An investigation of the multi-scale mixed finite element??eamline simulator and it?oupling with the ensemble kalman filter

The multi-scale mixed finite element method (MsMFEM) discussed in this work uses a two-scale approach, where the solutions to independent local flow problems on the fine grid capture the fine-scale variations of the reservoir model, while the coarse grid equations appropriately assimilate this information in the global solution. Temporal changes in porous media flow are relatively moderate when compared to the spatial variations in the reservoir. Hence, approximate global solutions by adaptively solving these local flow problems can be obtained with significant savings in computational time. The ensemble Kalman filter, used for real-time updating of reservoir models, can thus be coupled with the MsMFEM-streamline simulator to speed up the historymatching process considerably.