Thermal numerical simulator for laboratory evaluation of steamflood oil recovery

摘要

A thermal numerical simulator running on an IBM AT compatible personal computer is described. The simulator was designed to assist laboratory design and evaluation of steamflood oil recovery. An overview of the historical evolution of numerical thermal simulation, NIPER's approach to solving these problems with a desk top computer, the derivation of equations and a description of approaches used to solve these equations, and verification of the simulator using published data sets and sensitivity analysis are presented. The developed model is a three-phase, two-dimensional multicomponent simulator capable of being run in one or two dimensions. Mass transfer among the phases and components is dictated by pressure- and temperature-dependent vapor-liquid equilibria. Gravity and capillary pressure phenomena were included. Energy is transferred by conduction, convection, vaporization and condensation. The model employs a block centered grid system with a five-point discretization scheme. Both areal and vertical cross-sectional simulations are possible. A sequential solution technique is employed to solve the finite difference equations. The study clearly indicated the importance of heat loss, injected steam quality, and injection rate to the process. Dependence of overall recovery on oil volatility and viscosity is emphasized. The process is very sensitive to relative permeability values. Time-step sensitivity runs indicted that the current version is time-step sensitive and exhibits conditional stability. 75 refs., 19 figs., 19 tabs.