An Efficient Discrete-Fracture Model Applicable for General-Purpose Reservoir Simulators

Summary A simplified discrete-fracture model suitable for use with general-purpose reservoir simulators is presented. The model handles both 2- and 3D systems and includes fracture-fracture, matrix-fracture, and matrix-matrix connections. The formulation applies an unstructured control volume finite-difference technique with a two-point flux approximation. The implementation is generally compatible with any simulator that represents grid connections by a connectivity list. A specialized treatment based on a "star-delta" transformation is introduced to eliminate control volumes at fracture intersections. These control volumes would otherwise act to reduce numerical stability and timestep size. The performance…