| Title | Calculation of Micro-Gravity Using a Refined Tetrahedral Scheme for Use with Reservoir Simulators |
|---|---|
| Authors | Peter Franz |
| Year | 2013 |
| Conference | New Zealand Geothermal Workshop |
| Keywords | micro-gravity, TOUGH2, TETRAD, VTK |
| Abstract | Micro-Gravity is a valuable tool in reservoir engineering to monitor changes in fluid density during production and injection of geothermal fluids. Survey data from microgravity stations at regular intervals is therefore an important constraint to numerical reservoir simulations. However, comparison between survey data and simulator output is not straightforward. While reservoir simulators like TOUGH2 and TETRAD can output relevant thermodynamic and porosity data, the accurate calculation of micro-gravity is difficult due to the highly geometric nature of the problem and the 1/r2 dependency of gravity. The algorithm presented here decouples the time-dependent calculation of the fluid density in the model blocks from the static calculation of geometric factors between each block and each gravity station. The static volume integral over each model block is approximated by a series of tetrahedral refinements of the block. Comparisons between this method, the analytical solution of a sphere, cube, and the commonly used point-mass approximation are shown. |