PETE 603

Lecture Session #30

Thursday, 7/29/10
30.2 Accuracy of Solutions

Material Balance Error

Nonlinear Error
Instability Error
Truncation Error
Roundoff Error
Numerical Dispersion
Grid Orientation
30.3 Material Balance Error
Over a single timestep
V p So n +1
V p So
n
Local MBE = - + q o t
i, j Bo Bo i, j
Over entire simulation
VpSo n 1 o
VpS o n 1
Cum.MBE q o t
ij Bo Bo 1 ij

30.4 Material Balance Error
Causes of material balance error:
- non-conservative equation formulation
- error in solution of nonlinear equations
(Newton-Raphson)
- error in matrix solutions
- roundoff errors (numerical precision)
- data errors (negative compressibilities)
- program bugs
30.5 Nonlinear Error

True PVT data

PVT
quantity

Data points in PVT table

Pressure

Interpolating PVT functions linearly is a source of error.

30.6 Nonlinear Error
Nonlinear errors are especially a
problem near the bubblepoint due to
discontinuity in total compressibility.

Chord slopes in IMPES

V n 1
p p n 1
V 1 c f p p
n
i
n
i
Solutions:
take smaller timesteps
iterate on chord slope (IMPES)
30.7 Instability Error

Sw

Time
If a simulation run becomes unstable erroneous
saturations will occur.
30.8 Instability Error
Caused by taking timesteps which are
too large in an IMPES method.

Solution:
Take smaller timesteps
Use fully implicit method
30.9 Truncation Error

f(x + x) - f(x) x x 2
f (x) = - f (x) - f (x) + ....
x 2! 3!

f(x + x ) - f(x)
f (x) = - O x
x

Truncating the Taylor series expansions is a source

of error.

The size of this error depends on the grid size and

the timestep.
30.10 Truncation Error
1,000
PRESSURE (X = 100 ll ), psia

800
DELT

10 days

600
5 days

1.25 days
400

0.15 days

200
0 20 40 60 80

TIME, days

Refining the grid and/or reducing the timestep

reduces the truncation error.
30.11 Numerical Dispersion

Numerical dispersion causes fluid fronts to arrive

sooner than they should. Fronts that should be sharp
become smeared.
30.12 Numerical Dispersion

Solution:
Use smaller gridblocks
Upstream relative permeabilities also help
minimize numerical dispersion.
Multipoint upstream sometimes used in tracer
studies
Use pseudorelative permeabilities
(pseudofunctions)
Choose timestep wisely in IMPES
(maximum stable timestep)
30.13 Numerical Dispersion
Do we want to remove numerical
dispersion altogether?
Buckley-Leverett flow does not apply for
many field cases.
Capillary pressure spreads out fluid front,
especially in low permeability reservoirs.
Permeability heterogeneity smears fluid
front (fingering).
Some numerical dispersion may be
acceptable.
30.14 Grid Orientation

The orientation of the grid with respect to the well

locations can influence the simulation results.

Fluid moves preferentially along the grid lines. If the red

dot represented a water injector, the water would
break through fastest in the diagonal grid (right) - even if
the grid dimensions were the same.
30.15 Grid Orientation
To overcome the grid orientation effect a
different form of the finite-difference method can
be used.
The usual method is called the five-point
approach.
The nine-point approach to the flow equations
removes the grid orientation effect, however
more computational work is required.
The Control Volume Finite Element approach
often uses triangular gridblocks (full permeability
tensor required).
30.16 Grid Orientation
30.17 Grid Orientation
30.18 Data Modification - 5 spot

Producer Producer

Injector

Producer Producer
30.19 Data Modification - 5 spot

Simulator: Quarter 5-spot

30.20 Data Modification - 5 spot

Data Modification: Quarter 5-spot

ky
2

kx
2
30.21 Data Modification - 5 spot

Final Result: Quarter 5-spot