Halliburton Energy Services, Inc.

Landmark Graphics Corporation

Gerrick Bivins

Steven Ward

Michael Loyd Brewer

Dominic Camilleri

Steven Bryan Ward

One example herein involves a method that includes identifying, based on a received reservoir specification: a set fractures including 2.5 dimensional (2.5D)-permitting fractures; and other fractures. The method further includes generating an intermediate reservoir model including an extrusion mesh which models the 2.5D-permitting fractures in a three-dimensional (3D) space. In response to determining that cells in the mesh should be refined in a direction within the 3D space, the method anisotropically refines cells in the mesh corresponding to the other fractures. The method also includes resolving a fracture network within the intermediate reservoir model using the refined cells and then generating a reservoir earth model using the fracture network.

Reservoir mesh creation using extended anisotropic, geometry-adaptive refinement of polyhedra

The disclosed embodiments include a method, apparatus, and computer program product for generating multiple correlated meshes around complex and discrete fractures for the purpose of reservoir simulation. In an initial two-stage process, a 2.5-dimensional mesher algorithm, may be used in conjunction with an extended anisotropic geometry-adaptive refinement algorithm to produce, from a structured grid Earth Model, a refined reservoir model. Fractures may be modeled as a volumetric mesh that is independent of the refined reservoir model. Thereafter, the two independent, overlapping meshes are combined by forming matrix-matrix, fracture-fracture, and matrix-fracture connections to form a single model to allow rapid simulation of an extremely complex fracture network with sufficiently accurate results.

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Fulshear, TX, United States of America

Gerrick Bivins