In addition to the standalone coupled simulations where ParaGeo solves any or all THM fields, ParaGeo can also be coupled to external reservoir simulators so that the different fields are solved by:

 

•Geomechanical field solved by ParaGeo

•Porous Flow Field solved by the reservoir simulator

•Thermal Field solved by either ParaGeo or the reservoir simulator

 

The current functionality allows coupling ParaGeo to IX (Chevron, Total and Schlumberger), Pflotran and Pflotran-OGS.  When coupling ParaGeo to a reservoir simulator generally only the reservoir and the most permeable formations will be solved by the reservoir simulator and consequently only those formations will exist in the flow grid / mesh.  This may include permeable faults, which are usually modelled as a continuum in reservoir simulators. On the other hand the ParaGeo model geometry will generally consider all the formations present in the reservoir simulator grid plus any formations in the overburden, underburden and side burden. Thus, during the coupled simulation mapping of data will be performed between the reservoir model grid / mesh and the equivalent formations (groups) in ParaGeo at each coupling step. Note that this may include mapping from continuum representation of faults in the reservoir simulator to discrete contact faults in ParaGeo.

 

Note that there is functionality in ParaGeo that allows to generate the reservoir simulator grid files for the specified formations from a full ParaGeo meshed geometry.

 

The data structures and the corresponding keywords available for coupled simulations between ParaGeo and currently supported reservoir simulators are described here. Those include:

 

•Pflotran_control_data defining control data such as the output times, the coupling step, termination time, etc, for simulations coupling ParaGeo to Pflotran or Pflotran-OGS

•Pflotran_coupling_data defining the coupling options between ParaGeo and Pflotran or Pflotran-OGS

•Reservoir_control_data defining control data such as the output times, the coupling step, termination time, etc, for simulations coupling ParaGeo to IX

•Reservoir_coupling_data defining the coupling options between ParaGeo and IX

 

 

 

Examples

 

Tutorial examples demonstrating coupling of ParaGeo to external reservoir simulators are:

 

IX_002: Reservoir simulation