Applications: Oil and Gas - Scientific Computing and Imaging Institute

Oil and Gas Exploration

The SCI Institute continually seeks active collaborative research with applications to real word problems. Figure 1 shows a large-scale geoscience simulation and visualization. Together with members of the Energy Geosciences Institute (EGI) at the University of Utah, and a major U.S. oil company, SCI researchers have incorporated a three-dimensional oil and gas reservoir simulator into the SCIRun problem solving environment.

Imaging of seismic data. Two isosurfaces of a constant magnitude are shown embedded in a volume visualization of the data. A single trace and an SP-log curve at one of the wells are also shown.

Using SCIRun the researcher can configure a simulation, monitor and control it during the execution, and then initiate a new simulation based on the final or partial results. Real time feedback during the simulation is in the form of a graph of the convergence of the solution and presentation of intermediate solutions. The user can change the target error for the simulation in real time, examine the visualization of the intermediate results, or manipulate the input to the simulation.

One special feature of the simulator is the ability to move well locations interactively during the simulation and thus explore many "what-if?" scenarios. The user can also change the strength of the flow of a well and determine whether the well is a "producer" or an "injector." These changes can be applied while the simulation is in progress, which in turn will cause the simulation to stop and restart automatically based on the new parameters.