Comprehensive experimental and numerical modeling of petroleum products

人类文明的演变与它如何满足其能源需求是同义词。几乎没有人会否认，人类已经随着时间的推移而变得越来越文明。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，情况恰恰相反。我们过去知道资源是无限的，而人类的需求是有限的，但今天我们被告知：资源是有限的，人类的需求是无限的。到底怎么回事？这项拟议的研究旨在回答这一根本问题。该研究以石油流体为主要主题，致力于使石油作业具有可持续性，并提出要克服以下困难：1)固/液相互作用描述不足，特别是在热约束条件下；2)岩石和流体数据在“理想”模型上的投射(本质上并不存在)；3)控制方程的线性化。将开发一项实验计划，以消除石油研究中常用的现有实验室技术的一些缺陷。这些实验结果将被提供给新开发的模拟自然现象的数学模型，而不是适应(或改装)一个“理想”模型(即使在修改后加入了“非理想”)。这些模型将是时间的连续函数--这是自然现象最重要的特征，并包含在一个全面的质量、动量和能量平衡方程中。申请人最近开发(和发表)的技术将被用来求解所产生的非线性方程。这些方法不使用线性化，并通过提供跟踪多个解来解决问题。所建立的数值模型将成为预测各种开采方案下油藏动态的有价值的工具。这一功能将通过放大结果并与传统模拟器进行比较来演示。仅由于其更接近现实的预测，这一特点就应该转化为数百万美元的节省。这项研究有可能给工程实践带来革命性的变化，特别是在石油领域。

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.