Effective properties of multi-scale fracture networks

This thesis presents a hierarchal approach for fracture modeling and a novel random walker simulation to upscale the fracture permeability. The modeling approach entails developing effective flow characteristics of discrete fractures at micro and macrofracture scales without explicitly representing the fractures on a grid. Separate models are made for micro scale and macro scale fracture distribution with inputs from the seismic data and field observations. A random walker simulation is used that moves walkers along implicit fractures honoring the intersection characteristics of the fracture network.Several superimposed realizations of micro and macro fracture networks enable us to capture the uncertainty in the network and the corresponding uncertainty in permeability field. The advantage of this methodology is that the upscaling process is extremely fast and works on the actual fractures with realistic apertures and yields the effective permeability of fracture network .