Fractal Modeling Applied to Reservoir Characterization and Flow Simulation

Abstract

Image analysis was carried out on images of laboratory-made synthetic sandstone, which is used in air injection/in situ combustion experiments, and statistically similar sandstone was computer modeled in two (and three) dimensions. The pore space of both the synthetic and the modeled sandstones was found to be fractal. The equations governing the flow through porous rocks were developed, approximating the in situ combustion process with an immiscible displacement of resident oil by injected gas maintained at a constant pressure. A successive over-relaxation (SOR) scheme was applied to solve these equations. Finally, the similarity of simulations of flow through the laboratory-made synthetic and the computer-modeled sand-stones was demonstrated.