PhD IfP France

Homogeneisation of the relative permeabilities for the single media modelling of fractured reservoirs

Recent environmental and economical questions as C02 storage and oil productivity require the use of numerical flow and transport simulations in geological media (as fractured media). Current characterization methods for fractured reservoirs allow obtaining at the fine scale a realistic representation of these complex structures: the discrete fracture network (DFN). As multiphase simulations are CPU time consuming on those models (too many nodes), various techniques of homogenisation have been developed towards single or dual porosity models. If efficient methods exist for the calculation of the equivalent permeability tensor, the upscaling of multiphase flow properties (relative permeabilities and capillary pressures) are an open issue. The goal of this thesis is to develop upscaling techniques of multiphase flow properties in order to carry out realistic single porosity simulations
Contact:
Andre.FOURNO@ifp.fr