Multi-scale finite-volume method for use in subsurface flow simulation
US6823297B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignees
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Mar 6, 2003 |
| Grant date | Nov 23, 2004 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Mar 6, 2023 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F2111/10
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A multi-scale finite-volume (MSFV) method to solve elliptic problems with a plurality of spatial scales arising from single or multi-phase flows in porous media is provided. Two sets of locally computed basis functions are employed. A first set of basis functions captures the small-scale heterogeneity of the underlying permeability field, and it is computed to construct the effective coarse-scale transmissibilities. A second set of basis functions is required to construct a conservative fine-scale velocity field. The method efficiently captures the effects of small scales on a coarse grid, is conservative, and treats tensor permeabilities correctly. The underlying idea is to construct transmissibilities that capture the local properties of a differential operator. This leads to a multi-point discretization scheme for a finite-volume solution algorithm. Transmissibilities for the MSFV method are preferably constructed only once as a preprocessing step and can be computed locally. Therefore, this step is well suited for massively parallel computers. Furthermore, a conservative fine-scale velocity field can be constructed from a coarse-scale pressure solution which also satisfies the …
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.