.

SPE
SPE8396
*

A FULLYIMPLICIT
GENERAL
PURPOSE
FINITE-DIFFERENCE
THERMAL
MODELFORINSITUCOMBUSTION
ANDSTEAM

by Janusz W, Grabowskf, Paul K. Vfnsome, RanC, Lfn, Alda Behfe, and

Barry Rubin, Members SPE-AIME, Computer Modellfng Group

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ABSTRACT dimensional problems.

This paper deacribee the development of a fully This paper deecribes the development of a fully
implictt general thermal model (XSCOM)for simulating irnpli.tit, f.in’lte-difference, general purpose thermal
in altu combustion or eteam proceaeea, The model in- aimulator (ISCOM) for modeling in eitu combuetlon and
cludee four phasea, a variable number of oil compo- steam proceaaes, The etorage and computation time
nents, a variable number of chemical reactiona, gra- problema have,been resolved by the development of a
vity and capillary pressure terms, and the poaaibility spectal matrix band raducing option,
of modeling emulaione,
Anothex feature of thermal racovary aimulatione
The finite-difference formulation of ISCOM in heavy oile ia the eeverity of the ~rid orientation
operates in one, two or three dlmeneiona and containa effect. In ISCOMthis effect 1s alleviated by an
irnpllclt and sequential implicit solution technlquee option which introduce harmonic mobility weighting,
as options, It is highly stable, averaging 30% mat-
uration or molar fraction changes during each time The steam driveleoak optlona are subsets of the
etep. The model includee the use of peeudo-phaee in eitu combustion model, whereby unneceeeary
equilibrium ratf.oa which allowe a single formulation, reactione and equatl.one are removed. The eteem
even though phaaee may disappear, The computer pro- vereione are described here only briefly, Therefore
gramwae designed to emphasize clarity and to opti- thie paper concentrate primarily on the in eitu com-
mize etorage, The matrix aol.ution technique ie a buation option.
modlfled form of Gausaian elimination, The variablea
and fundamental equatlone have been aligned so that The formulation of the model, physical property
pivoting for numarlcal stability ia not necessary, package, and method of solution will be deecribad,
Other special featuree include Newtonian iteration together with the results of come teet calculations,
with numerically calculated derivatives, embedding of
the coke equation, two-point upstream and harmonic FORMUL4T’iON
OF THEMODEL
nobilities as optione to reduce truncation error and
the grid orientation effect, and an automatic time Basic Assumptions
etep eelector, Resulte are presented ahowi~g the
eeneitivity to Change8 in number of grid blocks and The mathematical model is based on the following
time step a’lze and ehowing the influence of harmonic assumptions:
weighting on the @d orientation effect,
1, The model can operate in one, two or three
INTRODUCTION dimeneione with variable grid spacing.
Thermal methode occupy a prominent position in 2, The number of components ie.variable, and com-
the recovery of low AH crudes, The proceaees taking ponenta are distributed amens four phaees$
place during thermal oil recovery are of a complex water (w), oil (o), gae (g), and solid (c)*
nature, Experience has shown that in order to model
such processes, any numerical simulator muet be ex- 3, Water and oil components may be preeent in both
tremely stable to produce practical reaulke, The oil. and weter phases, allowing for an approximate
trend, therefore, has been towarde increasing degrees treatment of emulsions,
of impll.citneas in the construction of such ●imulatora ,
This demanda, however, the utili~ation of large com- 4, The number and type of chemical reactions ia
puter storage and run timaa, eapeclelly for rnulti- variable,
.—
Reference and illuf)tratione at end of paper.
.—
 A PULLYIMPLICIT GENERALPUSPOSEFINITE-DIFFERENCETHERMAL
MODEL,.. SPE 8396

5* Reeervoix rock and fluids are compreaaibla. The continuity aquation for coke which la im-
mobile ie given by~
6, capillary preomre and gravity terms are taken
into account, NR
R -~~c= *.* (4)
nr~l %r,Nc nr
7* The reservoir iu in thermodynamic equilibrium,

0, Interphase mesa tran;fer takea placa under The energy conservation equation containa con-
equilibrium condition. vection, conduction, reaction, injection, production,
and haat loss terms:
9. Heat trenaport 1s through convection and
conduction. NR
-V~~~L+vAhvT+nr~l ‘nr%r
10, Heat lose to eurroundinge (normally cap and baee L
rock) IB inckdad.
Nc
11. Diffusion 18 negligible. - Tiloa~
+ ill Qi@i
12* Injection and production conditions for a givan
well are at constant rate, constant pressure or
conetant preemra limited by a maximumrate. -~ 4*Ecsif+f$cli
~LLL cc
[
Eimulator EQuatione .
+ (1 - $*) cRrlRl *** (5)
The eat of the simulator equatione la composed J
of continuity equations for each component, the
energy COIW3eWat1011eqUatiOn, algebralC constraints, There are four constraint equations: one for
and phase equilibrium relationships, me total number aaturationa and three for molar fractione:
cf component, Nc, con~iete of 1 water component, No
oil components which are liquids at standard condi- 3
tions (100 kPa, 15 ‘C), N gas component which are E’sL.l ** (6) ●

gaaaoua at etandard condifion~ and 1 eolid component Ml

i.e., coke. Therefore Nc - 2 + No + N . The sequence
of components 19 ae follows: water, o !!is (from Nc
heaviest to lightest), gaeee (oxygen lact), and coke,
1:1%1-1 bl,*.*,3 ., (7) ●
kn example of this eequence ie preeented in Table 1
for a minimal realietic set containing 6 components.
Such a set la ueed for the calculation presented in
The number of phase equilibrium equationa depends
this paper. The molar fractione XL1 in Table 1 show on the number of components allowad to be present in
which non-zero equilibrium K-valuea have been ueed in
more then one phaee. The equations are of thrae
the calculation,
types \
The Nc-l continuity equatione for the fluid com-
=x ● ** (8a)
ponents are of the form: Xgi 01 ‘Oi

3 + NR x =x ,** (8b)
81 Wi ‘Wi
- v ~1 ‘Li cLvL+nr~l ‘nr,i ‘nr *QI
x -x Wi ‘owl ,*, (8c)
01
3
*E Ncn’wero valuea of equilibrium constants K. i
‘~4 ~lxLicLsL 1=1,,, ,,NC-l , , , (1)
allow for an approximate treatment of emult3ion f YOW,
where valuee 1, 2 and 3 of index L correspond to PHYSICALPROPERTIES
water, oil and as phases, CL iB the molar deneity
of phasa L and ? L is the phase WdOClty: Most of the physical properties of the model are
expressed through standard correlational and are pre-
+ -, aented in Table 2,
VL=-kk rL.PL
/( V PL - GL) 9,, (2)
We will diacuae here only the equilibrium K-
values, which have the following epecial form for the
@ is the liquid phaae porosity related to the total water and oil componentat
poroeity @ through a factor accounting fOr the volume
o~,.upied by solid:
\l =8,77710-3 (T-243 )4’76p(&
~h = $(1 - Cc/cc”) * , * (3) Ww
8 , , (9)
where Cc ta the reservoir molar density of coke Sw
(numberof moles of coke/totalvoidvoluna of K = Exp AK2 +BK2/(T-
reaarvoir), and CcO the molar density of pure coke, 02 CK2) ~
*** (lo)
 KOi = Exp AKi + BKi/ (T - CKi) i=3,.,,, No
I Heat Loss
* , , (11)
Heat ~om to the environment surrounding the
The water and heavy oil K-values have been reservoir” ie calculated from the numerical solution
multiplied by saturation dependent factors, intro- of the heat conduction equation by a semi-analytical
duced in reference 2, which avoid the need for vari- method similar to that developed in reference 3.
able substitution when one of the liquid phases
disappears, A phyeical eystam with euch pseudo”K- The options in ISCOMallow for separate calcu-
values contains all three fluid phaeea at any pressure letions of heat loss to surrounding environment from
and tacnperature condition. Iiowaver, the amount of a each side of the reservoir, and backflow of heat is
phase whtch in reality should not be prasant at any allowed.
given set of conditions is vary emall and doee not
appreciably influence the behaviour of the syetem. Upstream and Harmonic Optione

The emulsion simulating K-values Kowi in relation With the etandard single-point upstream approxi-
(8c) are not specifiedat present becauee of lackof mation, the mobility is evaluated fully implicitly.
data and are set to zero, However, If two-point upstream is raquired, this can-
not be done without increasing the bandwidth of the
chemical Reactione Jacobian matricee. Therefore for two-point upstream
a eimilar but rather simpler formulation than given
Each chemical reaction between Nc components al in reference 4 ie ueed.
ie represented by the equation:
The mobility between grid blocks j and j+l is
* given by:
Zs -Es nr=l,.,., NR
i nr,i *I i nr,i al
● ● , (12)
~k+l . ~k+l +&A; - ‘;-l
Chemical reactionB between the same components in .** (16)
j+% j 2 Ax
different phaeee are considered as separate reactions.
where the iteration level v may be taken at the old
The rate for reaction nr ie expressed as: time level n, or the lateet iterate k, The normal
maximum and minimum overshoot constraints are imple-
Rnr -r nz EXP(-Enr”RT)J (Db)%. . . , (13) ~en’ed Qn’hee~o~e ter~(~~-~~.l)fAx’ ‘thas been
found through experience th t n evel is normally
sufficient, and does not appreciably affect the
where the indgx m encompasaee all reacting components stability. If k level ie choeen it should be limited
with non-zero stoichiometric coefficient on the to the firet two or three Newtonian iteration other-
left-hand side of equation (12). wise the overshoot constraint can cause elow
convergence,
The deneity factore DMare equal to:
Both single-point and two-point upstream give
severe grid orientation effects during in situ com-
Db= $* ’XWCLSL . . . (14) bustion eimulatione. They are even worse than in
previously published resulte for steam drive6, The’
except for the oxygen density factor Dg,oxy en harmonic total hobility approximation developad in
which is normally expressed through the par f ial pree- reference 7 epeclftcally to reduce grid orientation
eure of oxygen: effects, la also available aa an option in the preeent
simulator. The approximation In its aimpleat form,
D RX ● ☛☛ (15) which is based on the assumption of a short transition
U,oxygen g,oxygen ‘g zone betwaan grid nodes, involves the modification of
the individual phaae mobilitiea AL by the factor 2x
The ISCOMprogram all,owe a choice between expression Am/(Am + ATd), where A and ATd represent upstream
(14) or (15) for Dg,oxygen, and downatraam total mobi? ities, In the reeulta
section of the paper, it ie ahown that tha use of
Well Model harmonic mobiliti.ea graatlyalleviatee the grid
orientation effect during areal in situ combustion
Each of the injection or production wells can simulations,
operate in one of the following modeet
SOLUTIONMETHOD
8) shut in /
b) constant rate Choica of Independent Variables
constant preswre
I
c)
d) conotant pressure limited by maximum rate, Based on the same rationale as given in referenca
1, the choice of independent variablea is taken as~
P, S) So) T,I$pgF ‘X8,i(i-No+2, ,..,N3-1),
Production
from mobilitiea
ratee for eech well are calculated
in production blocks. In case d] the IT XO,L i=20**0,No-1 Y ,
rata to c&lculated &et as a pressure constrained
value then compared with the maximumallowable rate The gas saturation is not an independent variable
and the ●mellar of the two is used in calculations, but is obtained from the saturation constraint (6).

—
4 A FULLYIMPLICIT GENEBAL
PURPOSEFINITE-DIFFERENCETHERMAL
MODEL... SPE 8396

The first N gas molar fractions are calculated

from relatione (~a) and (8b). From the rest of the ~n+l . # C: + AtA1
- No variables, Ng - No - 1 gaa molar fraCtiOnS c At Al em-l
‘8 n+l
ara independent variabl.e8 and one - the inert gae ‘4 + At A2(C:)
component or nitrogen - is calculated from the~aa + cc”
molar fraction constraint (7). The ordering of in. ● *, (19)
dependent gae molar fraction variables is: firet
oxygen (or component number Ng) followed by any com- Thus the calculation of the reservoir molar coke
bustion gaees (CO, COZ) or non-condensable hydro- density has been reduced to the evaluation of a simple
carbone. In the #ix-component model there is only one algebraic function, and can be treated in the came
independent gae molar fraction: X manner as the physical properties.
g~oxygen’
The oil molar fractions are ordered from heaviest Discretization and Iteration Scheme
to lightest, the lightest molar fraction baing eva-
luated from the oil molar fraction constraint (7). The cofiservation equatione are discretized into
finite-difference form using first order backward
Not only is the choice of independent variables differences in time, and central differences in space
important, but aleo the exact ordering as given above with upstream densities, nobilities, and enthalpiee
IS essential for the euccees of the bandwidth reducing in the flow te~s.
option deecribed in the eection on discretizat~on and
iteration echeme. The diecretizad equations at each grid node are
written in functional form:
Onbedding of the Coke Eauation
j-l,...,Nc k=l,...,Nc
‘j(fki) = 0
A notable feature of the choice of independent
variables was the omieeion of the reeervoir molar i=l,,..,N ,,, (20)
coke density Cc! The coke calculation has been re-
moved from the set of Independent variables, and em- repraeants the independent variablee,
Where,fki
bedded into the physical property package as follows.
The equations are eolved fully implicitly by
The coke equation (4) is of the form: Newtonian iteration. This requires computation of the
Jacobian matrix of derivatives, of which one block
a
~(41Cc)=E e -Za (17) line is 13iven by aFj/8fki where k runs over all the
rc rc ‘rc rbrb Rrb’*’ independent variables and i the grid nodes, The de-
rivatives are evaluated numerically, The resulting
where ~c are the coke producing cracking reactions Jacobian matrix is block banded, having 3, 5 or 7
and Rrb the coke burning reactione, The two types of block bands depending on the number of dimensions.
reactions have the following functional dependencies Solution is for the change of the independent vari-
on the reservoir coke deneity Cc: ables over an iteration. The Jacobian matrix ie in-
verted using a backward Gaussian elimination and
cc forward substitution, Teeting for zero downstream
ZeR entries is performed during the elimination to reduce
rc rc rc “%1-V; the computational work. Normally about 4 Newtonian
iterations are required per time step, The inclusion
Es = A2(cc)em of two-point upstream weighing without increasing
rb rb ‘rb the bandwidth of the Jacobian matricee is discueeed in
section “Upetream and Harmonic Options”. When wells
where Al and A2 are functione of ottier independent are completed through more than one grid block a
variables, but not of the coke molar dansity, The similar successive substitution procedure to the two-
exponent ~ ie frequently taken as unity, but can also point upstream is ueed to avoid increasing the matrix
be slightly different than unity, bandwidth, Under these circumstances, the simulator
should be termed highly implicit rather than fully
Equation (17) can be written to firet order in implicit,
time as:
When the number of grid points becomes large
n+l Cn+l most of the computation time is spent in solving the ‘
$ c -$nc: n+l eets of simultaneous equations. A bandwidth reducing
= AI(l - Cc cc”)
At echeme (or sequential implicit echeme at the matrix
level) wae developed in reference 8 and tested in one
dimension, This hae since been extended to, and
- ‘2 %+% ‘m-’ *** (19) tested, in two and three dimensions, The scheme works
as follows: Fi8ure 1 represents one block line of the
where the euperecript k represents the latest level of Jacobian matrix for a two-dimensional problem. The
the Newtonian iteration. Rearrangement gives an elementzi marked ‘O’ are assumed to be negligible and
algebraic expression for the coke density: are not computed, The elements marked ‘G’ are eli-
minated by Gaueeian elimination on the block lina,
The elements ”denoted by ‘D’ then forma completely de-
coupled submatrix which can be solved separately with
“. a much reduced bandwidth, The elements marked ‘X’ are
than used in a procedure akin to forward substitution
to determine the remaining independent variables.
Typically (P, Sw, SO) or (P, Sw, So, T) are included
in the aubmatrix,
The method eaves on both storage and computing
time, Some typical exafnples o~! computing time com-
pared with the fully implicit solution are given in
Table 3. The numbers refer to tha overall run time
of the simulator, including for example, all extra
iteration required per time step when using the band-
width reducing option,
Automatic Tiuie Step Selection
During in situ combustion eimulation6 the
changes between time steps are so dramettc that some
form of automatic time step selection is essential.
It is impossible to run the program with a constant
time step, unless the,chosen time step is extremely
small.
In thie simulator the time step is estimated by
comparing the maximum changes of independent variablee
during the previous time step ~i, with input norms ni
and:
● ✎☛
Steam Drive
Steam drive can be performed in several ways
ueing ISCOM. One option removes the oxygen molar
fraction and corresponding continuity equation from
the equation set. The inert gas equation is still in
the system and can be used to eimulate a non-conden-
sable hydrocarbon gas. Howaver we obaarved soma
problems with this formulation during radial huff and
puff simulations. The nitrogen molar fraction was re
duced almost to zero by the large staam throughput In
the production grid blocks, Then when the steam zone
collapeed the Newtonian iteration converged to answer
In the unphysical region (the nitrogen molar fraction
want negative, and the steam molar fraction was
greater than 1). No matter how small a time step was
used the same phenomenon occurred. The problem was
finally resolved by the somewhat artificial device of
switching on the low temperature cracking reaction so
that smell amounts of inert gaa were generated in ths
syetem.
An alternative approach which has proved very
successful @ to use an aquation substitution for the
pressure. Tha nitrogen equation ie removed from the
eyetem altogether, If gas is present the pressure
variable Is eligned on the molar fraction constraint:
(21)

where index i runs over pressure, temperature, all . . . (22

saturations, and all molar fractions; w is a damping
factor whose optimum valuehae been found through
experience to be around unity. If a linear extrapol- If no gas is present it is aligned on the saturation
ation ie used (i.e., w = o) the time step Le invari- constraint:
ably undereatimatad if 6 > n, and overestimated is
d<n, So+sw=l ● ☛✎ (23

The formula givan cannot increase the time etep The conditions for switching from one equation to the
ratio Atn+l/Atn by more than,a factor 2. If the pra- other are as follows. If no gas is present and the
dicted ratio is less than 0,5 the time step is auto- N
metically repeated with half of the time step value. iteration converges with ‘lg X > 1 switch to the
Therefore changea of up to three times the norm are ~.1 @
allowed. Typical norms are20% for saturations and molar fraction conatraiut. If gas is present and the
molar fractions, 40 ‘C for temperature, and 500 kPa iteration converges with S <0 ewitch to the matur-
for preseure. This msans that during a typical run ation constraint, No difficulties have been observed
variation of up to 60% can be obsetied, especially with the switching process. The advantages of this
in changes of molar fractions, The simulator Is schame are that the Independent variables are alwaya
robust enou8h to tolerate changes of up to 90% over a the same, and the matrix structure remains invariant.
time step, Both staam formulations may ba used with a variabla
number of oil components, including also the case of
Genarally it requires 4 to 5 Newtonian iterations only one oil component in tha system,
to achieva convergence on saturations and molar
fractiona to batter than 0.001 in every grid block, RESULTS
The number of iterations needed ia not strongly da-
pendent on the time step sige, The tima step ratio Tha performance of ISCOMhas been studied on one
Atn+l/Atn ii computed during every Newtonian itera- two and three dimensional aimulatlona, Tests have
tlon except tha first, to decide if the time step been performed to Eind out the accuracy and senaiti-
should be repaatad, The reason for omitting the first vity of the model with changes in the number of grid
iteration is that massive changes can occur (molar blocke, time stap eize and diacreti~ation directions
fractions of megnituda several hundred), while the (grid orientation effects). In all tests the heat
eubaequent iteration giva convergence with chan8as loss was set to ~ero to facilitate comparison of the
around the norms. Aa it is clear that durin~ the finite-difference scheme with other in situ combuetio
Newtonian Lterationa values of the dependent variables simulator. Also the harmonic mobility weighting wae
outside tha physical domains can be computed, the not included except for teets concerning the grid
property package muet ba defiued ovar a wide ranga of orientation effect,
theee variables. Au a general rule, when variables
daviate outsida the physical dcmain they are not aet !Iha results of the grid eensltivity tests are
equal to the phyeical limits as this appeara to spoil presented in Fi8ures 2 to 9. The data are given in
the convergence characteristic of tho Newtonian Tabla 2, Flgurea 2, 3, 4 and 5 show temperature, 8as
iteration. saturation and oil production curves for one-
 PURPOSE NITE-DIFFERENCETHERMAL
A FULLYIMPLICIT GENERAL MODEL,., SPE 8396

dimensional simulations with the reeervoir represented CONCLUSIONS

by 10, 20 or 30 @d blocke with 30% norms for satur-
ations and molar fractions. The maximum difference 1. It has been shown that ISCOMie an effective and
between the curves 1s of order of 10% with a deviation robuet computer model for emulation of in eitu
of order of one block In temperature distribution. A combustion or eteamflooding,
6imilar situation can be seen in the two-dimensional
production curves in Figures 6 and 7 for a confined 2. ISCOMhas flexible physical and chemical property
1/4 five-spot pattern. Light oil production is more packagee.
Beneiti.ve to grid size than heavy oil production. The
results of Figures 8 and 9 show that grid sensitivity 3. The fully implicit formulation of the solution
ie not strongly affected by the inclueion of two- method guarantees simplicity of progranmning, ro-
point upstream mobility weighting. bustness in time step size with up to 50% nozms
in maturations and molar fractione. Xt demands
The time step sensitivity of ISCOMhas been in- however relatively large computing time and
vestigated in run~ with different values of norms Qi storage for higher dimensional runs.
determining time step selection in relation (21). The
one-dimensional desults are shown in Figures 10, 11, 4. The above time and storage limitations are greatl
12 and 13, and the two-dimensional results in Figures relaxed by the use of a band reducing option
14 and 15. Again the production curvee coincide with- which can tolerate saturation and molar fract%on
in 1(?%but front position varies by up to two grid norrne of up to 30%.
blocke, The curves in Figures 16 and 17 show the
results of using the two-point upstream option and 5. The two-point upstream weighting scheme is easily
also of using a very small saturation and molar implemented into ISCOM and producee little sen-
fraction norm value of 5%. Celculatione obtained with sitivity in one-dl.snenaional runs, Ite effect on
this small value of norm deviate quite strongly from two and threedinenslonal emulations wil% be
the cloee group of reeulte obteined with norms of 15, investigated in the future,
20 and 30%. A run with norms set at 2.5% gave almoat
the same result ae the 5% run. The exact reason for 6. The implementation of harmonic mobility weighting
thie sensitivity to time step si~e at values of nonne in ISCOMresulted in a great reduction of grid
in the range 2,5 - 15% is not yet known. Sensitivity orientation effects.
to the reaction terms wae tested by evaluating theee
terms with central differences in temperature, but 7. The alignment of independent variablee and
the spread was only reduced to about 2/3 that shown equatio& ie such’ that pivoting of the eolution
in Figures 16 and 17. Inveetigctionof thle matrix ie not neceesary,
phenomenon ie still continuing.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The effect of reduction of grid orientation in
two-dimensional areal calculations is shown in Thie reeearch was eupported by the Alberta/Canada
Figures 18, 19, 20 and 21, Figuree 18 and 20 chow Energy Reaourcee Research Fund administered by the
water maturation profiles and diagonal gae saturation Department of Energy and Natural Resources of the
cross-eectiona obteined with pure single-potnt up- Province of Alberta, It was brought to the attention
etream weighting. The eevere grid orientation effect of the authore that the theory for the bandwidth re-
produces unphysical fingers; holes in saturation dis- ducing option was developed independently by J,H,
tributions are seen, In some rune even two holes Abou-Keasem and ie to be presented in a Ph.D. theeisg.
like the one in Figure 18 have been obeerved. This The authoi’e are thankful to Dr. K. Aaiz for helpful
grid orientation effect is much stronger than In discuesione.
steamflood simulation.
NOMENCLATURE
A drastic improvement is obtained when ueing the
previously deecribed option of one-potnt upetream a WIcomponent participating in chemical reaction
with harmonic mobility Weighting. The reeults are
ehown in Figures 19 and 21 for the same simulations A = coefficient in formula for critical saturation
ae presented in Figures 18 and 20. The region of 4GZ (“K)
water saturation in Figure 19 ehowe the condensation AK . coefficient in formulafor Kqaluea
bank, The ehape and advance of the front in Figure
21 looke much more realistic, AV coaffi.ci.ant
■ in formula fOr oil Viecoeity
(kPa day)
The utilization of harmonic mobility weighting BK w coefficient in formula for K~alue (°K)
does not remove all grid orientation effects as it is
seen from Figure 22 and Figure 23 where the runs with
BV = coefficient in formula for oil viscosity (“K)
diagonal and parallel grids are compared, Howaver th{ c - molar density (mol/m3j
discrepancies are within reasonable limits, CK m coeffi~tent in formula for Kqalue (OK)
When the saturation and molar fraction norms ara cp - apeciftc heat (J/mol ‘K)
greater then about 50% ISCOMbecomes unstable. The
e = power in formula for reaction rate
Newtonian echeme in such cases is starting too far
from the final answer to be able to find a solution, E = actLvatlon enar8y (KJ/mol)
= independent variable i in block k
‘ki
- functional for d$scretized form of equation j
‘J
o
FE 8396 J,W. GRABOWSKI,
P,K,W. VINSOMEI

gravity term in continuity equation kPa i- component

spacifl.c enthelpy (J/mol) Ll- block number”
epacific enthalpy of injection or production k- iteration time level
(J/mol) L= phaee number (l-water, 21-oil, 3-gae)
spacific enthalpy of vaporization (J/mol) nl- index for non-zero etoichiometric coaffici.ent
heevy.oil of chemical reactant
inert gas 11= time level
absolute permeability (m2) nr = number of chemical reactant
relative permeability NR. total number of chamical reaction
equilibrium K-value 0= 011
light oil Ov = over or under burden
molar mese (kg/mol) R= rock
number of components rb _ numbar of burning reactlone
preseura rc = number of crackin8 reactione
injection or production rate (mollm3 day) w= water
gae conetant = 8.314 10-3 kJ/rnol ‘K
raaction rate (mol/a3 day)
freqtt~ncy coefficient in reaction rate (kPa 1. Reid, R,C,, Prausnitz, J.M. and Sherwood, T,K,:
day) “The Propertied of Gaeee and Liquids,” McGraw-
* Hill Book co., N.Y., 1977.
saturation
stoichiometric coefficient of reactant 2. Crookston, R.B,, Culham, W,E, and Chen, W,H.$
“A Numerical Simulation kiodel for Thermal
etoichiometric coefficient of product Recovery Processed,” Sot. Pet. Ens. J, (Feb.
critical maturation 1979), 37-58,
time 3* Chaee, C,A. and O’Dell, P.M.: “Application of
temperature (eK)
Variational Principle to Cap and Baea Rock Heat
~e*eB,II ‘fr~ee, #JM, VO1. 255 (1973)s 200-210S
temperature in “C
critical temperature (°K) 4. Wheatley, M.J,: 11AVersion Ctf “hO-pOiIIt upetX!ekIUi
Wei8hting for Use in Impllcit Numerical Reservoix
coefficient in formula for critical maturation Simulators, u SpE 7677, proc. Fifth spE SYWS ‘n
(’K) Res. Sire., Denver, 1979,
specific internal energy (J/mol)
5* Holloway, C.C., Thomas, L.K. and Piereon, R,G,:
phase velocity (m/day) ~lReduction of Grid Orientation Effecte in
noiar fraction Reeervoir Simulation, ‘1 paper SPE 5522 prasented
at 50th Annual Fall Meeting, Dallas, 1975,
gae compressibility fector
compressibility factor (kPa)-l 6, CoaCe, K,H., George, W,D,, Chieh Chu and
Mercum, B,E,: ~l~ree D~mens&onal Simulation of
thermal expansion factor (“K)-l Steamflooding,” Paper SPE 4500 preeented at 48th
maximum changes of independent variables (units Annual Fall Meeting, Las Vegas, 1973, Trane,,
of the variablee) AIME, (1973), Vol. 257, 11 573-592,
coefficient in formula for K-value 7, Vinsome, P.K.W. and Au, A,D.K,! “One Approach to
input norms of independent variables (units of the Grid Orientation Problem in Reservoir
the variablee) Simulation,” Papar SPE 8247 preeented at the
SPE-AIME54th tnnual Fall Technical Conference
mobility (m2/kPa day) and Exhibition, Lea Vegas, Sept. 1979,
heat conductivity (J/m day ‘K)
8. Rubin, B, and Vineome, P,K,W,l “The Simulation of
viscosity (kPa day) the In Situ Combustion Procees In One Dimeneion
coefficient in formula for critical maturation Using a Highly Implicit Finite-Difference Scheme,
Paper no, 79-30-14 presented at 30th Annual
total poroieity Tachnf.cal MeettnB of Pet, Sot, of CIM, Banff,
liquid phaees porosity 1979,

Subscript and Indicee 9. Abou-Keeeem, J.H.I “Xnvaetigaldon of Grid Orien-

tation in a Two-DLtnenaional Compositional Three-
c = coke Phase Steam Model,” A Ph.D. Thesie (to be
published), Dept. of Chem, Rng,, University of
g =,8ae c@ary, L979S
 1, Hat,; x
8,1 %,1
2. W2vy oil
%,2 X0,2
3, Light Oil X8,3 X0,3

4, Irmct
OM ‘8,4
5, Oxygan
xg,5
6, @kc c.
b I
TASLE 2

Corrdatiom
for Physical Propmxtioa
●nd bra for 6 Compaiant Ctma

atorveir Dimenalow = 8.0 10 ‘G kPa-l CP6 = 17.0 J/mol “K

‘O
angth 72.73 n 60 ● 2,010-” (’K)-l fin - 4.814 10s (TCXW- T) *38 Jlmol T ~ Terw
Iidth 72.73 m -ti. o T>T
sac I C& ● P/RTZ Crw.
mpth 6.40 m ~0 = 5,580 iOs (TGrO - T)”38 J/mol T C Tcre
z ● 1
- T>T
Moler M4aa To=o Cro
) = 4R [1 +’NP - PR)I
%-~xLiMi %8=0
IR ■ ,3e UL = ~ - 10-~ PL/cL
Ml = 18,02 10-s ks/wl
-1
h = O. kPa CR~R= 2,3S 106 (T - TR) J/m3
242- 170.0 10-s k8/mol
# . IO(I kPa
‘R M3 ● 44,010-3 kglmol hat Las Data
Equilibrium K-wlum U4 ■ 40,3 10-s kglmel T~v ● 367 ‘X
kX2 ● 14,06 1$ ■ 32*O 10-’ kg/wol i ~v = 2.179 105 Jldty n “K
BX2 ■ -S744 ‘K M6 ● 12.010 -s k$lwl ■ 2,35 106 Sing
Cpov”ov
CX2 -92,85 ●K
Vilcomity Inlaction - Production Data
IW3 ■ 13.71
water ! Pw ● 10-9/ (12,1 + 2.68 To + 7,78x10-” TC2) Wra owygw injcctcd ●t constant rate
61 ins/dayir
SK, - -1872 “X block numbsr i.
kPa &y Production ataonatant prweu;a 410 kPa in last
C% = 25,16 ‘K block,
oil I ,0 = 1(,01)%1
-3
ew=co=XO Chamical Rcactiono
Poi ● AV1 SXP(BVi/T)
Relative Patmcability Tharm ●ra 4 chzmi~al refictiorm.
AV2 _ 4.1910-15 kPa day
k R ktLo [ (SL - ScL)/ (1 - scL) ]’L SL ~ SCL 1. Lish\ oil (L@ oxidation I
rL BV29 4714 “K
M + 502 = 452t0 + 310
k ●O SL ~ SQL AV3 ■ 2.41 10-1$ kPa day
rL
2, Hwvy oil (HO) oxidation t
8V3 ● 53301 ‘K
s CL - sCL”/ (1 + AsL) + SCLi
HO + 1802 ■ 13Hz0 + 1210
ML = KFP [ (OLT + T,L) /AJ Sam
: ● 10-19 (1, 574 + 44x10-2TC) kPa day
‘8 3. Cracking rcactiont
k’ Caoilla rv Prosnura
_r~ >Gkhk HO ● 2L0 + 1.331G + 4,67C
P ■ AC“L + ACW2Sw
water ,25 3 0 0.2 1 Cw 4. @kc burnins rtzction I
oil L,ca 3 0 0,3 -1 P
aa = Acsl + ACS2 $ C + 1.2502- ,5K20 + N
Sam ,70 2 0 0!5 1 Acwl ■ ACW2● ACsL - AQ82 ■ O

fi~ (kpar8i@ ,~ ~ k%ol J!~l

Rzmvoir Conduativi& QE
kx = ky ■ kg ■ 4.10-12 m2
\ ■ (b$*)kh~+O*~sLAhL
1 1,45 105 1 1 17,46 2.21 10$

2 1*45 105 1 1 77,46 8.12 10$

~R = 2,179106 J(day m “K
watorl Cw = Cwk [1 + OW(P - PR) - BW(T - TR)1 3 3.00 lo~* 1 66,99 4,65 104
\L=O
c“R ■ 5,55 104 wltma 4 1,45 105 L 1 54,43 5,23 10s
sath21DY tnd Intarnal Wmrty
■ 4,5 10‘s kPa-l *unite day-l
Ow
= z’~i F’i - ~L
Isw -2.110-” (“0-’ R !nitial Data
~si ■ CP1(T - TR)
= 298 ‘K F 9 433 k.ea X02 8 19999
‘R
C*X = 33,5 J/Dol ‘K
oilt co ● COR [1 + aO(P - PR) - fIo(T- TR)1
T ■ 367 ‘K X03 ● ,0001
■ 242,0 J/avl ‘K
c OR m (~ xoi/coR)
i -1 cp2 Sw ■ ,30 XS5 ● 10-5
CP3 ■ 482,0 J/mol “K
so ● ,69 cc - 0,
COR2 ■ 4,16 10s wol/n$
CP4 -46.0 J/xol ‘K
s’ ● *O1
COR2 8.37 ■ lot wl/m$
c, ● 52,2 J/Del ‘K
., I
 TASLE 3

TiJAe and Storage Saving for

Band ReducinS Optbn (PSS) (TYX)

‘Mae Storage
Model Savina % Saving %

7x7 areal combustion 32 35

10x1O areal combustion 41

11x7x2 3-phase black oil 61 64

PSSTYX PSSTYXPSSTYXPS STYX PSSTYX

E
DDDOOO DDDOOO DDDGGG DDDOOO DDDOOO
DDDOOO DDDOOO DDDGGG DDDOOO DDDOOO
DDDOOO DDDOOO DDDGGG DDDOOO ,,,DDDOOO
XXxooo Xxxooo XXXXGG XXxooo Xxxooo
Xxxooo Xxxooo XXXXXG Xxxooo Xxxooo
Xxxooo Xxxooo XXxxxx Xxxooo Xxxooo

Fig.1 - One block1ineof Jacobianmatrix,

u ~ 30 GRID BLOCKS
b

I
500 a----o 20 GRID BLocKs
~ 10 GRID BLOCKS
t. 85DAys
420 k
,%
340 I I I 1 I I 1
080 0.2 0.4 0,6 0,8
FRACTIONAL LENGTH
Fig,2 - Grid size sensltivlty,One-dimensionalreservoir,

~ 0,8
~ 300RID BLOCKS
2 t a-.--a -----
20 QRIDBLOCKS
EI ~ ----- .-
iOt3RlD’
@ OAF t,-e6DAy$ ‘LOcKs

m-
#
w 0,01 1 1 1 I 1 I 1 I I t I t k I 1 1 1-
0,0 O,E 0,4 0,6 0,8
FRACTIONAL LENGTH
Fig,3 - Grid size sensltlvity, One-dtmenslons+l reservoir,
Ff8 , 6 - Grid-cizo sensitivity, l’wo-d~men~~onal reservoir,

- 9R9
d....a 7R7
- exe

TIME (days]
Fig , 7 - Grid ci~a emsitivity, lWo-dimcnc;onal ratorvoir,
 i,
M
g 660- t
I
t
~ 680- i,
q
1\
P 500“ a----b
zo fjRllJ
BLOCKS .
~ 10 GRID BLOCKS FRACTIONAL LENQTH
t 890 DAyS .a ------ Fi&l, 9 - ~ffact of two- oirm mobility wei8hting on 8rid siza
●6 ●eneit(vity, One-dimena ! onal reservoir,
420 - ,,,,~ a

540 1
0,0 9,2 0U4 0,6 0,8 ‘
FRACTIONAL LENGTH
Fig, 8 - Effect of two-point mobility waighting on 8rid #i&e
●anoitivity, One-dimensional reservoir.

-w
WO ~ I 1 1 1 I 1 I 1 1 1 1 t 1 I 1 I I 1 1 I I
1 5 10 M 20
GRID BLOCK NUMBER
Fi.8, 10 - Time ●tep aen~itivity, one-dim~naional ree.rvoir,

----

000

600

400

aoo I

Oy 1 1 .~
00 100 Ko
F18, 11 ● Time atap aenaitivity, One-dimensional rasarvoir, TIME (doyo)
Fi8, 12 = Time atap aencitivity, One-dimanatonal roaervotr,

Figs 13 - Time step sanattivity, Ona=dimanaionai rewwoir,

 1
g 160 -

Iii:
8 120

60

1 :
00 100 200 800 400 c
TIME (don)
,..
●
Fig, M - TiIUO &tap taitivity; No-d fm.nuional ramarvoir,

-.
QRID BLOCK NUMBER
FiII, 16 = Effa6t of two-poinb mobility waiBhtin& on time a~ap
●ontiti,vity, Ona. dlmontional rmorvolr,
Fig, L8 . Water asturation profila. Ti!aM - 150 days Fig, 19 - Water saturation profila, Time - L50 diya,
No harmonic woightinu t With harmonio w. fghtin~,

1,0
~ 280 OAY8
O---O tOO OAY8
~ 150 DAYS
4---A 110 DAYS

02 -

0,0
L I I 1 1 1 1 1 1 I “J
0,0 0!2 0,4 0,6 0,8 1,0
FRACTIONAL DISTANCE BETWEEN WELLS
Fig, 20 ‘- Dia onnl croos-oaotion of 1/4 fiw #pot, No
harmonio woig i! tine,

180
~ 260 OAYS
0---0 eoODAYS
0,0“ ~ 150 DAYS
a---A Ilo DAY8

0,6 “ \
1
\
0,4 “

OJ? “
b,
!—

I
0,0 I 1 I 1 I I 1 I I [
0!0 0,2 0s6 1,0
FRACTIONAL: :TANCE BETWEEN W“;LLS
Fig, 21 - Dia onal araas-tcatian of 1/4 fiva spot, With
hatmania woig R &tns,
 o--o IO XIOPARALLELQWD
*---0 7X7 DIAGONAL GRICJ

5
g
~ 120 -
0. . #
g ,“

fj 60 -
2

E 1 I I I
2
00 100 200 300 400 5
.
TIME (cloys)
Fig. 22 - Comparison of parallel and diagonal grid
direction. Withharmonic weighting.

240 ~ IOX1O PARALLEL GRID

o----o 7x7 DIAGONAL GRID
[
L --aa.. -.o
.@
160 - ~.ao
,**
●do

120 -

60 -

0
0 100 200 300 400 500
TIME (days)
. Fig. 23 - Comparison of parallel and diagonal grid
direction, With harmonic weighting.