Aspects of upscaling in simulation of flow in porous media

The ability to numerically simulate single phase and multiphase flow of fluids in porous media is extremely important in developing an understanding of the complex phenomena governing the flow. The flow is complicated by the presence of heterogeneities in the reservoir at many different length scales and by phenomena such as diffusion and dispersion. These effects must be effectively modeled by terms in coupled systems of nonlinear partial differential equations which form the basis of the simulator. The simulator must be able to model both single and multiphase flows and the transition regimes between the two in unsaturated how applications. A discussion of some of the aspects of modeling unsaturated and multiphase flows in the presence of heterogeneities and channeling is presented along with directions for future work. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.