History Matching of Channelized Reservoirs With Vector-Based Level-Set Parameterization
Summary For channelized reservoirs with unknown channel distributions, identifying the continuous and sinuous features of channel distributions is crucial for determining their production behaviors. However, traditional history-matching methods are not appropriate because the pixel-based rock-property fields are usually highly non-Gaussian. In this work, a vector-based level-set parameterization technique for channelized reservoirs is presented. We also propose a combination of this parameterization method and a frequently used history-matching approach, the ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF). To properly represent the continuity and sinuosity of its embedded features, the channelized reservoir is parameterized with a vector that consists of level-set function, real radius, and virtual radius on a representing node system. The level-function value indicates the existence of the particular facies; the real radius of a circle in two dimensions or a sphere in three dimensions signifies the size of the facies; and the virtual radius is used to ensure the continuity of the channelized facies. The 2D and 3D examples of channelized reservoirs are set up to demonstrate the capability of the proposed method. It is found that this method is effective to deal with the history-matching problem of channelized reservoirs.