For effective reservoir management and production optimization, it is important to understand drained volumes, pressure depletion and reservoir well rates at all flow times. For conventional reservoirs, this behavior is based on the concepts of reservoir pressure and energy and convective flow. But, with the development of unconventional reservoirs, there is increased focus on the unsteady state transient flow behavior. For analyzing such flow behaviors, well test analysis concepts are commonly applied, based on the analytical solutions of the diffusivity equation. In this thesis, we have proposed a novel methodology for estimating the drainage volumes and utilizing it to obtain the pressure and flux at any location in the reservoir. The result is a semi-analytic calculation only, with close to the simplicity of an analytic approach, but with significantly more generality. The approach is significantly faster than a conventional finite difference solution, although with some simplifying assumptions. The proposed solution is generalized to handle heterogeneous reservoirs, complex well geometries and bounded and semi-bounded reservoirs. Therefore, this approach is particularly beneficial for unconventional reservoir development with multiple transverse fractured horizontal wells, where limited analytical solutions are available. To estimate the drainage volume, we have applied an asymptotic solution to the diffusivity equation and determined the diffusive time of flight distribution. For the pressure solution, a geometric approximation has been applied within the drainage volume to reduce the full solution of the diffusivity equation to a system of decoupled ordinary differential equations. Besides, this asymptotic expression can also be extended to obtain the well rates, producing under constant bottomhole pressure constraint. In this thesis, we have described the detailed methodology and its validation through various case studies. We have also studied the limits of validity of the approximation to better understand the general applicability. We expect that this approach will enable the inversion of field performance data for improved well and/or fracture characterization, and similarly, the optimization of well trajectories and fracture design, in an analogous manner to how rapid but approximate streamline techniques have been used for improved conventional reservoir management.

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L'objectif de cette recherche est de construire un modèle réduit de petite dimension pour prévoir les réponses dynamiques dans une bande BF sur les parties rigides d'un véhicule automobile complet. Un tel modèle réduit "léger" est une aide à la phase de conception en "Avant Projet" de ces véhicules qui ont la particularité de présenter de nombreux modes élastiques locaux en BF dues à la présence de nombreuses parties flexibles et d'équipements. Pour la construction du modèle réduit, nous avons introduit une base non usuelle de l'espace admissible des déplacements globaux. La construction de cette base requiert la décomposition en sous-domaines du domaine de la structure qui peut présenter une très grande complexité géométrique et dont les modèles EF font intervenir de très nombreux types d'éléments finis. Cette décomposition en sous-domaines a été réalisée par la Fast Marching Method que nous avons due étendre pour pouvoir traiter la complexité des modèles EF des véhicules automobiles. Puis les équations matricielles du modèle EF sont projetées sur cette base. Afin de prendre en compte les incertitudes sur les paramètres du modèle, les incertitudes de modèle induites par les erreurs de modélisation et enfin les incertitudes liées à la non prise en compte des contributions locales dans le modèle réduit des déplacements globaux, un unique modèle probabiliste non paramétrique de ces trois sources d'incertitude a été implémenté sur le modèle réduit construit avec les vecteurs propres globaux. Les paramètres de dispersion de ce modèle probabiliste ont été identifiés en utilisant le principe du maximum de vraisemblance et des réponses obtenues à l'aide d'un modèle stochastique de référence qui inclut des informations expérimentales résultant de travaux précédents. Le modèle réduit stochastique, pour la prévision des déplacements globaux sur les parties rigides dans la bande BF qui a été développé, a été validé sur un modèle de structure automobile "nue" puis a été appliqué avec succès sur un modèle complet de véhicule automobile / The objective of this research is to construct a reduced-order model to predict the dynamical response, in the LF band, of the stiff parts of a complete automotive vehicle in order to facilitate the draft design. The vehicles under consideration have many elastic modes in LF due to the presence of many flexible parts and equipments. To build such a model, we introduced a non-usual basis of the admissible space of global displacements. The construction of this basis requires the decomposition of the domain of the structure. This subdomain decomposition is performed by using the Fast Marching Method that we have extended to take into account the high complexity of the mesh of an automotive vehicle. Then the matrix equations of the FE model are projected on this basis. To take into account the system parameters uncertainties, the model uncertainties induced by the modeling errors and finally, the uncertainties related to the neglecting of local contributions in the reduced-order model, a nonparametric probabilistic model of the three sources of uncertainties has been implemented on the reduced-order model constructed with the global displacements eigenvectors. The dispersion parameters of the probabilistic model are identified using the maximum likelihood method and the responses obtained from a stochastic reference model which includes experimental data resulting from previous works. This stochastic model which has been designed for the prediction of the global displacements of the rigid parts in the LF band is validated on a simple structure of an automotive model and has been successfully applied on a complete model of automotive vehicle

Em Computação Gráfica, campos vetoriais possuem diversas aplicações desde a síntese e mapeamento de texturas à animações de fluidos, produzindo efeitos amplamente utilizados na indústria do entretenimento. Para produzir tais campos, é preferível o uso de ferramentas de design em vez de simulações numéricas não só devido ao menor custo computacional mas, principalmente, por prover liberdade ao artista ao sintetizar o campo de acordo com a sua necessidade. Atualmente, na literatura, existem bons métodos de design de campos vetoriais em superfícies de objetos tridimensionais porém, o design no interior desses objetos ainda é pouco estudado, principalmente quando o campo de interesse possui propriedades específicas. O objetivo deste trabalho é desenvolver uma técnica para sintetizar campos vetoriais, com características do movimento de fluidos incompressíveis, no interior de domínios. Em uma primeira etapa, o método consiste na interpolação dos vetores de controle, com uma certa propriedade desejada, em todo o domínio. Posteriormente, o campo obtido é modificado para respeitar a geometria do contorno. / Vector fields are important to an wide range of applications on the field of Computer Graphics, from the synthesis and mapping of textures to fluid animation, producing effects widely used on the entertainment industry. To produce such fields, design tools are prefered over numerical simulations not only for its lower computational cost, but mainly by providing freedom to the artist in the creation process. Nowadays, good methods of vector field design over surfaces exist in literature, however there is only a few studies on the synthesis of vector fields of the interior of objects and even fewer when specific properties of the field are required. This work presents a technique to synthesize vector fields with properties of imcompressible fluids motion in the interior of objects. On a first step, the method consists in interpolating control vectors with a certain desired property throughout the whole domain and later the resulting field is modified to properly fit the boundary geometry of the object.

Em Computação Gráfica, campos vetoriais possuem diversas aplicações desde a síntese e mapeamento de texturas à animações de fluidos, produzindo efeitos amplamente utilizados na indústria do entretenimento. Para produzir tais campos, é preferível o uso de ferramentas de design em vez de simulações numéricas não só devido ao menor custo computacional mas, principalmente, por prover liberdade ao artista ao sintetizar o campo de acordo com a sua necessidade. Atualmente, na literatura, existem bons métodos de design de campos vetoriais em superfícies de objetos tridimensionais porém, o design no interior desses objetos ainda é pouco estudado, principalmente quando o campo de interesse possui propriedades específicas. O objetivo deste trabalho é desenvolver uma técnica para sintetizar campos vetoriais, com características do movimento de fluidos incompressíveis, no interior de domínios. Em uma primeira etapa, o método consiste na interpolação dos vetores de controle, com uma certa propriedade desejada, em todo o domínio. Posteriormente, o campo obtido é modificado para respeitar a geometria do contorno. / Vector fields are important to an wide range of applications on the field of Computer Graphics, from the synthesis and mapping of textures to fluid animation, producing effects widely used on the entertainment industry. To produce such fields, design tools are prefered over numerical simulations not only for its lower computational cost, but mainly by providing freedom to the artist in the creation process. Nowadays, good methods of vector field design over surfaces exist in literature, however there is only a few studies on the synthesis of vector fields of the interior of objects and even fewer when specific properties of the field are required. This work presents a technique to synthesize vector fields with properties of imcompressible fluids motion in the interior of objects. On a first step, the method consists in interpolating control vectors with a certain desired property throughout the whole domain and later the resulting field is modified to properly fit the boundary geometry of the object.

Three papers are presented, applying computational fluid dynamics methods to fluid flows in the geosciences. In the first paper, a numerical method is developed for single phase potential flow in the subsurface. For a class of monotonically advancing flows, the method provides a computational savings as compared to classical methods and can be applied to problems such as forced groundwater recharge. The second paper investigates the shear stress reducing action of an erosion control roughness array. Incompressible Naiver-Stokes simulations are performed for multiple wind angles to understand the changing aerodynamics of individual and grouped roughness elements. In the third paper, a 1D analytical flow model is compared with multiphase Navier-Stokes simulations in a parabolic fissure. Sampling the numerical results allows the isolation of flow factors such as surface tension, which are difficult to measure in physical experiments.

Rapid economic evaluations of investment alternatives in the oil and gas industry are typically contingent on fast and credible evaluations of reservoir models to make future forecasts. It is often important to also quantify inherent risks and uncertainties in these evaluations. These ideally require several full-scale numerical simulations which is time consuming, impractical, if not impossible to do with conventional (Finite Difference) simulators in real life situations. In this research, the aim will be to improve on the efficiencies associated with these tasks. This involved exploring the applications of Fast Marching Methods (FMM) in both conventional and unconventional reservoir characterization problems. In this work, we first applied the FMM for rapidly ranking multiple equi-probable geologic models. We demonstrated the suitability of drainage volume, efficiently calculated using FMM, as a surrogate parameter for field-wide cumulative oil production (FOPT). The probability distribution function (PDF) of the surrogate parameter was point-discretized to obtain 3 representative models for full simulations. Using the results from the simulations, the PDF of the reservoir performance parameter was constructed. Also, we investigated the applicability of a higher-order-moment-preserving approach which resulted in better uncertainty quantification over the traditional model selection methods. Next we applied the FMM for a hydraulically fractured tight oil reservoir model calibration problem. We specifically applied the FMM geometric pressure approximation as a proxy for rapidly evaluating model proposals in a two-stage Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm. Here, we demonstrated the FMM-based proxy as a suitable proxy for evaluating model proposals. We obtained results showing a significant improvement in the efficiency compared to conventional single stage MCMC algorithm. Also in this work, we investigated the possibility of enhancing the computational efficiency for calculating the pressure field for both conventional and unconventional reservoirs using FMM. Good approximations of the steady state pressure distributions were obtained for homogeneous conventional waterflood systems. In unconventional system, we also recorded slight improvement in computational efficiency using FMM pressure approximations as initial guess in pressure solvers.

Unconventional reservoirs are typically characterized by very low permeabilities, and thus, the pressure depletion from a producing well may not propagate far from the well during the life of a development. Currently, two approaches are widely utilized to perform unconventional reservoir analysis: analytical techniques, including the decline curve analysis and the pressure/rate transient analysis, and numerical simulation. The numerical simulation can rigorously account for complex well geometry and reservoir heterogeneity but also is time consuming. In this thesis, we propose and apply an efficient technique, fast marching method (FMM), to analyze the shale gas reservoirs. Our proposed approach stands midway between analytic techniques and numerical simulation. In contrast to analytical techniques, it takes into account complex well geometry and reservoir heterogeneity, and it is less time consuming compared to numerical simulation. The fast marching method can efficiently provide us with the solution of the pressure front propagation equation, which can be expressed as an Eikonal equation. Our approach is based on the generalization of the concept of depth of investigation. Its application to unconventional reservoirs can provide the understanding necessary to describe and optimize the interaction between complex multi-stage fractured wells, reservoir heterogeneity, drainage volumes, pressure depletion, and well rates. The proposed method allows rapid approximation of reservoir simulation results without resorting to detailed flow simulation, and also provides the time-evolution of the well drainage volume for visualization. Calibration of reservoir models to match historical dynamic data is necessary to increase confidence in simulation models and also minimize risks in decision making. In this thesis, we propose an integrated workflow: applying the genetic algorithm (GA) to calibrate the model parameters, and utilizing the fast marching based approach for forward simulation. This workflow takes advantages of both the derivative free characteristics of GA and the speed of FMM. In addition, we also provide a novel approach to incorporate the micro-seismic events (if available) into our history matching workflow so as to further constrain and better calibrate our models.

Reservoir characterization is one of the most important problems in petroleum engineering. It involves forward reservoir modeling that predicts the fluid behavior in the reservoir and inverse problem that calibrates created reservoir models with given data. In this dissertation, we focus on two problems in the field of reservoir characterization: depth of investigation in heterogeneous reservoirs, and history matching and uncertainty quantification of channelized reservoirs. The concept of depth of investigation is fundamental to well test analysis. Much of the current well test analysis relies on analytical solutions based on homogeneous or layered reservoirs. However, such analytic solutions are severely limited for heterogeneous and fractured reservoirs, particularly for unconventional reservoirs with multistage hydraulic fractures. We first generalize the concept to heterogeneous reservoirs and provide an efficient tool to calculate drainage volume using fast marching methods and estimate pressure depletion based on geometric pressure approximation. The applicability of proposed method is illustrated using two applications in unconventional reservoirs including flow regime visualization and stimulated reservoir volume estimation. Due to high permeability contrast and non-Gaussianity of channelized permeability field, it is difficult to history match and quantify uncertainty of channelized reservoirs using traditional approaches. We treat facies boundaries as level set functions and solve the moving boundary problem (history matching) with the level set equation. In addition to level set methods, we also exploit the problem using pixel based approach. The reversible jump Markov Chain Monte Carlo approach is utilized to search the parameter space with flexible dimensions. Both proposed approaches are demonstrated with two and three dimensional examples.

Extracting surfaces, representing boundaries of objects of interest, from volumetric images, has important applications in various scientific domains, from medicine to geology. In this thesis, I introduce novel mathematical, computational, and algorithmic machinery for extraction of sheet-like surfaces (with boundary), whose boundary is unknown a-priori, a particularly important case in applications that has no convenient methods. This case of a surface with boundaries has applications in extracting faults (among other geological structures) from seismic images in geological applications. Another application domain is in the extraction of structures in the lung from computed tomography (CT) images. Although many methods have been developed in computer vision for extraction of surfaces, including level sets, convex optimization approaches, and graph cut methods, none of these methods appear to be applicable to the case of surfaces with boundary. The novel methods for surface extraction, derived in this thesis, are built on the theory of Minimal Paths, which has been used primarily to extract curves in noisy or corrupted images and have had wide applicability in 2D computer vision. This thesis extends such methods to surfaces, and it is based on novel observations that surfaces can be determined by extracting topological structures from the solution of the eikonal partial differential equation (PDE), which is the basis of Minimal Path theory. Although topological structures are known to be difficult to extract from images, which are both noisy and discrete, this thesis builds robust methods based on Morse theory and computational topology to address such issues. The algorithms have run-time complexity O(NlogN), less complex than existing approaches. The thesis details the algorithms, theory, and shows an extensive experimental evaluation on seismic images and medical images. Experiments show out-performance in accuracy, computational speed, and user convenience compared with related state-of-the-art methods. Lastly, the thesis shows the methodology developed for the particular case of surfaces with boundary extends to surfaces without boundary and also surfaces with different topologies, such as cylindrical surfaces, both important cases for many applications in medical image analysis.