Date of Graduation

2016

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MS

College

Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources

Department

Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering

Committee Chair

Ali Takbiri Borujeni

Committee Co-Chair

Samuel Ameri

Committee Member

Ebrahim Fathi

Committee Member

Ali Takbiri Borujeni

Abstract

The main objective for this work is to predict the impact of heterogeneity in the rock and fluid properties on the governing equations in modeling of SAGD process. To serve this purpose, a spectrum-based upscaling approach is applied on the governing equations.;A probability-based analysis is used to include heterogeneity in the fluid and rock properties by assigning random perturbation fields to each property. Furthermore, each property is decomposed into the expectation and perturbation values. Heat diffusion and Darcy equations are upscaled by applying Fourier-Stieltjes transform. The upscaled equations embrace the heterogeneity in permeability and thermal diffusivity and can predict the flow rate and shape of boundary. The upscaled model that includes heterogeneity of reservoir properties is compared with the deterministic solutions (original Butler's model) to quantify the impacts of variation in each property on the SAGD efficiency.;The verification and validation of the developed results for the heat equation is done by numerical simulations of models with synthetic heterogeneities; then, a harmonic distribution is assigned to the perturbations of the thermal diffusivity and permeability to calculate the flow rate. In general, there is no standard analytical correlation between permeability and thermal diffusivity of the porous media. In order to investigate the impact of these properties on SAGD, two different cases of positive and negative log-linear correlation (c) between permeability and thermal diffusivity are considered. The results show that in a heterogeneous porous medium with both positive and negative correlations between permeability and thermal diffusivity, the perturbation of thermal diffusivity impairs the efficiency of the SAGD process and its effect is more significant than permeability perturbations. Unlike thermal diffusivity, heterogeneity of permeability, depending on the nature of its correlation with thermal diffusivity, may have either negative or positive effect on SAGD process.

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