Simulation of water-based nanofluids injection into oil reservoirs using the streamline method

The main goal of all reservoir simulators is to predict the flow performance and oil recovery factor. Most commercial simulators solve the equations governing reservoir behavior with the finite difference approach. To solve the three-dimensional equations of flow in a porous media with the finite difference method, the grid dimension has an effect on the simulation results (i.e., divergence). In addition, the simulation of complex reservoirs with a large number of network blocks needs a long computational time. In order to eliminate the effect of block size and increase the speed of simulation, the streamline method has been proposed, which is widely used in the management of hydrocarbon reservoirs. The streamline method can monitor the flow direction in the reservoir, injection efficiency, pore volume, and well allocation coefficient to determine the volume of fluid transferred between injection and production wells. Also, in recent years, many studies have been conducted on the effect of nanofluid injection on the characteristics of oil reservoirs and the increase in oil recovery. Since the streamline method has not been used to simulate the nanofluid injection in oil reservoirs, in this research the effect of water-silica nanofluid injection on the flow equations of phases has been investigated. The simulation results showed that nanofluid injection into the reservoir is more effective than pure water injection and increases oil production. Moreover, it was observed that the reservoir oil type (light and heavy) has an insignificant effect on the simulation results.