2.5D Hexahedral Meshing for Reservoir Simulations

Abstract

We present a new method for generating pure hexahedral meshes for reservoir simulations. The grid is obtained by extruding a quadrangular mesh, using ideas from the latest advances in computational geometry, specifically the generation of semi-structured quadrangular meshes based on global parameterization. Hexahedral elements are automatically constructed to smoothly honor the geometry of input features (domain boundaries, faults, and horizons), thus making it possible to be used for multiple types of physical simulations on the same mesh. The main contributions are as follows: the introduction of a new semi-structured hexahedral meshing workflow producing high-quality meshes for a wide range of fault systems, and the study and definition of weak verticality on triangulated surface meshes. This allows us to design better and more robust algorithms during the extrusion phase along non-vertical faults. We demonstrate (i) the simplicity of using such hexahedral meshes generated using the proposed method for coupled flow-geomechanics simulations with state-of-the-art simulators for reservoir studies, and (ii) the possibility of using such semi-structured hexahedral meshes in commercial structured flow simulators, offering an alternative gridding approach to handle a wider family of fault networks without recourse to the stair-step fault approximation.