Numerical Study of Natural Convection
and Diffusion in Fractured Porous
Media
Kassem Ghorayeb, SPE, and Abbas Firoozabadi, SPE, Reservoir Engineering Research Inst.
Summary
Compositional variation in a rectangular two-dimensional (x,z)
fractured porous medium containing a two-component single-
phase fluid in the presence of a prescribed linear temperature field
is considered. The work examines the effect of the fracture pa-
rameters: fracture aperture 共or fracture permeability兲, fracture in-
tensity, and fracture connectivity on the fluid compositional varia-
tion. Numerical results reveal that, for a high fracture aperture, a
pronounced convective motion within the fractures takes place,
whereas the composition is only affected beyond a certain fracture
aperture. The effect of connected and discrete fractures on com-
positional variation is also studied; connected fractures influence
the compositional variation much more than discrete fractures, as
expected. The convection cells are mainly loops which develop
within the connected fractures.
Introduction
Examination of the compositional variation of reservoir fluids in
hydrocarbon reservoirs reveals various trends. In some reservoirs
there is substantial variation of composition in the horizontal
direction.1 In many other reservoirs, there is a large variation of
composition in the vertical direction.2,3 There are also reservoirs
that have no variation of composition in the entire reservoir; such
reservoirs may have an oil column thickness of 1.5 km and a
horizontal extension larger than 10 km.4,5 The purpose of this
work is understanding of compositional variation in fractured hy-
drocarbon reservoirs.
There are four distinct mechanisms that affect the variation of
composition in the single phase in a hydrocarbon reservoir;6 共1兲
thermal diffusion, 共2兲 pressure diffusion, 共3兲 molecular diffusion,
and 共4兲 natural convection. Thermal diffusion is the tendency of a
convection-free mixture to separate under a thermal gradient. Mo-
lecular diffusion is the tendency to mix due to concentration gra-
dient. Pressure diffusion is separation by pressure gradient; it is
negligible in the horizontal direction even when there exists natu-
ral convection, but may be pronounced in the vertical direction
due to high vertical pressure gradient. Natural convection is the
convective circulation due to density gradient. Density gradient is
established due to temperature and concentration gradients. A pro-
nounced effect of natural convection on compositional variation
may occur in homogeneous media.6
There are very few studies that combine the effect of natural
convection and diffusion on the compositional variation in hydro-
carbon reservoirs. These studies include the works of Jacqmin,7
and Riley and Firoozabadi.6 Both studies address compositional
variation in homogeneous porous media. Jacqmin’s study is con-
cerned with a wide variety of conditions, sloping reservoirs, and
even two phases but does not include thermal diffusion. He uses a
perturbation analysis where approximations are made to the gov-
erning equations. Based on his study, Jacqmin states that under
certain conditions the fluid composition reorients itself in such a
way as to inhibit convection. Riley and Firoozabadi6 studied the
effect of thermal, pressure, and Fickian diffusion, and natural con-
vection on compositional variation in a cross-sectional reservoir
Copyright © 2000 Society of Petroleum Engineers
Original SPE manuscript received for review 10 July 1998. Revised manuscript received 16
August 1999. Paper (SPE 51347) peer approved 13 October 1999.
12 SPE Journal 5 共1兲, March 2000
with a prescribed linear temperature field. The behavior is inves-
tigated using a method of successive approximations which iter-
ates on Poisson’s equation. This behavior is then incorporated in a
simplified perturbation solution which provides accurate results
for horizontal composition variation. Riley and Firoozabadi6 show
that a small amount of convection can cause the horizontal com-
position gradient to increase until a maximum is reached and then
decays as 1/k.
The works of Jacqmin,7 and Riley and Firoozabadi6 cover ho-
mogeneous porous media. This work is concerned with a numeri-
cal study of natural convection and diffusion in fractured porous
media. To the best of our knowledge, this problem has not been
discussed previously. The conservation equations of mass and
species and Darcy’s law, together with the boundary conditions
and the matching conditions at the matrix block/fracture interface,
are numerically solved. The numerical investigations are carried
out for fracture permeabilities varying by five orders of magnitude
which corresponds to a fracture aperture variation from 0.01 to
1.00 mm 共fracture permeability and aperture are related via a cu-
bic law兲. However, in view of the large number of parameters, no
attempt was made to present a complete parametric study.
Mathematical Formulation
We consider two-dimensional fractured porous media with width
b and height h 共Fig. 1兲 saturated by a binary mixture of
C1共methane兲/nC4共normal butane兲. The fractured porous media
consist of matrix blocks and fractures of permeabilities k m and k f ,
respectively. The matrix and fracture porosities are assumed to be
the same. We assume that the Oberbeck-Boussinesq approxima-
tion 共see Chandrasekhar8兲 is valid in the range of temperature,
pressure, and composition expected so that the density ␳ is con-
stant 共equal to ␳ 0 , to be defined兲 except in the buoyancy term
( ␳ gz) where it varies linearly with the temperature T and the
weight fraction w:
␳ 共 T,w 兲 ⫽ ␳ 0 关 1⫺ ␤ T 共 T⫺T 0 兲 ⫺ ␤ w 共 w⫺w 0 兲兴 . 共1兲
In the above equation, ␳ 0 , ␤ T ⫽(⫺1/␳ 0 )( ⳵␳ / ⳵ T) w and ␤ w
⫽(⫺1/␳ 0 )( ⳵␳ / ⳵ w) T are the density at temperature T 0 and weight
fraction w 0 , the thermal expansion coefficient, and the composi-
tional expansion coefficient, respectively. The coefficients ␤ T and
␤ w are calculated for the system C1 /nC4, using the Peng-
Robinson equation of state.9 Fig. 2 depicts the density ␳ vs. tem-
perature and mole fraction ␹ of methane. Fig. 2 clearly shows the
validity of the assumption of linear variation of ␳ vs. T and ␹ in
the range of temperature, pressure, and composition expected; ␤ T
and ␤ w are thus the slopes of those lines.
The unsteady-state conservation equations of mass and species
are
ⵜ•v⫽0, 共2兲
⳵w
␳0 ⫹ ␳ 0 ⵜ• 共 wv兲 ⫹ⵜ•J⫽0, 共3兲
⳵t
where v and J are the velocity and the diffusive mass flux for
component 1, respectively. The diffusive mass flux is given by the
expression
J⫽C w “w⫹C p “p⫹C T “T, 共4兲
w p T
where C , C , and C are the coefficients of molecular diffusion,
pressure diffusion, and thermal diffusion, respectively. These co-
1086-055X/2000/5共1兲/12/9/$5.00⫹0.50
 冉
“ 2 p⫽ ␳ 0 g ␤ T
⳵T
⳵z
⫹␤w
⳵w
⳵z
.冊 共6兲

Eq. 6 will be used later in the numerical solution to the problem.

The cross-sectional reservoir is assumed to be bounded by an
impervious rock that has constant temperature gradients T x and T y
in horizontal and vertical directions, respectively. We also assume
that the conductive flow of heat is much greater than the convec-
tive flow and that thermal diffusivity is very large compared with
the molecular diffusion coefficient. With these assumptions, the
Fig. 1–Geometry and boundary conditions.
solution of the energy equation will have roughly the same tem-
perature gradients as the bounding rock. Therefore, the tempera-
ture field is given by: T⫽T x x⫹T z z⫹a, where a is a constant. If
we set the temperature at x⫽b/2 and z⫽h/2 equal to T 0 , then,
efficients are described in Refs. 6 and 10. They are assumed con-
T⫽T x (x⫺b/2)⫹T z (z⫺h/2)⫹T 0 .
stant in this work. We found only a small effect from variable
coefficients for the example problem presented in this work. Their Boundary Conditions. The boundary conditions for Eqs. 2, 3,
variation can be readily accommodated by the numerical model. and 5 are that the fluid does not cross the outer boundaries
The diffusive flux J results from the deviation in the velocity of 共Fig. 1兲:
component 1 from the velocity of the bulk fluid. Since, in the case J•n⫽0, x⫽0,b, and z⫽0,h, 共7兲
of a two-component system, the diffusive flux of component 2 is
equal to ⫺J and the weight fraction of component 2 is equal to v•n⫽0, x⫽0,b, and z⫽0,h, 共8兲
1⫺w, the equation expressing conservation of mass of compo-
nent 2 will be a linear combination of Eqs. 2 and 3. where n is the unit normal vector. Eq. 7 implies that
The bulk velocity v is given by Darcy’s law: ⳵w ⳵p ⳵T
Cw ⫹C p ⫹C T ⫽0, and v x ⫽0, x⫽0,b, 共9兲
k ⳵x ⳵x ⳵x
v⫽⫺ 兵 “p⫹ ␳ 0 关 1⫺ ␤ T 共 T⫺T 0 兲 ⫺ ␤ w 共 w⫺w 0 兲兴 gz其 , 共5兲
␾␮ ⳵w ⳵p ⳵T
Cw ⫹C p ⫹C T ⫽0, and v z ⫽0, z⫽0,h. 共10兲
where p, g, k, ␮, and ␾ are the pressure, the acceleration due to ⳵z ⳵z ⳵z
gravity, the permeability, the viscosity, and the porosity, respec-
tively. The unit vector z points upwards. The substitution of Eq. 5 From Eqs. 5 and 8, one obtains the boundary conditions required
into Eq. 2 and the assumption that (k/ ␾␮ ) is constant in each for the integration of Eq. 6:
medium lead to the pressure equation ⳵p
⫽0, x⫽0,b, 共11兲
⳵x
⳵p
⫽⫺ ␳ 0 关 1⫺ ␤ T 共 T⫺T 0 兲 ⫺ ␤ w 共 w⫺w 0 兲兴 , z⫽0,h. 共12兲
⳵z
With the above Neumann boundary conditions, weight fraction
and pressure must be assigned at one point of the medium. In this
work, we set w(b/2,h/2)⫽w 0 and p(b/2,h/2)⫽p 0 .
Conditions at the Matrix-Fracture Interface. The matching
conditions at the matrix-fracture interface are given by the conti-
nuity of the normal component of the total mass flux, the normal
component of the diffusive mass flux, and the pressure and the
mole fraction. Let us designate by ‘‘1’’ and ‘‘2’’ the matrix and
fracture media which are separated by an interface. The matching
conditions can thus be expressed by
共 v•n兲 1 ⫽ 共 v•n兲 2 , 共13兲

冉 Cw
⳵w
⳵n
⫹C p
⳵p
⳵n
⫹C T
⳵T
⳵n 冊 冉
1
⫽ Cw
⳵w
⳵n
⫹C p
⳵p
⳵n
⫹C T
⳵T
⳵n 冊 2
,
共14兲
共 p 兲1⫽共 p 兲2 , 共15兲
共 w 兲1⫽共 w 兲2 . 共16兲
Note that the matching conditions are not required for the tangen-
tial velocity at the interface. This is because we use Darcy’s law
to calculate the bulk velocity v.

Fig. 2–Density variation vs. mole fraction „top… and tempera-
ture „bottom… obtained by the Peng-Robinson equation of state
for the binary mixture C1 Õ n C4.
Numerical Scheme
Eqs. 3, 5, and 6 together with the boundary conditions given by
Eqs. 9–12 and the matching conditions from Eqs. 13–16 are nu-
merically integrated using the finite-volume method 共see
Patankar11兲 with a nonuniform rectangular grid system. The spa-
tial discretization is performed using a second-order centered
scheme. A semi-implicit first-order scheme is used for the tempo-
ral integration. We seek the steady-state solution and iterate on the
unsteady system until the steady state is reached 共that is, the so-
lution does not change from one iteration to the next iteration兲. In

K. Ghorayeb and A. Firoozabadi: Natural Convection and Diffusion in Fractured Porous Media SPE Journal, Vol. 5, No. 1, March 2000 13
 Fig. 4–Meshes used in the numerical simulations for configu-
ration 1 „top… and configuration 3 „bottom….

configurations relate to connected fractures; the other four con-

Fig. 3–Fractured porous media configurations.
this work, convergence to the steady state is assumed when the
absolute value of the relative error of concentration is less than
10⫺7 between the two successive iterations at each grid point.
Details of the numerical scheme are provided in the Appendix.
The discretization of Eqs. 3 and 6 gives rise to large sparse
systems of linear equations. The matrices corresponding to those
equations are pentadiagonal and are amenable to solution by itera-
tive methods. However, the integration of those systems is a major
task. The matrices are highly ill conditioned because of 共1兲 spatial
discontinuity in permeability of matrix and fractures, and 共2兲
small fracture thickness in comparison to the matrix size. Thus,
iterative methods may not be suitable unless special robust pre-
conditioners are used. For such problems, direct methods are com-
monly used in reservoir simulation. In this work, the direct
method of D4 Gaussian Elimination is used. Details can be found
in Price and Coats,12 and Stringer et al.13
Eight different configurations of fractured porous media are
used to study the effect of fracture parameters on the variation of
composition. These configurations are sketched in Fig. 3. Four
figurations relate to discrete fractures 共Fig. 3兲. Calculations are
performed using grid sizes shown in Table 1. Three mesh points
are used to model the flow in a fracture. The remaining points are
distributed in the matrix blocks. To study the effect of grid size,
numerical runs were performed with different mesh grids either in
the matrix blocks or in the fractures. We found that using grids
finer than those listed in Table 1 does not significantly improve
the accuracy of the results. The nodal points are uniformly distrib-
uted in the fractures, while a nonuniform grid is used in the matrix
blocks. Fig. 4 shows the grids for configurations 1 and 3 with the
zooms in and around fractures 共the dashed line represents the
fracture-matrix interface兲.
We verified the numerical results from our model with the ana-
lytical work presented in Ref. 6 for unfractured media using the
same parameters. The mole fraction contours from the numerical
model and those reported in Ref. 6 are in excellent agreement.
Results
We assume that the reservoir consists of matrix blocks of perme-
ability k m ⫽1 md 共constant in all the calculations兲 and horizontal
and/or vertical fractures in which permeability and aperture are
related by the following cubic law:
k f ⫽105 f 2a . 共17兲

TABLE 1– GRID SIZES FOR DIFFERENT

CONFIGURATIONS USED FOR THE NUMERICAL
SIMULATIONS

Configuration No. Grid Size

1 309⫻159
2 313⫻161
3 325⫻125
4 345⫻135
5 345⫻135
6 345⫻135
7 41⫻135
8 345⫻41
Fig. 5–Fracture permeability vs. fracture aperture.

14 K. Ghorayeb and A. Firoozabadi: Natural Convection and Diffusion in Fractured Porous Media SPE Journal, Vol. 5, No. 1, March 2000
 TABLE 2– RELEVENT DATA

b 30 m
h 15 m
␹0 0.2
p0 1.10⫻107 Pa
T0 338.5 K
␳0 495.3 kg/m3
Cw ⫺1.55⫻10⫺7 kg/m•s
Cp ⫺7.85⫻10⫺16 kg/m•Pa•s
CT ⫹1.71⫻10⫺9 kg/m•s•K
Tx ⫹0.1 K/30 m
Tz ⫺1 K/15 m
␾ 0.25
␮ 200 kg/m•s
km 1 md Fig. 7–Mole fraction vs. distance at z Ä h Õ2 for various fracture
apertures for configuration 1.

In this expression, k f and f a units are in md and mm, respectively.

Eq. 17 is depicted in Fig. 5. The fractures of a given configuration
are assumed to have the same aperture and may or may not be
connected. All the numerical investigations are performed for a
30⫻15 m cross section 共b⫽30 m and h⫽15 m兲. The fracture pa-
rameters considered in this study are:
1. fracture aperture 共or fracture permeability兲,
2. fracture intensity, and
3. fracture connectivity.
Configuration 1 shown in Fig. 3 consists of a large matrix
surrounded by one fracture. This configuration is used to investi-
gate the effect of fracture aperture on the compositional variation.
Configurations 2 to 4 consist of 2⫻2, 8⫻4, and 10⫻5 matrix
blocks, respectively, all surrounded by fractures 共see Fig. 3兲.
Those configurations are considered to study the effect of fracture
intensity. Configurations 5 to 8 represent fractures that are not
connected. Configuration 5 is similar to configuration 1 except
that the surrounding fracture is blocked by a rock with the matrix
permeability. In configuration 6, four rocks of equal permeability
block the surrounding fracture, one rock in the middle of each side
of the fracture. Configuration 7 consists of 6 horizontal, equidis-
tant, fractures separated by 5 matrix blocks. Configuration 8 con-
sists of 11 vertical, equidistant, fractures separated by 10 matrix
blocks. The data used in all the simulations are presented in Table
2. The coefficient of pressure diffusion term is the same as the one
that was used in Ref. 6, but coefficients of molecular diffusion and
thermal diffusion are different. The effect of fracture aperture,
fracture intensity, and fracture connectivity on the compositional
variation is presented next.
Fracture Aperture. The fracture aperture f a is varied between
0.01 and 1.00 mm, which implies a variation of fracture perme-
ability between 10 and 105 md. Mole fraction contours are pre-
sented in Fig. 6 for configuration 1. Fig. 6 shows that with the
increase in fracture aperture, the composition stays constant up to
f a ⬇0.25 mm 共which corresponds to k f ⫽0.625⫻104 md兲; beyond
that, the mole fraction contours become affected and tend to be
vertical 共in Fig. 6, the distance between the composition contours

Fig. 8–Horizontal gradient of mole fraction vs. fracture aperture

Fig. 6–Mole fraction contours for various fracture apertures for at x Ä b Õ2, z Ä h Õ2 for configuration 1: linear graph „top… and log-
configuration 1. log graph „bottom….

K. Ghorayeb and A. Firoozabadi: Natural Convection and Diffusion in Fractured Porous Media SPE Journal, Vol. 5, No. 1, March 2000 15
Fig. 9–Velocity field for configuration 1 for f a Ä1 mm „ k f
Ä105 md…; 円 v x max円Ä2.648Ã10À6 mÕs, 円 v x max円Ä2.569Ã10À6 mÕs.

is set to 0.002兲. Fig. 7 depicts the horizontal variation of mole

fraction vs. x at z⫽h/2. Fig. 7 reveals the same trend as in Fig. 6.
It also shows that the composition varies linearly vs. x aside from
the region close to the vertical boundaries. In Fig. 7, and in Fig. 6
as well, we present only results for f a ⭓0.10 mm since no signifi-
cant change occurs for 0.01⭐ f a ⭐0.10 mm. From Fig. 7, for f a
⭓0.50 mm, the variation is linear across the whole distance. The
implication of the linear behavior is that, at a high fracture aper-
ture ( f a ⭓0.50 mm), the composition variation is not affected by
vertical boundaries. Consequently, the results obtained for a small
cross section could be applicable to a large block. Fig. 8 presents
the horizontal gradient of mole fraction 共at x⫽b/2 z⫽h/2兲 vs. Fig. 11–Maximum horizontal fracture velocity vs. fracture aper-
fracture aperture. Here again, one could also observe that up to ture for configuration 1: linear plot „top… and log-log plot „bot-
f a ⬇0.25 mm, the horizontal gradient of mole fraction changes tom….
very little with f a . However, for f a ⬎0.25 mm, the horizontal
gradient of mole fraction decreases sharply with the fracture ap-
erture decrease. fracture. Note that the increase of fracture aperture results in an
The velocity field corresponding to configuration 1 consists increase of the fracture velocity over the entire range of f a con-
mainly of a loop within the fracture. The velocity in the matrix is sidered in our study.
very small compared with that in the fracture even near the The results presented above are from Eq. 17. We also investi-
matrix-fracture interface. This is in part due to the use of Darcy’s gated the effect of fracture aperture when the following equation
law, where no continuity conditions are required for the tangential is used:
velocity at the interface. Darcy’s law allows for slip flow at the
matrix-fracture interface. The no-slip flow affects only a thin k f ⫽106 f 2a 共18兲
boundary layer at the interface, while the flow in the remaining 共the fracture permeability in this case is 10 times larger than the
part of the matrix is not appreciably affected by the slip assump- previous case兲. The horizontal gradient of mole fraction at 共x
tion. Fig. 9 shows the velocity field for f a ⫽1 mm. To facilitate ⫽b/2 z⫽h/2兲 is depicted vs. fracture aperture in Fig. 12. One
the visualization of the velocity field, fracture aperture f a , which could observe that the increase of fracture aperture significantly
is equal to 1 mm, is enlarged. Fig. 10 shows a plot of the hori- affects the horizontal gradient of mole fraction for f a ⭓0.10 mm.
zontal velocity at the elevation z⫽0.5 mm 共within the fracture Fig. 13 presents the maximum horizontal fracture velocity vs.
located in the bottom of the reservoir兲. Fig. 11 depicts the maxi- fracture aperture. The linear variation 共for a log-log plot兲 of the
mum horizontal fracture velocity vs. fracture aperture in the same maximum horizontal fracture velocity which has been observed

Fig. 10–Horizontal fracture velocity, v x , vs. fracture aperture Fig. 12–Horizontal gradient of mole fraction vs. fracture aper-
for configuration 1. ture for configuration 1 at x Ä b Õ2, z Ä h Õ2.

16 K. Ghorayeb and A. Firoozabadi: Natural Convection and Diffusion in Fractured Porous Media SPE Journal, Vol. 5, No. 1, March 2000
Fig. 13–Maximum horizontal fracture velocity vs. fracture aper-
ture for configuration 1.

Fig. 14–Mole fraction contours for different configurations for

f a Ä1 mm „ k f Ä105 md….

Fig. 15–Mole fraction vs. distance at z Ä h Õ2 for different con-

figurations for f a Ä1 mm „ k f Ä105 md….
Fig. 16–Velocity field for different configurations for f a Ä1 mm
„ k f Ä105 md….

K. Ghorayeb and A. Firoozabadi: Natural Convection and Diffusion in Fractured Porous Media SPE Journal, Vol. 5, No. 1, March 2000 17
Fig. 17–Horizontal fracture velocity „top… and vertical fracture
velocity „bottom… for f a Ä1 mm „ k f Ä105 md….
from Eq. 17 for f a ⭐0.25 mm does not occur from Eq. 18. One
could, however, observe a sharper increase of the horizontal frac-
ture velocity for f a ⬍0.10 mm than for f a ⬎0.10 mm.
Fracture Intensity. In all the previous calculations, only configu-
ration 1 is studied. Here, three more configurations 共Fig. 3兲 with
different fracture intensities are investigated. We use Eq. 17 in our
calculations that follow.
Figs. 14 and 15 present mole fraction contours, and horizontal
compositional variation vs. x at z⫽h/2, respectively, for f a
⫽1 mm (k f ⫽105 md). Compositional variation is almost the
same in configurations 1 and 2. In both configurations, mole frac-
tion contours are almost vertical, and the horizontal mole fraction
gradient is constant. However, some differences on compositional
variation exist between configurations 1 and 2, and configurations
3 and 4. When the fracture intensity increases, mole fraction con-
tours lose their vertical shape, as seen in Fig. 14. No substantial
difference, however, exists for the horizontal mole fraction gradi-
ent at z⫽h/2. Fig. 15 clearly shows that there is no significant
effect of interior fractures on the overall horizontal compositional
gradient at z⫽h/2. The results depicted in Fig. 15 for z⫽h/2 are
also valid, to some extend, at different heights.
The above pattern could be explained by examining velocity
fields of configurations 1 to 4 共see Fig. 16兲 for f a ⫽1 mm (k f
⫽105 md). Fig. 16 shows that the flow velocity in the interior
fractures is small in comparison to the flow velocity in the main
surrounding fracture. The flow mainly occurs in the loop of the
main fracture. Smaller loops exist in the interior core but fluid
movement in these loops is relatively slow. Fig. 17 depicts, in
more detail, the horizontal fracture velocity 共top兲 and the vertical
fracture velocity 共bottom兲 of configurations 1 to 4. Fig. 17 shows
that horizontal 共vertical兲 velocity increases or decreases because
of incoming or outgoing flow in the vertical 共horizontal兲 fractures.
The negative vertical fracture velocity in Fig. 17 indicates that the
velocity is in the downward direction.
18 K. Ghorayeb and A. Firoozabadi: Natural Convection and Diffusion in Fractured Porous Media
Fig. 18–Mole fraction contours „left… and velocity field „right…
for configurations 5 through 8 for f a Ä1 mm „ k f Ä105 md….
Fracture Connectivity. In configurations 1 to 4 studied above,
the connected fractures form a network and the fluid circulates
without being stopped by a rock matrix of low permeability. Let
us now consider configurations with discrete fractures to study the
influence of fracture discreteness on compositional variation. Con-
figurations 5, 6, 7, and 8 共Fig. 3兲 are studied toward this end. The
results are presented in Fig. 18 for f a ⫽1 mm (k f ⫽105 md). Fig.
18 shows the effect of blocking the surrounding fracture by a
6-m-long porous medium of low permeability (k⫽1 md) for con-
figuration 5. Fig. 18 also shows that discrete horizontal and verti-
cal fractures have less influence on compositional variation than
connected fractures. Furthermore, the compositional variation is
more affected by horizontal fractures than by vertical fractures.
Composition in configuration 7 is more homogeneous than in con-
figuration 8 共for the same fracture permeability and aperture兲, al-
though the number of fractures in configuration 8 is almost twice
the number of horizontal fractures in configuration 7.
The fracture velocity of configurations 1, 5, 6, and 7 are shown
in more detail in Fig. 19. In Fig. 19, we depict the horizontal
velocity v x in the bottom fracture 共at z⫽0.5 mm兲 and the vertical
velocity v z in the left-side fracture 共at x⫽0.5 mm兲. Fig. 19 shows
that the maximum horizontal fracture velocity v x max in configura-
tion 1, for instance, is more than twice that in configurations 5, 6,
and 7 for the same value of fracture aperture. The same behavior
is observed for the maximum vertical velocity; v z max in configu-
ration 1 is more than twice of that in configurations 5, 6, and 8 for
the same value of fracture aperture. Note that because of central
symmetry, the horizontal velocities 共vertical velocities兲 in the bot-
tom 共left兲 and top 共right兲 fractures have the same magnitude, but
are of opposite sign 关that is, for instance, v x (x, 0.5 mm)⫽ v x (b
⫺x, h⫺0.5 mm), v z (0.5 mm, z)⫽ v z (b⫺0.5 mm, h⫺z)兴.
Conclusions
This study centers on the features of compositional variation in
fractured porous media. The main findings of this work are:
SPE Journal, Vol. 5, No. 1, March 2000
 vx ⫽ horizontal velocity, L/t, m/s
vz ⫽ vertical velocity, L/t, m/s
v ⫽ velocity vector, L/t, m/s
w ⫽ weight fraction, dimensionless
w0 ⫽ weight fraction at the reservoir center, dimensionless
x,z ⫽ coordinates, L, m
z ⫽ upward vertical unit vector
␤w ⫽ compositional expansion coefficient, dimensionless
␤T ⫽ thermal expansion coefficient, T⫺1, K⫺1
␹ ⫽ mole fraction, dimensionless
␾ ⫽ porosity, dimensionless
␮ ⫽ viscosity, m/Lt, kg/m•s
␳ ⫽ density, m/L3, kg/m3
␳0 ⫽ density at w 0 and T 0 , m/L3, kg/m3

Acknowledgments
The research project was supported by U.S. DOE Grant No. DE-
FG22-96BC14850 and the Research Consortium of the Fractured/
Layered Reservoirs of the Reservoir Engineering Research Insti-
tute. We thank Dr. L. Kent Thomas and Ray Pierson of Phillips
Petroleum Company for providing their linear matrix solver.

References
1. Hamoodi, A.N., Abed, A.F., and Firoozabadi, A.: ‘‘Compositional
Modeling of Two-Phase Hydrocarbon Reservoirs,’’ paper SPE 36244
presented at the 1996 Abu Dhabi Intl. Petroleum Exhibition and Con-
ference, Abu Dhabi, UAE, 13–16 October.
2. Metcalfe, R.S., Vogel, J.L., and Morris, R.W.: ‘‘Compositional gra-
dients in the Anschutz Ranch East Field,’’ SPERE 共August 1988兲
1025; Trans., AIME, 285.
3. Neveux, A.R., Sathikumar, S., and Nolray, J.M.: ‘‘Delineation and
Evaluation of a North Sea Reservoir Containing Near-Critical Flu-
ids,’’ SPERE 共August 1988兲 842.
Fig. 19–Horizontal fracture velocity „top… and vertical fracture 4. Lee, S.T. and Chaverra, M.: ‘‘Modeling and Interpretation of Con-
velocity „bottom… for f a Ä1 mm „ k f Ä105 md…. densate Banking for the Near-Critical Cupiagua Field,’’ paper SPE
49265 prepared for presentation at the 1998 SPE Annual Technical
Conference and Exhibition, New Orleans, 27–30 September.
5. Saidi, A.M.: Reservoir Engineering of Fractured Reservoirs (Funda-
1. In the range of fracture aperture considered in this work mental and Practical Aspects), Total Edition Press 共1987兲.
共0.01 to 1.00 mm兲, fracture aperture affects compositional varia- 6. Riley, M.F. and Firoozabadi, A.: ‘‘Compositional Variation in Hydro-
tion only when f a ⬎0.1 mm, whereas the fracture convective ve- carbon Reservoirs with Natural Convection and Diffusion,’’ AIChE J.
locity increases with an increase in fracture aperture. 共February 1998兲 452.
2. The main effect on compositional variation is due to the 7. Jacqmin, D.: ‘‘Interaction of Natural Convection and Gravity Segre-
surrounding fractures. The interior fractures affect the shape of the gation in Oil/Gas Reservoirs,’’ SPERE 共May 1990兲 233; Trans.,
mole fraction contour lines, but the horizontal compositional AIME, 289.
8. Chandrasekhar, S.: Hydrodynamic and Hydromagnetic Stability, Ox-
variation is not significantly affected by those fractures. ford U. Press, New York City 共1961兲 Chap. 1, 16 and 17.
3. The fluid flow consists mainly of a loop within the surround- 9. Peng, D.Y. and Robinson, D.B.: ‘‘A New Two-Constant Equation of
ing fracture. Smaller loops occur in the interior connected frac- State,’’ Ind. Eng. Chem. Fundam. 共1976兲 15, 59.
tures. The flow velocity within the rock matrix is negligible in 10. Bird, R.B., Stewart, W.E., and Lightfoot, E.N.: Transport Phenom-
comparison to fracture velocity, as expected. ena, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York City 共1960兲.
11. Patankar, S.V.: Numerical Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow, Hemi-
sphere, Washington, DC 共1980兲 Chap. 5, 79–109.
Nomenclature 12. Price, H.S. and Coats, K.H.: ‘‘Direct Methods in Reservoir Simula-
b ⫽ reservoir width, L, m tion,’’ SPEJ 共June 1974兲 295; Trans., AIME, 257.
Cw ⫽ coefficient of molecular diffusion in J, m/Lt, kg/m•s 13. Stringer, J.C., Thomas, L.K., and Pierson, R.G.: ‘‘Efficiency of D4
Gaussian Elimination on a Vector Computer,’’ SPEJ 共February 1985兲
Cp ⫽ coefficient of pressure diffusion in J, t, kg/m•Pa•s 121; Trans., AIME, 279.
CT ⫽ coefficient of thermal diffusion in J, m/LTt, kg/
m•s•K Appendix–Numerical Algorithm
fa ⫽ fracture aperture, L, mm
We describe the numerical scheme used to integrate Eqs. 3, 5, and
g ⫽ gravity acceleration, L/t2, m/s2 6 together with the boundary conditions given by Eqs. 9–12 and
h ⫽ reservoir height, L, m the matching conditions given by Eqs. 13–16. The above set of
J ⫽ diffusive mass flux, m/L2t, kg/m2•s equations is solved by a finite-volume method that employs primi-
k ⫽ permeability, L2, md tive variables on a staggered mesh 共see Patankar11 for details兲. As
kf ⫽ fracture permeability, L2, md initial conditions, we use p⫽p 0 and w⫽w 0 in the whole medium.
km ⫽ matrix permeability, L2, md At iteration m we start by solving the conservation equation of
n ⫽ normal vector component 1, which can be written in a discrete form 共time dis-
p ⫽ pressure, m/Lt2, Pa cretization兲 as
p0 ⫽ pressure at the reservoir center, m/Lt2, Pa
w m ⫺w m⫺1
T ⫽ temperature, T, K ␳0 ⫹ ␳ 0 ⵜ• 共 w m⫺1 vm 兲 ⫹C w “ 2 w m
T0 ⫽ temperature at the reservoir center, T, K ⌬t
Tx ⫽ horizontal thermal gradient, T/L, K/m
⫽⫺C p “ 2 p m ⫺C T “ 2 T, 共A-1兲
Tz ⫽ vertical thermal gradient, T/L, K/m
t ⫽ time, t, s where ⌬t is the time step, together with the conditions:

K. Ghorayeb and A. Firoozabadi: Natural Convection and Diffusion in Fractured Porous Media SPE Journal, Vol. 5, No. 1, March 2000 19
 ⳵wm ⳵pm ⳵T k
Cw ⫽C p ⫹C T , x⫽0,b, 共A-2兲 vm ⫽⫺ 兵 “p⫹ ␳ 0 关 1⫺ ␤ T 共 T⫺T 0 兲 ⫺ ␤ w 共 w m ⫺w 0 兲兴 gz其 . 共A-9兲
⳵x ⳵x ⳵x ␾␮
⳵wm ⳵pm ⳵T
Cw ⫽C p ⫹C T , z⫽0,h, 共A-3兲
⳵z ⳵z ⳵z
The spatial discretization of the terms “ 2 w m , ⳵ w m / ⳵ x, and
and ⳵ w m / ⳵ z is performed using the well-known second-order centered

冉 Cw
m ⳵w
⳵n
⫹C p
⳵ p m⫺1
⳵n
⫹C T
⳵T
⳵n 冊 1
scheme as discussed in detail by Patankar.11 The same discretiza-
tion is done for the first and second partial derivatives of pressure.
The steady-state solution is assumed when 兩 (w m ⫺w m⫺1 ) 兩 /w m

⫽ Cw冉⳵wm
⳵n
⫹C p
⳵ p m⫺1
⳵n
⫹C T
⳵T
⳵n 冊 2
, 共A-4兲
⬍10⫺7 at each grid point.

Kassem Ghorayeb is a scientist at the Reservoir Engineering

at the interface. Note that ⳵ T/ ⳵ x, ⳵ T/ ⳵ z, and “ 2 T are known.
Eqs. A-1 through A-4 are semi-implicit because the velocity and
pressure correspond to iteration m⫺1. Once the species conserva-
tion equation is solved, we calculate the pressure using the fol-
lowing fully implicit Poisson’s equation:
Research Inst. (RERI) in Palo Alto, California. e-mail:
ghorayeb@rerinst.org. His research interests include numerical
simulation and mathematical modeling of compositional
variation and fluid flow in homogeneous and fractured porous
media. Ghorayeb holds BS, MS, and PhD degrees in fluid me-
chanics from the U. of Toulouse, France. Abbas Firoozabadi

冉 冊
is a senior scientist and director at RERI in Palo Alto and
⳵T ⳵wm teaches at Imperial College in London. e-mail: af@rerinst.org.
“ 2 p m⫽ ␳ 0g ␤ T ⫹␤w , 共A-5兲
⳵z ⳵z He previously taught at the U. of Texas, Austin, and at Stanford
U. His research interests include equilibrium, nonequilibrium,
together with and irreversible thermodynamics; multiphase flow in fractured
and layered permeable media; and tidal-force-influenced
⳵pm pressure transients for estimation of key parameters of frac-
⫽0, x⫽0,b, 共A-6兲
⳵x tured reservoirs. Firoozabadi holds a BS degree from Abadan
Inst. of Technology, Iran, and MS and PhD degrees from Illinois
⳵pm Inst. of Technology, all in gas engineering. He has served on
⫽⫺ ␳ 0 关 1⫺ ␤ T 共 T⫺T 0 兲 ⫺ ␤ w 共 w m ⫺w 0 兲兴 , z⫽0,h, 共A-7兲 the Editorial Review committee since 1986 and was a 1988–89
⳵z
member and 1992–93 chairman of the Forum Series in North
共 p 兲1⫽共 p 兲2 , at the interface. 共A-8兲 America Steering Committee, a 1991–92 member of the West-
ern Regional Meeting Program Committee, a 1987–89 mem-
With known pressure, bulk velocity v is calculated implicitly us- ber of the Reservoir Simulation Symposium Program Commit-
ing tee, and a 1992–96 Short Course Instructor.

20 K. Ghorayeb and A. Firoozabadi: Natural Convection and Diffusion in Fractured Porous Media SPE Journal, Vol. 5, No. 1, March 2000