ON A NEW KIND OF METHODS TO SOLVE THE PLANE PROBLEMS OF TWO-PHASE FLOW THROUGH POROUS MEDIA

This paper presents a new kind of method for solving the planeproblems of two-phase flow in porous media.The ellipticalpartial differential equation for pressure distribution is sol-ved by the finite element method,and then the semi-analyticalsolution for pressure gradient is used to determine the new sa-turation field according to the existing exact formula describ-ing the saturation propagation along the streamlines.The maindistinguishing feature and advantage of this kind of method arethe ability to overcome the numerical dispersion which is inhe-rent in the ordinary numerical simulation methods.and thereby,to give a precise and clear-cut position of the saturation dis-continuity in the water-oil displacement front.moreover.thesaturation equation,which should commonly be solved simultan-eously or alternatively with the pressure equation,is complete-ly avoided,so that the computing time is greatly reduced.

On a new kind of methods to solve the plane problems of two-phase flow through porous media

This paper presents a new kind of method for solving the plane problems of two-phase flow in porous media. The elliptical partial differential equation for pressure distribution is solved by the finite element method, and then the semi-analytical solution for pressure gradient is used to determine the new saturation field according to the existing exact formula describing the saturation propagation along the streamlines. The main distinguishing feature and advantage of this kind of method are the ability to overcome the numerical dispersion which is inherent in the ordinary numerical simulation methods, and thereby, to give a precise and clear-cut position of the saturation discontinuity in the water-oil displacement front. Moreover, the saturation equation, which should commonly be solved simultaneously or alternatively with the pressure equation, is completely avoided, so that the computing time is greatly reduced.