in both directions between the two simulators (Minkoff et al, 2003). Two-way coupling is relatively as simple as one-way coupling, but its main advantage is the fact that it captures much more non-linear physics between geomechanical and reservoir flow simulators, very close to fully coupling (Dubinya et al, 2015;Kim et al, 2012). The primary drawback of explicit coupled schemes (one-way and two-way coupling) is that the explicit nature of the coupling can enforce time step restrictions on runs because of concerns about stability and accuracy (Dean et al, 2006).…”