Subsurface multiphase flow in porous media simulation is extensively used in many disciplines. Large meshes with non-orthogonalities (e.g., corner point geometries) and full tensor highly anisotropy ratios are usually required for subsurface flow applications. Nonetheless, simulations using two-point flux approximations (TPFA) fail to accurately calculate fluxes in these types of meshes. Several simulators account for non-orthogonal meshes, but their discretization method is usually non-conservative. In this work, we propose a semi-implicit procedure for general compositional flow simulation in highly anisotropic porous media as an extension of TPFA. This procedure accounts for non-orthogonalities by adding corrections to residual in the Newton-Raphson method. Our semi-implicit formulation poses the guideline for FlowTraM (Flow and Transport Modeller ) implementation for research and industry subsurface purposes. We validated FlowTraM with a non-orthogonal variation of the Third SPE Comparative Solution Project case. Our model is used to successfully simulating a real Colombian oil field.
Multiphase flow simulation with gravity effect in anisotropic porous media using multipoint flux approximation
