Multigrid reduction for coupled flow problems with application to reservoir simulation
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Following an approach used in quantum dynamics, an exponential representation of the hydraulic head transforms the diffusion equation governing pressure propagation into an equivalent set of ordinary differential equations. Using a reservoir simulator to determine one set of dependent variables leaves a reduced set of equations for the path of a pressure transient. Unlike the current approach for computing the path of a transient, based on a high-frequency asymptotic solution, the trajectories resulting from this new formulation are valid for arbitrary spatial variations in aquifer properties. For a medium containing interfaces and layers with sharp boundaries, the trajectory mechanics approach produces paths that are compatible with travel time fields produced by a numerical simulator, while the asymptotic solution produces paths that bend too strongly into high permeability regions. The breakdown of the conventional asymptotic solution, due to the presence of sharp boundaries, has implications for model parameter sensitivity calculations and the solution of the inverse problem. For example, near an abrupt boundary, trajectories based on the asymptotic approach deviate significantly from regions of high sensitivity observed in numerical computations. In contrast, paths based on the new trajectory mechanics approach coincide with regions of maximum sensitivity to permeability changes.
Deep learning models have shown promise in reservoir inflow prediction, yet their performance often deteriorates when applied to different reservoirs due to distributional differences, referred to as the domain shift problem. Domain generalization (DG) solutions aim to address this issue by extracting domain-invariant representations that mitigate errors in unseen domains. However, in hydrological settings, each reservoir exhibits unique inflow patterns, while some metadata beyond observations like spatial information exerts indirect but significant influence. This mismatch limits the applicability of conventional DG techniques to many-domain hydrological systems. To overcome these challenges, we propose HydroDCM, a scalable DG framework for cross-reservoir inflow forecasting. Spatial metadata of reservoirs is used to construct pseudo-domain labels that guide adversarial learning of invariant temporal features. During inference, HydroDCM adapts these features through light-weight conditioning layers informed by the target reservoir’s metadata, reconciling DG’s invariance with location-specific adaptation. Experiment results on 30 real-world reservoirs in the Upper Colorado River Basin demonstrate that our method substantially outperforms state-of-the-art DG baselines under many-domain conditions and remains computationally efficient.
Summary This paper will present a robust workflow to address multiobjective optimization (MOO) of carbon dioxide (CO2)-enhanced oil recovery (EOR)-sequestration projects with a large number of operational control parameters. Farnsworth unit (FWU) field, a mature oil reservoir undergoing CO2 alternating water injection (CO2-WAG) EOR, will be used as a field case to validate the proposed optimization protocol. The expected outcome of this work would be a repository of Pareto-optimal solutions of multiple objective functions, including oil recovery, carbon storage volume, and project economics. FWU’s numerical model is used to demonstrate the proposed optimization workflow. Because using MOO requires computationally intensive procedures, machine-learning-based proxies are introduced to substitute for the high-fidelity model, thus reducing the total computation overhead. The vector machine regression combined with the Gaussian kernel (Gaussian-SVR) is used to construct proxies. An iterative self-adjusting process prepares the training knowledge base to develop robust proxies and minimizes computational time. The proxies’ hyperparameters will be optimally designed using Bayesian optimization to achieve better generalization performance. Trained proxies will be coupled with multiobjective particle swarm Optimization (MOPSO) protocol to construct the Pareto-front solution repository. The outcomes of this workflow will be a repository containing Pareto-optimal solutions of multiple objectives considered in the CO2-WAG project. The proposed optimization workflow will be compared with another established methodology using a multilayer neural network (MLNN) to validate its feasibility in handling MOO with a large number of parameters to control. Optimization parameters used include operational variables that might be used to control the CO2-WAG process, such as the duration of the water/gas injection period, producer bottomhole pressure (BHP) control, and water injection rate of each well included in the numerical model. It is proved that the workflow coupling Gaussian-SVR proxies and the iterative self-adjusting protocol is more computationally efficient. The MOO process is made more rapid by squeezing the size of the required training knowledge base while maintaining the high accuracy of the optimized results. The outcomes of the optimization study show promising results in successfully establishing the solution repository considering multiple objective functions. Results are also verified by validating the Pareto fronts with simulation results using obtained optimized control parameters. The outcome from this work could provide field operators an opportunity to design a CO2-WAG project using as many inputs as possible from the reservoir models. The proposed work introduces a novel concept that couples Gaussian-SVR proxies with a self-adjusting protocol to increase the computational efficiency of the proposed workflow and to guarantee the high accuracy of the obtained optimized results. More importantly, the workflow can optimize a large number of control parameters used in a complex CO2-WAG process, which greatly extends its utility in solving large-scale MOO problems in various projects with similar desired outcomes.
Deep learning-based surrogate models have been widely applied in geological carbon storage (GCS) problems to accelerate the prediction of reservoir pressure and CO2 plume migration. Large amounts of data from physics-based numerical simulators are required to train a model to accurately predict the complex physical behaviors associated with this process. In practice, the available training data are always limited in large-scale 3D problems due to the high computational cost. Therefore, we propose to use a multi-fidelity Fourier neural operator (FNO) to solve large-scale GCS problems with more affordable multi-fidelity training datasets. FNO has a desirable grid-invariant property, which simplifies the transfer learning procedure between datasets with different discretization. Here, we first test the model efficacy on a GCS reservoir model being discretized into 110 k grid cells. The multi-fidelity model can predict with accuracy comparable to a high-fidelity model trained with the same amount of high-fidelity data with 81% less data generation costs. We further test the generalizability of the multi-fidelity model on a same reservoir model with a finer discretization of 1 million grid cells. This case was made more challenging by employing high-fidelity and low-fidelity datasets generated by different geostatistical models and reservoir simulators. We observe that the multi-fidelity FNO model can predict pressure fields with reasonable accuracy even when the high-fidelity data are extremely limited. The findings of this study can help for better understanding of the transferability of multi-fidelity deep learning surrogate models.
Summary The fast marching method (FMM)-based rapid flow simulation has been shown to accelerate simulation efficiency by orders of magnitude by transforming 3D simulation to equivalent 1D simulation using the concept of the “diffusive time of flight” (DTOF). However, the 1D transformation does not directly apply to multiwell problems. In this paper, we propose a novel DTOF-based multidomain multiresolution discretization scheme to accelerate multiwell simulation of unconventional reservoirs. Our method formulates multiwell simulation problems based on the DTOF which displays the pressure front propagation in unconventional reservoirs. The DTOF contours are used to partition the reservoir into local and shared domains. A local domain is where the flow is dominated by a single well, and the shared domain is where the fluid flow is influenced by multiple wells. The DTOF contours expand independently in local domains and interfere in the shared domain. After the partitioning, each domain is discretized using a multiresolution scheme whereby the original 3D fine mesh is preserved near the wells to account for detailed physics including gravity, and the rest of the domain is discretized into 1D mesh based on the DTOF contours to alleviate the simulation workload. The power and efficacy of our approach are demonstrated using synthetic and field-scale simulation models with different degrees of geologic and well-completion complexity. The simulation results, number of active cells, and computation time for the proposed discretization scheme are compared with the original high-fidelity 3D model for each case. The results show that the proposed method is suitable for multiwell simulation problems in unconventional reservoirs and can accelerate flow simulations by orders of magnitude with minimal loss of accuracy. The novelty of this work is the creation of DTOF-derived multiresolution discretization with local and shared domains to simplify and accelerate the calculation of subsurface flow problems, especially in unconventional reservoirs. Our workflow can be easily interfaced with commercial simulators, making it suitable for large-scale field applications.
The interactions among fluid species such as H 2 O, CO 2 , and CH 4 confined in nano- and meso-pores in shales and other rocks is of central concern to understanding the chemical behavior and transport properties of these species in the earth's subsurface and is of special concern to geological C-sequestration and enhanced production of oil and natural gas. The behavior of CO 2 , and CH 4 is less well understood than that of H 2 O. This paper presents the results of a computational modeling study of the partitioning of CO 2 and CH 4 between bulk fluid and nano- and meso-pores bounded by the common clay mineral montmorillonite. The calculations were done at 323 K and a total fluid pressure of 124 bars using a novel approach (constant reservoir composition molecular dynamics, CRC-MD) that uses bias forces to maintain a constant composition in the fluid external to the pore. This purely MD approach overcomes the difficulties in making stochastic particle insertion–deletion moves in dense fluids encountered in grand canonical Monte Carlo and related hybrid approaches. The results show that both the basal siloxane surfaces and protonated broken edge surfaces of montmorillonite both prefer CO 2 relative to CH 4 suggesting that methods of enhanced oil and gas production using CO 2 will readily displace CH 4 from such pores. This preference for CO 2 is due to its preferred interaction with the surfaces and extends to approximately 20 Å from them.
Injecting fluid into a well creates an evolving strain tensor field in the rocks enveloping the well. Understanding the strain field has the potential to improve the effectiveness of CO 2 storage, but the strain tensor had never been measured during injection. The objective of this project was to evaluate how the strain tensor can be measured and interpreted to improve the assessment of geomechanical properties and advance an understanding of geomechanical processes that may present risks to CO 2 storage. The project consisted of three primary tasks related to 1) developing instruments for measuring the strain tensor with high precision; 2) developing methods for analyzing strain signals; and 3) demonstrating the approach at a CO 2 storage analog site.
Arctic soils (including permafrost) contain an untapped reservoir of microbial life, including viruses, that are trapped in a frozen state of low metabolic activity. However, as permafrost thaws, they can be revived and pose potential risks to human health and ecosystem stability. The current COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the urgency of identifying potential pathogen reservoirs which may be activated under the impacts of climate change, as well as understanding the role of RNA viruses in dynamic environments. Here, we applied a new computational workflow (Wu et al. submitted) to identify and analyze RNA viruses from de-novo assemblies representing a total of 33 metatranscriptomes collected from four parallel transects across a range of fluctuating environmental gradients. This study provides the first characterization of RNA viral diversity within a permafrost ecosystem.
Deep learning (DL)--based surrogate models have achieved success in various applications in carbon capture and storage (CCS). However, the model training on high-dimensional spaces is computationally expensive and impractical for large-scale and complex geological models, because the models usually contain hundreds of thousands to millions of grid cells, each with a set of parameters. Furthermore, the high cost of generating training data with sufficient variation is another limitation of model training on high-dimensional spaces, which may result in overfitting and reduce the model efficiency and prediction performance. We proposed the workflow incorporating dimension reduction methods and deep learning models, which aim to extract the latent variables of input parameters and output state variables, and then build the mapping function at the latent spaces. The proposed workflow can significantly reduce the computational complexity in solving both forward and inverse problems compared to models trained on high-dimensional spaces. Dimensionality reduction models showed great potential in workflows for fast reservoir simulation, history matching, prior model generation, visualization, and more, ultimately enhancing DL model performance in related SMART Work Packages.
Recent advances in instrumentation have made it feasible to measure the transient strain tensor caused by small changes in fluid volume or pressure in the subsurface and this has opened the door to new opportunities for characterization and monitoring during CCUS. We have demonstrated this method by deploying strainmeters at shallow depths (30 to 40m) and then conducting injection well tests in an underlying reservoir at 530m depth. The resulting data indicated that the horizontal strain at shallow strainmeters was tensile and the vertical strain was compressive. The radial strain was less than the horizontal strain, and the strain rates decreased from 100 nanostrain/day to roughly 10 ne/d over a few days (1 nanostrain = 1 part per billion strain). We then used the strain data to estimate reservoir properties, geometry and pressure through inversion of poroelastic forward models using both numerical and novel analytical methods. The average horizontal strain in the caprock resembles the transient pressure in the underlying reservoir and classic type-curve methods from transient well testing can be used for preliminary interpretations of strain data. We have developed fast, closed-form analytical solutions to a pressurized poroelastic inclusion and inhomogeneity in a half-space. Numerical models developed using finite element methods allow more details of the subsurface to be included in the inversion, but they require much longer run times and this makes inversion cumbersome using standard methods. We have developed an inversion approach that uses a proxy model created using machine learning to do most of the forward calculations. This approach markedly reduces the computational requirements and makes it feasible to use Bayesian inversion with large numerical models. Bayesian inversion is important because it provides predictions with uncertainties, which makes the results useful for decision making. We have shown with field tests and simulations that the strain tensor in the caprock is sensitive to pressure in the reservoir, reservoir properties and boundaries, and pressure in the caprock caused by leaks. These results indicate that measuring and interpreting the shallow strain tensor could be a valuable tool for both initial reservoir characterization efforts and long-term monitoring during CCUS. Recent advances in instrumentation have made it feasible to measure the transient strain tensor caused by small changes in fluid volume or pressure in the subsurface and our objective was to evaluate opportunities for strain monitoring during characterization and monitoring for CCUS. Our approach was to deploy strainmeters at shallow depths (30 to 40m) and then conduct injection well tests in an underlying reservoir at 530m depth. The results indicate that the horizontal strain at shallow strainmeters was tensile and the vertical strain was compressive. The radial strain was less than the horizontal strain, and the strain rates decreased from 100 nanostrain/day to roughly 10 ne/d over a few days (1 nanostrain = 1 part per billion strain). We then used the strain data to estimate reservoir properties, geometry and pressure through inversion of poroelastic forward models using both numerical and novel analytical methods. The average horizontal strain in the caprock resembles the transient pressure in the underlying reservoir and classic type-curve methods from transient well testing can be used for preliminary interpretations of strain data. We have developed fast, closed-form analytical solutions to a pressurized poroelastic inclusion and inhomogeneity in a half-space. Numerical models developed using finite element methods allow more details of the subsurface to be included in the inversion, but they require much longer run times and this makes inversion cumbersome using standard methods. We have developed an inversion approach that uses a proxy model created using machine learning to do most of the forward calculations. This approach markedly reduces the computational requirements and makes it feasible to use Bayesian inversion with large numerical models. Bayesian inversion is important because it provides predictions with uncertainties, which makes the results useful for decision making. In conclusion, we have shown with field tests and simulations that the strain tensor in the caprock is sensitive to pressure in the reservoir, reservoir properties and boundaries, and pressure in the caprock caused by leaks. These results indicate that measuring and interpreting the shallow strain tensor could be a valuable tool for both initial reservoir characterization efforts and long-term monitoring during CCUS.
It is desirable for fourth-generation Small Modular Reactors to be passively cooled in standard and accident operations. Passive Containment Cooling Systems can reject heat from the containment structure, without using pumps or blowers. The targeted design containment structure is a large, domed, stainless steel, cylindrical vessel. In a postulated Design Basis Accident, steam will flash inside containment. Steam condensation occurs on the inner containment wall and transfers heat through the steel containment into a large body of water known as the annular reservoir (AR) surrounding the vessel serving as the ultimate heat sink. Natural circulation drives the flow in the AR and heat will be released to the environment by evaporation of water. Unique containment geometry requires a separate effects test (SET) facility for the verification and validation of the computer code and evaluation model development and assessment for reactor licensing efforts. In this study, STAR-CCM+, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code was used to inform the decision-making process on the design of the SET. The CFD simulation modeled, a two-phase turbulent flow with fluid film development and heat transfer for different containment geometries. The Reactor Excursion and Leak Analysis Program will also be used in a code-to-code verification against the CFD results.
A computational procedure was developed which can be used to determine the flow properties in hypersonic helium wind tunnels in which real gas behavior is significant. In this procedure, a three-coefficient virial equation of state and the assumption of isentropic nozzle flow are employed to determine the tunnel reservoir, nozzle, throat, freestream, and post-normal shock conditions. This method was applied to a range of conditions which encompasses the operational capabilities of the LaRC 22-Inch Mach 20 Helium Tunnel. Results are presented graphically in the form of real gas correction factors which can be applied to perfect gas calculations. Important thermodynamic properties of helium are also plotted versus pressure and temperature. The computational scheme used to determine the real-helium flow parameters was incorporated into a FORTRAN code which is discussed.
Closed-loop heat exchange for geothermal energy production involves injecting working fluid down a well that extends through the geothermal resource over a significant length to absorb heat by conduction through the well pipe. The well then needs to return to the surface for energy recovery and fluid re-injection to complete the cycle. We have carried out mixed convective-conductive fluid-flow modeling using a wellbore flow model for TOUGH2 called T2Well to investigate the critical factors that control closed-loop geothermal energy recovery. T2Well solves a mixed explicit-implicit set of momentum equations for flow in the pipe with full coupling to the implicit three-dimensional integral finite difference equations for Darcy flow in the porous medium. T2Well has the option of modeling conductive heat flow from the porous medium to the pipe by means of a semi-analytical solution which makes the computation very efficient because the porous medium does not have to be discretized. When the fully three-dimensional option is chosen, the porous medium is discretized and heat flow to the pipe is by conduction and convection, depending on reservoir permeability and other factors. Simulations of the closed-loop system for a variety of parameter values have been carried out to elucidate the heat recovery process. To the extent that convection may occur to aid in heat delivery to the pipe, the permeability of the geothermal reservoir, whether natural or stimulated, is an important property in heat extraction. The injection temperature and flow rate of the working fluid strongly control the ultimate energy recovery. Pipe diameter also plays a strong role in heat extraction, but is correlated with flow rate. Similarly, the choice of working fluid plays an important role, with water showing better heat extraction than CO2 for certain flow rates, while the CO2 has higher pressure at the production wellhead which can aid in surface energy recovery. In general, we find complex interactions between the critical factors that will require advanced computational approaches to fully optimize.
Units of superconducting circuitry that exploit the concept of the single- Cooper-pair box (SCB) have been built and are undergoing testing as prototypes of logic gates that could, in principle, constitute building blocks of clocked quantum computers. These units utilize quantized charge states as the quantum information-bearing degrees of freedom. An SCB is an artificial two-level quantum system that comprises a nanoscale superconducting electrode connected to a reservoir of Cooper-pair charges via a Josephson junction. The logical quantum states of the device, .0. and .1., are implemented physically as a pair of charge-number states that differ by 2e (where e is the charge of an electron). Typically, some 109 Cooper pairs are involved. Transitions between the logical states are accomplished by tunneling of Cooper pairs through the Josephson junction. Although the two-level system contains a macroscopic number of charges, in the superconducting regime, they behave collectively, as a Bose-Einstein condensate, making possible a coherent superposition of the two logical states. This possibility makes the SCB a candidate for the physical implementation of a qubit. A set of quantum logic operations and the gates that implement them is characterized as universal if, in principle, one can form combinations of the operations in the set to implement any desired quantum computation. To be able to design a practical quantum computer, one must first specify how to decompose any valid quantum computation into a sequence of elementary 1- and 2-qubit quantum gates that are universal and that can be realized in hardware that is feasible to fabricate. Traditionally, the set of universal gates has been taken to be the set of all 1-qubit quantum gates in conjunction with the controlled-NOT (CNOT) gate, which is a 2-qubit gate. Also, it has been known for some time that the SWAP gate, which implements square root of the simple 2-qubit exchange interaction, is as computationally universal as is the CNOT operation.
Recent instrument developments have made it possible to measure the strain tensor caused by injecting or pumping fluid from aquifers or reservoirs, but the full value of these data is limited because the long runtimes of poroelastic forward models makes it impractical to use many inversion schemes. This limits the interpretation of strain data for managing the recovery of resources or storage of wastes in the subsurface. This paper describes a method of inverting deformation data using a poroelastic numerical simulator so the results can be used to manage reservoirs or aquifers. We developed a workflow designed to reduce the number of simulations sufficiently to make it feasible to use DREAMzs, an advanced Bayesian inversion method that translates the uncertainties from different sources into unbiased posterior parameter distributions and uncertainty envelopes around the field data. Using a KNN proxy model for the poroelastic simulator is key to reducing the overall computations, and the workflow includes a strategy for ensuring the proxy model results converge on the results from the simulator. The workflow is tested using an idealized example that verifies the ability to correctly identify parameters and characterize noise used to perturb the data. Field data from an injection test at an oil reservoir near Tulsa, Oklahoma, are also used to evaluate the efficacy of the workflow with a real dataset. The workflow identified 265 history matching solutions out of 1240 total simulation runs (21% acceptance ratio), where the results were used to characterize posterior parameter distribution and evaluate the prediction uncertainty. Furthermore, this workflow is significant because it enables strain tensor, or other geomechanical measurements to be interpreted to guide decision-making during energy and environmental processes in the subsurface.
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