Fluid Flow Simulation in Porus Media with Deformation Bands

Resumo

Deformation bands are one of the most common structures in fault zones formed in porous sandstone
rocks. They are characterized by tabular format, with millimeter to centimeter thickness and reduced permeability

and porosity in relation to the host rock. Due to this, deformation bands can affect the rock flow patterns and com-
partmentalize rocks. Since they represent a small-scale heterogeneity, their incorporation on reservoir simulation

is associated with high computational cost when deformation band explicit discretization is needed. As an alter-
native, this work proposes to incorporate this discontinuity in an implicitly way using finite element method with

embedded discontinuities. This method was tested in synthetic scenarios with differentes configurations of posi-
tion, permeability values and number of deformation bands in order to analyze the effects of them on equivalent

permeability and pressure distribution. The adopted approach was able to capture the resulting pressure field dis-
continuity. Furthermore, in the shown cases it was observed that deformation bands were able to compartmentalize

the domain, behaving as barriers to the fluid flow.