FRACSL Code Development and Correlation of East Mesa Test Results

Abstract

The FRACSL flow and transport code is under development as part of an effort to improve reservoir characterization techniques. The present version simulates a two-dimensional, isothermal reservoir composed of a global fracture network imbedded in a porous media. FRACSL simulates the hydraulic response of a reservoir to injection or backflow. The code simulates the movement of injected tracers within the reservoir by adding advective and random dispersive motions of discrete particles. FRACSL has been benchmarked against theoretical flow and transport responses in simple systems. It has been used to simulate a benchscale physical model and to correlate flow and dispersion data from the East Mesa Hydrothermal Injection Test Program. Mesa data has provided an estimate of an anisotropic hydraulic conductivity, a natural drift in the reservoir, and dispersivity .