User's Manual for the RealGasBrine v1.0 Option of TOUGH+ v1.5: A Code for the Simulation of System Behavior in Gas-Bearing Geologic Media

Abstract

REALGASBRINE v1.0 is a numerical code that for the simulation of the behavior of gas-bearing porous and/fractured geologic media. It is an option of TOUGH+ v1.5 [Moridis, 2014], a successor to the TOUGH2 [Pruess et al., 1999] family of codes for multi-component, multiphase fluid and heat flow developed at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. REALGASBRINE v1.0 needs the TOUGH+ v1.5 core code in order to compile and execute. It is written in standard FORTRAN 95/2003, and can be run on any computational platform (workstation, PC, Macintosh) for which such compilers are available.REALGASBRINE v1.0 describes the non-isothermal two-(for pure water) or threephase (for brine) flow of an aqueous phase and a real gas mixture in a gas-bearing medium, with a particular focus in ultra-tight (such as tight-sand and shale gas) systems. Up to 12 individual real gases can be tracked, and salt can precipitate as solid halite. The capabilities of the code include coupled flow and thermal effects, real gas behavior, Darcy and non-Darcy flow, several isotherm options of gas sorption onto the grains of the porous media, complex fracture descriptions, gas solubility into water, and geomechanical effects on flow properties. REALGASBRINE v1.0 allows the study of flow and transport of fluids and heat over a wide range of time frames and spatial scales not only in gas reservoirs, but also in any problem involving the flow of gases in geologic media, including the geologic storage of greenhouse gas mixtures, the behavior of geothermal reservoirs with multi-component condensable (H 2 O and CO 2 ) and noncondensable gas mixtures, the transport of water and released H 2 in nuclear waste storage applications, etc. To a large part, the impetus for the development of the REALGASBRINE v1.0 application option was provided by the importance of ultra-tight natural gas reservoirs (such as shale gas reservoirs), production from which has virtually exploded over the last decade because of the advent of effective reservoir stimulation technologies. While the code has wide application to any problem involving the storage and flow of gases in geologic media, the linkage to tight gas reservoirs is obvious, as attested to by as some of the code features and capabilities (e.g., gas sorption and non-Darcy flows) that were introduced to address the particular needs of such reservoirs. Thus, the introduction cannot but address this subject. LIST OF TABLESThe ever-increasing energy demand, coupled with the advent and advances in reservoir stimulation technologies, has prompted an explosive growth in the development of unconventional gas resources in the U.S. during the last decade. Tight-sand and shale gas reservoirs are currently the main unconventional resources, upon which the bulk of 2 production activity is currently concentrating (Warlick, 2006 , 2011). Note that the bulk of the gas production from tight sands and shales has concentrated almost exclusively in North America (U.S. and Canada), and serious production elsewhere in the rest wo...

Numerical simulation of the environmental impact of hydraulic fracturing of tight/shale gas reservoirs on near‐surface groundwater: Background, base cases, shallow reservoirs, short‐term gas, and water transport

“…The reader should refer to Moridis and Freeman [ 2014 ] and Freeman et al . [ 2011 ] for information about simulator development and validation, and to the TOUGH+ manual [ Moridis , , ], copies of which are also available via the US EPA.…”

User's Manual of the TOUGH+ Core Code v1.5: A General-Purpose Simulator of Non-Isothermal Flow and Transport through Porous and Fractured Media

“…For example, to solve the problem of flow of water/brine and real gas flow through a tight fractured porous medium (e.g., in a fractured shale reservoir), the TOUGH+ v1.5 code must be coupled with the REALGASBRINE v1.0 option [Moridis and Freeman, 2014]. A discussion of the processes that are particular to this problem, as well as a detailed explanation of the additional (over those needed by the core code) input data requirements, a description of the output options, and appropriate illustrative examples with sample input and output files are included in the User's Manual of the corresponding application option.…”