Duration - 01/10/2011 - 30/09/2014
PhD student - Saiful Islam
Funding - PhD funded by ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company.
Research Partners
Project description
Fault zones in clastic sequences are three dimensional volumes containing arrays of more or less rotated and deformed lenses, bounded by highly strained regions which accommodate the bulk of the fault offset. Numerical flow models are important hydrocarbon reservoir management tools, but the geometrically simplistic representation of fault zones in these models can severely compromise their ability to model realistic across-fault and along-fault fluid flow. Whilst recently developed geometric upscaling methods provide a much improved basis for the representation of fault zone structure, this PhD will focus on extending the applicability of the method and on investigating alternative fault zone upscaling methods. The approach will be to build high resolution models in which geometrical fault zone complexity is represented within the grid, and to compare the flow behaviour of these models with that of model versions upscaled in various ways. A minor part of the research concerns the application of data-mining methods to assess the significance on flow response of different fault-related assumptions used in model construction.
Contact: Tom Manzocchi
Tel: +353 1 716 2605
EMAIL