An up and Downscaling Scheme for Multi-Scale Poroelastic Simulation in Laterally Drained, Layered Formations

"Multi-scale simulation in coupled fluid flow- geomechanical systems is a computationally efficient method for numerically solving large poroelastic systems. When using multi-scale methods, care must be taken in ensuring consistency when information is exchanged between systems that have a different discretization. Here a method is presented which provides consistency between the pore pressure being calculated on a fine scale fluid flow domain and upscaled to the coarser scale geomechanical domain and the pore volume change being calculated on the coarse geomechanical domain and down-scaled to the fine fluid flow domain. Central to this process is the characterization of the mechanical properties of the poroelastic system at both scales.Another advantage of the method presented here is that it is applicable to hydraulically disconnected but laterally drained (i.e. multi-porosity) layered systems as well as hydraulically connected, layered systems. Thus it can be used in geological situations where thin shale streaks or hardpans impede flow between laterally extensive, hydraulically conductive units. This is significant as the pressure evolution of such a hydraulically disconnected, laterally drained system can be very different than a hydraulically connected one as shown here. INTRODUCTIONA multi-scale treatment of fluid flow and deformation is a key enabler when simulation of poroelastic phenomena is limited by computational resources. As the spatial domain of the geomechanics model is usually larger than the fluid flow model, it is desireable to use a coarser discretization in the geomechanical model compared to the fluid-flow model. This type of multi-scale simulation requires a consistent up-scaling of pore pressure from the fine scale fluid flow model to the coarse scale geomechanical model and down-scaling of pore volume change from the geomechanical model to the fluid flow model (see Figure 1)."