Participants’ Profile 

The course is highly beneficial for early to middle career subsurface professionals: reservoir geologists,  reservoir engineers, petroleum engineers, petrophysicists and managers. 

Course Outline: 

Multi-Phase Flow and Upscaling (Addressing the well completion - field "Scale Gap")

Geoscientists and engineers still struggle with how to represent discrete, high-conductivity fractureswithin field-scale reservoir models or how to upscale their influence on system behaviour.

• Flow physics & heterogeneity: combined effects of viscous, gravitational and capillary drivenflow that manifest differently in the rock matrix, material interfaces and fractures;

• Flow dynamics: inertia and flow structure effects that cannot be captured by constitutive relationships (like cubic law extensions and transfer functions) but distinguish multi phase fracture flow from flow in porous media;

• Upscaled ensemble relative permeability: moving beyond dual continua models to rate-dependent and direction-dependent replacements of saturation functions;

• Alternative modelling and simulation methods and workflows for process optimisation.

THMC Coupling for Geothermal & Carbon Storage

With the pivot toward the energy transition, the "Coupled" aspect of THMC (Thermo-Hydro-Mechanical-Chemical) is more relevant than ever.

• Thermal short-circuiting: In geothermal applications, predicting focused flow / critical pathways is key for preventing early cold-water breakthrough. Even if not originally present, due to THMC process interactions or heterogeneity driven fingering during gas injection (H2,CO2, CH4), such "short circuits" may form during operation.

• Stress variation and fracture aperture at depth: What keeps fractures open at a subsurface depth of 4-km and a hydrostatic fluid pressure? - fracture surface roughness, rock bridges, dissolution / precipitation, pore pressure and stress shielding in heterogeneous rock sequences.

• Injectivity & fracture dilation: How high-pressure fluid injection changes the aperture of existing fractures, may trigger seismicity, or promote mineral precipitation/dissolution altering flow paths.

• Caprock Integrity: Assessing the risk of "leaky" faults or fractures that could compromise long-term CO2 geo-sequestration.

The integration of many discrete fracture and matrix (DFM) field-data-based numerical simulation examples computed with the Open-CSMP++ finite element - finite volume software informs the interpretation of fracture–matrix interactions and emergent flow phenomena, and it provides for rich illustrations. While referencing many peer-reviewed studies, this course includes many unpublished simulation results. 

Presented modelling results are contrasted with dual-continuum and other conventional approaches, highlighting respective assumptions, strengths, and consequences for field-scale application and performance optimisation.

The objective of the course is to cover:
i) the main challenges associated with the characterisation
and modelling of fractured reservoirs
ii) the fundamental of fracture developments
iii) fracture characterisation at all scales using static and
dynamic data
iv) the elaboration of conceptual fracture models
iv) the creation of fracture models using other techniques (e.g.
geologically deterministic, straight to cell) than stochastically
driven models.

At the end of this class, the participants will have gained a sound understanding on the heterogeneity of fracture networks, the control of rock properties on the geometry of fracture networks and also how to characterise fractures and build fracture models to cover the range of uncertainties highlighted in the characterisation phase.

Participants’ Profile 

This course is suitable for both new hires and experienced geoscientists,
offering an exercise-based approach that reinforces and expands
their knowledge. Professionals from all subsurface disciplines
engaged in subsurface projects will find it valuable.

Course Outline: 

Day 1: Class room

Day 2: Class room