Dual Mesh Method for Upscaling in Waterflood Simulation

Detailed geological models typically contain many more cells than can be accommodated by reservoir simulation due to computer time and memory constraints. However, recovery predictions performed on a coarser upscaled mesh are inevitably less accurate than those performed on the initial fine mesh. Recent studies have shown how to use both coarse and fine mesh information during waterflooding simulations. In this paper, we present an extension of the dual mesh method (Verdière and Guérillot, 1996) which simulates water flooding injection using both the coarse and the original fine mesh information. The pressure field is first calculated on the coarse mesh. This information is used to estimate the pressure field within each coarse cell and then phase saturations are updated on the fine mesh. This method avoids the most time consuming step of reservoir simulation, namely solving for the pressure field on the fine grid. A conventional finite difference IMPES scheme is used considering a two phase fluid with gravity and vertical wells. Two upscaling methodologies are used and compared for averaging the coarse grid properties: geometric average and the pressure solve method. A series of test cases show that the method provides predictions similar to those of full fine grid simulations but using less computer time.     

Predictive Pore-Scale Modeling of Single and Multiphase Flow

We show how to predict flow properties for a variety of rocks using pore-scale modeling with geologically realistic networks. The pore space is represented by a topologically disordered lattice of pores connected by throats that have angular cross-sections. We successfully predict single-phase non-Newtonian rheology, and two and three-phase relative permeability for water-wet media. The pore size distribution of the network can be tuned to match capillary pressure data when a network representation of the system of interest is unavailable. The aim of this work is not simply to match experiments, but to use easily acquired data to estimate difficult to measure properties and to predict trends in data for different rock types or displacement sequences.     

Analytical Solutions to Multiphase First-Contact Miscible Models with Viscous Fingering

In this paper, we analyze an empirical model of viscous fingering for three-component, two-phase, first-contact miscible flows. We present the complete range of analytical solutions to secondary and tertiary water-alternating-gas (WAG) floods. An important ingredient in the construction of analytical solutions is the presence of detached (nonlocal) branches of the Hugoniot locus, that is, curves in composition space that satisfy the Rankine–Hugoniot conditions but do not contain the reference state. We illustrate how, in water–solvent floods into a medium with mobile water and residual oil (immobile to water), the solvent front and the water Buckley–Leverett front may interact, resulting in a leading water/solvent shock that is stable to viscous fingering. The analytical solutions explain why in these miscible tertiary floods, oil and solvent often break through simultaneously. We discuss the implications of the new solutions in the design of miscible tertiary floods, such as the estimation of the optimum WAG ratio.     

Evolving trends in the dereplication of natural product extracts. 3: further lasiodiplodins from Lasiodiplodia theobromae, an endophyte from Mapania kurzii

Two further lasiodiplodins, (3R,4R)-4-hydroxy-de-O-methyl-lasiodiplodin and (E)-9-etheno-de-O-methyl-lasiodiplodin, together with three known lasiodiplodins from a cytotoxic extract obtained from a culture of Lasiodiplodia theobromae, an endophyte from the root tissues of Mapania kurzii (Cyperaceae) from the Malaysian rain forest, were characterized on microgram scale.     

Acknowledgement of Reviewers for 2020

Transport in Porous Media -     

Direct Numerical Simulation of Pore-Scale Trapping Events During Capillary-Dominated Two-Phase Flow in Porous Media

Transport in Porous Media - This study focuses on direct numerical simulation of imbibition, displacement of the non-wetting phase by the wetting phase, through water-wet carbonate rocks. We...     

Dimerization of tri(4-bromophenyl)benzene by aryl-aryl coupling from solution on a gold surface

Monolayers of monomer 1,3,5-tri(4-bromophenyl)benzene (TBPB) and the dimerized product 3,3',5,5'-tetra(4-bromophenyl)quaterphenyl (TBPQ) on a gold surface have been studied using ambient scanning tunneling microscopy and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS). Molecular layers are prepared by allowing sessile drops of solution to dry on a gold substrate. For room-temperature deposition we observe ordered arrays of TBPB in three distinct packing arrangements. Deposition on a heated substrate leads to the formation of the dimerized product, TBPQ, through a surface-induced aryl-aryl coupling. Regions of TBPQ coexist with regions of disordered multiply linked molecules. The conversion of monomer TPBP to dimers is confirmed using ToF-SIMS. Our results demonstrate an alternative, solution-phase approach to the formation of large molecules and nanostructures by coupling reactions.     

Marine natural products

This review covers the literature published in 2006 for marine natural products, with 758 citations (534 for the period January to December 2006) referring to compounds isolated from marine microorganisms and phytoplankton, green algae, brown algae, red algae, sponges, cnidaria, bryozoans, molluscs, tunicates and echinoderms. The emphasis is on new compounds (779 for 2006), together with their relevant biological activities, source organisms and country of origin. Biosynthetic studies, first syntheses, and syntheses that lead to the revision of structures or stereochemistries, have been included.     

Biosynthesis of spiro-mamakone A, a structurally unprecedented fungal metabolite

Biosynthetic studies on spiro-mamakone A (1), a potently cytotoxic and antimicrobial compound from an endophytic fungus isolated from the New Zealand native tree Knightia excelsa (rewarewa), confirm the polyketide origins of this unique compound belonging to the spirobisnaphthalene class of compounds. The biosynthesis proceeds via an unprecedented symmetric enedione with the two halves of the molecule being formed from two separate pentaketide units connected by oxidative coupling.