Computational Geophysics & Petroleum Engineering
hydro A
Using the two-phase flow model in the IPARS simulator and 64 nodes of the IBM
SP2 at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Center for Subsurface Modeling
researchers examined the behavior of a million-grid-block reservoir with four
injection and twelve production wells. The displacement front advancing from
the injection wells is clearly seen in the upper contour plot, with the variation
in water saturation at the bottom of the reservoir projected onto the plane
below. This plane also shows the computational mesh, which is refined in both
horizontal directions around each well, and the irregular boundary of the reservoir.
hydro B1, hydro
B2, hydro B3
The movement of water through an oil reservoir is critical to determining the
economics of the field. The blue contour shows the advance of water from two
injection wells, one in each lobe of a tilted oxbow reservoir (so called after
the type of meandering river channel that created the original reservoir sand).
The orthogonal slices in the planes of the injection wells are colored according
to the local rate of change of water saturation, highlighting the width of the
water/oil displacement front. The limits of the reservoir are indicated by the
red 'curtain'. The circular white contours of pressure in the horizontal plane
show the locations of seven production wells. The timing of water arrival at
these wells is an important issue in planning oil recovery strategies.
This detailed simulation (125000 grid blocks) was run with the IPARS software
on a cluster of 16 PCs at the Center for Subsurface Modeling.
hydro C
Aquifers and oil reservoirs are often highly irregular at large scales (km)
due to tectonics and at small scales (m to cm) due to depositional environment,
burial history, and diagenesis. An intriguing mathematical framework for capturing
these multiscale irregularities is the multiblock concept. Center for Subsurface
Modeling researchers have implemented this concept into the IPARS parallel reservoir
simulation framework. This animation shows the advance of water from an injection
well in one corner of one block toward a production well located in a third
block. Several large heterogeneities in rock permeability exist within the blocks,
in addition to the dislocation at the block faces. The two isosurfaces (contours
of different water saturations) show the complex flow pattern around and through
these heterogeneities.
Interactive Visualization of 3D Seismic Data
(Northern Barbados Ridge: Structural Evolution)
Barbados Movie
A volume of three-dimensional seismic reflection data, acquired in 1992,
imaged the decollement beneath the northern Barbados Rodge accretionary
prism revealing reflection amplitude and waveform variations attributed to
fluid accumulations along the plate boundary fault. We visualized the data
interactively. The interactivity obtained from parallel rendering using
multiple graphics pipes and hardware 3D textures. The above image and
movie show wells and hot spots between two layers. The hot spots are
created due to subsurface tectonic processes. Water temperature increases
highly at such hot spots. Additionally hot water and other hot materials
are coming up from beneath the earths mantle.
Project X-Tierra
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