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The transmissibility of faulted connections in corner-point geometry models
- Source: Petroleum Geoscience, Volume 23, Issue 1, Feb 2017, p. 148 - 158
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- 15 Feb 2016
- 04 Jul 2016
- 05 Jul 2016
- 30 Sep 2016
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Abstract
The transmissibility expression generally used for connections across faults in industrial flow-simulation models built using corner-point geometry is inaccurate, because of cell misalignments across the faults. A comprehensive suite of high-resolution flow-simulation models has been designed to assess the magnitude of the error, which is greatest for connections with smaller juxtaposition areas; between cells with higher k V:k H ratios; between cells with greater length: height aspect ratios; in more heterogeneous sequences; for connections containing more permissive fault rocks; and for connections between cells with lower angular misalignments. Transmissibility can be underestimated by a factor of 10 or more in the absence of fault rock; however, the inclusion of realistic fault transmissibility multipliers virtually eliminates the error. The expression for transmissibility for corner-point geometry models contained in commercial simulators is therefore within acceptable limits for most realistic faulted full-field models.