Comprehensive experimental and numerical modeling of petroleum products

人类文明的发展就是人类如何满足能源需求的同义词。几乎没有人会怀疑人类随着时间的推移变得越来越文明。这将意味着，与50年前相比，今天维持生命所需的人均能源更少。不幸的是，事实却恰恰相反。过去我们知道资源是无限的，人类的需求是有限的，而今天我们被告知：资源是有限的，人类的需求是无限的。这是怎么呢？拟议的研究旨在回答这个基本问题。以石油流体为主要研究课题，重点研究如何使石油作业可持续，并提出克服以下困难：1)对固/液相互作用的描述不足，特别是在热约束下；2)在“理想”模型（自然界中不存在）上浇铸岩石和流体数据；3)非线性控制方程的线性化。一项实验计划将被开发，以消除石油研究中常用的现有实验室技术的一些缺点。新开发的模拟自然现象的数学模型将被输入这些实验结果，而不是拟合（或改造）一个“理想”模型（即使在修改后包括“非理想”）。这些模型将是时间的连续函数——自然现象的最重要特征，并包含在一个综合的质量、动量和能量平衡方程中。申请人最近开发（和发表）的技术将用于解决由此产生的非线性方程。这些方法不采用线性化，而是通过提供跟踪多个解来解决问题。所得的数值模型将成为预测各种采收率方案下油藏动态的有价值的工具。该功能将通过放大结果和与传统模拟器的比较来演示。由于其更接近现实的预测，这一功能应该转化为数百万美元的节省。这项研究具有革新工程实践的潜力，特别是在石油行业。

The evolution of human civilization is synonymous with how it meets its energy needs. Few would dispute the human race has become progressively more civilized with time. This would mean less energy is required per capita to sustain life today than, say, 50 years ago. Unfortunately, exactly the opposite has happened. Whereas we used to know that resources were infinite, and human needs finite, today we are told: resources are finite, human needs are infinite. What's going on? The proposed research is aimed at answering this fundamental question. Taking up petroleum fluids as its principal topic, the research focuses on rendering petroleum operations sustainable, and proposes to overcome the following difficulties: 1) insufficient description of solid/liquid interaction, particularly under thermal constraints; 2) casting of rock and fluid data on 'ideal' models (non-existent in nature); and 3) linearization of governing equations that are inherently non-linear. An experimental program will be developed to eliminate some shortcomings in existing laboratory techniques commonly used in petroleum research. Instead of fitting (or retrofitting) to an 'ideal' model (even after revisions to include 'non-ideality'), newly developed mathematical models that emulate natural phenomena will be fed these experimental results. These models will be a continuous function of time - the most important feature of a natural phenomenon, and included in a comprehensive mass, momentum, and energy balance equation. Techniques recently developed (and published) by the applicant will be used to solve the resulting non-linear equations. These methods do not employ linearization and solve problems with the provision of tracking multiple solutions. The resulting numerical models will become valuable tools for prediction of petroleum reservoir performance under various recovery schemes. This feature will be demonstrated through scaling up results and comparing with conventional simulators. Owing to its closer-to-reality predictions alone, this feature should translate into millions of dollars in savings. This study has the potential of revolutionizing engineering practices, particularly in the petroleum sector.