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The Pennsylvania State University The Graduate School Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering DEVELOPMENT AND TESTING OF AN EXPERT SYSTEM FOR COALBED METHANE RESERVOIRS USING ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORKS A Thesis in Petroleum and Mineral Engineering by Karthik Srinivasan © 2008 Karthik Srinivasan Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science August 2008

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Page 1: DEVELOPMENT AND TESTING OF AN EXPERT SYSTEM FOR …

The Pennsylvania State University 

The Graduate School 

Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering 

  

DEVELOPMENT AND TESTING OF AN EXPERT SYSTEM FOR  

COALBED METHANE RESERVOIRS USING  

ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORKS 

A Thesis in 

Petroleum and Mineral Engineering  

by 

Karthik Srinivasan 

 

© 2008 Karthik Srinivasan 

 

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment 

of the Requirements 

for the Degree of 

 

Master of Science 

August 2008

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The thesis of Karthik Srinivasan has been reviewed and approved* by the following: 

 

Turgay Ertekin 

Professor of Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering 

George E. Trimble Chair in Earth and Mineral Sciences 

Graduate Program Chair in Petroleum and Mineral Engineering 

Thesis Advisor 

 

Luis Ayala 

Assistant Professor of Petroleum & Natural Gas Engineering 

 

Zuleima T. Karpyn 

Assistant Professor of Petroleum & Natural Gas Engineering 

 

 

 

 

 

*Signatures are on file in the Graduate School   

 

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ABSTRACT   

 

  Reservoir simulators serve as excellent tools in predicting production performance of oil 

and gas reservoirs at a good level of accuracy. However, during initial stages of exploitation, for 

most  of  the  reservoir  properties  and  production  parameters,  there  is  a  good  level  of 

uncertainty.  In such cases, Expert Systems offer a screening  tool  to achieve  the purpose of a 

simulator at a lower cost and reduced time. An expert system consists of a knowledge base and 

set of algorithms that are capable of inferring facts based on existing knowledge and incoming 

data. The level of accuracy of predictions from an expert system depends on the quality of data, 

rules that define the problem at hand and human expertise.   

  Artificial  neural  networks  are  being  used  in  a  large  number  of  reservoir  engineering 

applications  such  as performance optimization,  reservoir  characterization,  field development 

applications, well stimulation, formation evaluation and pressure transient analysis. The expert 

system  described  in  this work  is  a  tool which  can  be  used  to  predict  the  performance  of  a 

coalbed methane reservoir  just  like any other numerical model. Starting with a simple model 

where  predictions  are  confined  to  coal  seams  of  known  reservoir  parameters  and  varying 

production  parameters,  a  generalized model  is  developed.  The  developed  expert  system  is 

designed for universal applications and provides gas and water production profiles for a period 

of about ten years as outputs.  

  In  addition  to  this  model,  an  inverse  expert  system,  in  which,  for  an  expected 

percentage recovery from a coal seam, optimum ranges of well design parameters that satisfy 

the  requirements  of  the  producer  are  predicted.  Conventional  reservoir  simulators may  not 

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provide  the user with  a  list of  suggestive design parameters  that  can help  achieve  a  certain 

desired production performance from a coal seam of known reservoir properties before it can 

be  put  into  production.  This  is  achieved  by  the  inverse model which  otherwise  can  only  be 

accomplished by trial and error procedures.  

  Understanding the ability of the network to predict the output parameters  is crucial  in 

such developments. As expected, the complexity of the network topology is bound to increase 

with  increased  number  of  inputs  and  outputs.    Due  to  inherently  existing  nonlinearities  in 

relationships  between  inputs  and  outputs,  several modifications  are  required  to  institute  a 

sound  combination of  inputs  that  can  improve predictions  significantly. With  an orderly  and 

improvised  procedure,  a  robust  expert  system  that  can  be  used  in  optimizing  the  coal  bed 

methane production applications is developed and tested successfully. 

 

 

 

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TABLE OF CONTENTS 

LIST OF FIGURES ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. viii 

LIST OF TABLES ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… x 

NOMENCLATURE …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. xi 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS …………………………………………………………………………………………………………. xiii  

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION AND STATEMENT OF PROBLEM …………………………………………………… 1 

1.1 Introduction …………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 1 

1.2 Coalbed methane reservoirs ………………………………………………………………………………….. 3 

1.3 Artificial neural networks ……………………………………………………………………………………….. 6 

1.3.1 Feed‐forward back‐propagation neural networks …………………………………. 8 

1.4 Expert System development – Statement of the problem ……………………………………… 9 

CHAPTER 2 DATA GENERATION AND NETWORK TRAINING STRATEGY …………………………………… 12 

  2.1 Description of PSU COALCOMP reservoir model …………………………………………………… 12 

    2.1.1 Langmuir isotherm for multi‐component sorption formulation ……………… 12 

  2.2 Factors affecting production from a coalbed methane reservoir ………………………….. 15 

    2.2.1 Permeability ………………………………………………………………………………………….. 16 

    2.2.2 Porosity …………………………………………………………………………………………………. 17 

    2.2.3 Coal thickness ………………………………………………………………………………………… 17 

    2.2.4 Initial reservoir conditions ……………………………………………………………………… 19 

    2.2.5 Sorption parameters ……………………………………………………………………………… 20 

    2.2.5 Production design parameters ………………………………………………………………. 22 

  2.3 Training‐data generation ……………………………………………………………………………………… 23 

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  2.4 Network structure development ………………………………………………………………………….. 29 

CHAPTER 3 STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT …………………………………………………………………………………. 32 

  3.1 ANN with varying well design parameters ………………………...…………………………………. 32 

  3.2 ANN with varying reservoir properties ………………...………………………………………………. 50 

  3.3 Generalized model with varying reservoir properties & design parameters ………… 61 

  3.4 Vertical and horizontal well models ……………………………………………………………………… 70 

  3.5 Multilayered well schemes …………………………………………………………………………………… 86 

CHAPTER 4 DEVELOPMENT OF THE INVERSE MODEL …………………………………………………………… 92 

  4.1 Performance indicators ……………………………………………………………………………………….. 92 

  4.2 Study of effect of skin on percentage recovery in CBM wells ………………………………. 94 

    4.2.1 Study of effect of skin on percentage recovery in vertical wells ……………. 94 

    4.2.2 Study of effect of skin on percentage recovery in horizontal wells ………… 95 

  4.3 Percentage recovery based predictions ……………………………………………………………….. 96 

CHAPTER 5 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ..………………………………………………………………………………. 102 

  5.1 Results from Model with varying well design parameters (isotropic system)…..…. 102 

  5.2 Results from Model with varying well design parameters (anisotropic system)….. 104 

  5.3 Results from Model with varying reservoir properties ……………………………………….. 105 

  5.4 Results from an intermediate model in the developmental stage ..…………………….. 107 

  5.5 Results from the generalized model………………………………………………………….………… 110 

  5.6 Discussion of results ..……………………………………………………….………………………………… 117 

CHAPTER 6 CONCLUSIONS …………………………………………………………………………………………………… 122 

CHAPTER 7 REFERENCES ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 125 

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APPENDIX A – Source code: Generalized model algorithm ………………………………………………….. 129 

APPENDIX B – Feed forward Back‐propagation algorithm …………………………………………………… 136 

APPENDIX C – Sample data used in training the generalized model ……………………………………. 141 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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LIST OF FIGURES 

Figure 1‐1: US Coalbed Methane Production, 1989 – 2003 ……………………………………………………… 4 

Figure 1‐2: Schematic of methane flow dynamics in coal seams ……………………………………………… 4 

Figure 1‐3: Plan view of coal seam showing cleat structure and matrix blocks ………………………… 5 

Figure 1‐4: Typical structure of a simple ANN ………………………………………………………………………….. 7 

Figure 1‐5: A feed‐forward back‐propagation neural network …………………………………………………. 8 

Figure 2‐1 A typical Langmuir isotherm curve ………………………………………………………………………… 12 

Figure 2‐2: Effect of initial water saturation on gas production ……………………………………………… 19 

Figure 2‐3: Effect of Langmuir volume constant on sorption characteristics ………………………….. 19 

Figure 2‐4: Effect of Langmuir pressure constant on sorption characteristics ………………………… 19 

Figure 2‐5: Input structure showing possible combinations …………………………………………………… 23 

Figure 2‐6: Histograms showing distribution of input variables ……………………………………………… 26 

Figure 3‐1: Sample output from Model I with fixed reservoir properties using Structure 1 ….... 33 

Figure 3‐2: Sample output from Model I with fixed reservoir properties using Structure 2 ……. 36 

Figure 3‐3: Sample output from Model I with fixed reservoir properties using Structure 3 ……. 39 

Figure 3‐4: Sample output from Model I with fixed reservoir properties (anisotropic) …………… 43 

Figure  3‐5:  Sample  output  from  Model  II  with  fixed  production  design  parameters  using 

  structure 1 …………………………………………………………………………………………………..…………….. 52 

Figure  3‐6:  Sample  output  from  Model  II  with  fixed  production  design  parameters  using 

  structure 1 …………………………………………………………………………………………………..…………….. 55 

Figure 3‐7: Effect of sand‐face pressure on gas production in CBM wells ……………………………… 65 

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Figure 3‐8: Effect of well stimulation on gas production in CBM wells …………………………………… 66 

Figure 3‐9: Effect of drainage area on gas production in CBM wells ………………………………………. 67 

Figure 3‐10: Network structure of the generalized model ……………………………………………………… 68 

Figure 3‐11: Sample output from the generalized model (horizontal wells) ..…………………………. 69 

Figure 3‐12: Sample output from the generalized model (vertical wells) ..……………………………… 77 

Figure 3‐13: Effect of 3D discretization on production in CBM wells ……………………………………… 85 

Figure 3‐14: Sample output from multilayered well scheme model ………………………………………. 86 

Figure 4‐1: Sample output from inverse model (vertical wells) ……………………………………………… 98 

Figure 4‐2: Sample output from inverse model (horizontal wells)………………………………………….100 

Figure  5‐1:  Sample  production  profile  predictions  from  Model  with  varying  well  design 

  parameters (isotropic system) …………………………………………………………………………………. 102 

Figure  5‐2  Sample  production  profile  predictions  from  Model  with  varying  well  design 

  parameters (anisotropic system) …………………………………..…………………………………………. 104 

Figure 5‐3 Sample production profile predictions from Model with varying reservoir properties 

  …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 105 

Figure  5‐4  Sample  production  profile  predictions  from  an  intermediate  model  in  the 

  developmental stage ……………………………………………………..………………………………………… 107 

Figure  5‐5  Sample  production  profile  predictions  from  the  final  generalized  model 

  (vertical wells) ……………………………………………………………………………………….…………………. 110 

Figure 5‐6 Sample production profile predictions  from  the  final generalized model  (horizontal 

  wells) …………………….………………………………………………………………………………….……………… 113 

 

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LIST OF TABLES 

Table 1‐1: Differences between CBM and conventional gas reservoirs …………………………………… 6 

Table 2‐1: Ranges of reservoir properties used for training ANN …………………………………………… 14 

Table 2‐2: Ranges of production design parameters used for training ANN …………………………… 15 

Table 2‐3: Thicknesses of US coal seams ………………………………………………………………………………… 17 

Table 2‐4: Sorption constants for different coal seams ………………………………………………………….. 21 

Table 3‐1: Properties of reservoir I used for training Model I ………………………………………………… 32 

Table 3‐2: Properties of reservoir II used for training Model II ………………………………………………. 42 

Table 3‐3: Production parameters used for Model II ……………………………………………………………… 50 

Table 3‐4: Initial parameters of interest in development of generalized model ……………………… 61 

Table 4‐1: Effect of well stimulation on percentage gas recovery in vertical wells ………………… 93 

Table 4‐2: Effect of well stimulation on percentage gas recovery in horizontal wells ……………. 94 

Table 4‐3: Effect of sand‐face pressure on percentage gas recovery in vertical wells ……………. 95 

Table 4‐4: Effect of sand‐face pressure on percentage gas recovery in horizontal wells ……….. 96 

Table 5‐1: Network structure used for Model I ……………………………………………………………………. 102 

Table 5‐2: Network structure used for Model II …………………………………………………………………… 103 

Table 5‐3: Network structure used for Model III ………………………………………………………………….. 105 

Table 5‐4: Network structure used for Model IV ………………………………………………………………….. 106 

Table 5‐5: Network structure used for Model V …………………………………………………………………… 109 

 

 

 

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NOMENCLATURE 

 

Roman:

   

   

a  Exponential function coefficient   

A  Reservoir drainage area  acres 

b  Exponential function coefficient   

c  Exponential function coefficient   

d  Exponential function coefficient   

h  Coal seam thickness  Feet 

hn  Hidden neurons   

k  Fracture absolute permeability  mD 

krg  Relative permeability to gas phase   

krw  Relative permeability to water phase   

pi  Initial reservoir pressure  psia 

pL  Langmuir Pressure constant  psia 

pwf  Sand‐face pressure  psia 

q  Gas production flow rate  SCF/day 

Sgcrit  Critical gas saturation  % 

Swi  Initial water saturation  % 

Swirr  Irreducible water saturation  % 

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T  Temperature  F 

t  Time  Days 

VE  Gas content of coal  SCF/ton 

VL   Langmuir volume constant  SCF/ton 

 

Greek: 

τ  Sorption time constant  days 

ρ  Density of coal  g/cc 

Φ  Porosity  % 

 

Abbreviations:     

ANN  Artificial neural network   

BP  Back propagation   

CBM  Coalbed Methane   

CFF  Cascaded Feed‐forward network   

 

 

 

 

 

 

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

  I would  like to express my deepest thankfulness and appreciation to my thesis advisor, 

Dr. Turgay Ertekin, for his guidance and assistance throughout the development of this thesis 

without  which  this  work  would  never  have  been  completed.  Acknowledgments  are  also 

extended to members of the thesis committee, Dr. Luis Ayala and Dr. Zuleima Karpyn for their 

interest  in serving as committee members and for their time and comments  in evaluating this 

work. 

  I  also would  like  to  thank doctoral  students Emre Artun and Claudia Parada  for  their 

help at  times of need and  the Pennsylvania State University  for providing  financial assistance 

throughout the course of this study.  

  I am  indebted  to my mother,  Jayalakshmi and  to my  father, Srinivasan,  for being  the 

endless source of support and encouragement. I dedicate this work to them. 

   

 

 

 

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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION AND STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

1.1 Introduction

During initial stages of exploitation of oil and gas reservoirs, there is always a good level

of uncertainty in determination of reservoir parameters. In such cases, there is a need to

develop a screening tool that can predict production performance from reservoirs for several

possible combinations of reservoir properties and design parameters. By training an artificial

neural network with several physically possible combinations of these parameters, it is possible

to come up with a simple and cost effective tool that can mimic production from coalbed

methane reservoirs for a certain desired time of production.

Coalbed methane reservoirs are unconventional natural gas reservoirs which are of

dual-porosity and dual-permeability nature. Numerical models that can simulate production

scenarios from CBM reservoirs are different from those of conventional gas reservoirs in the

sense that gas transportation takes place through three stages namely desorption, diffusion

and advection (Darcy flow). Reservoir properties that need to be fed to a simulator include

sorption capacity, sorption pressure and sorption time constant in addition to other parameters

usually given as inputs to any other reservoir simulator.

This work outlines the use of neuro-simulation techniques to come up with a screening

tool to estimate production performances of CBM reservoirs for a production period of ten

years. Most of the parameters that play a significant role in impacting gas production from a

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CBM reservoir are included as inputs in the process of development of the neural network

model. The model predicts complete production profiles of gas and water, expected cumulative

gas and water productions, time to achieve maximum production and peak flow rate as

outputs.

Inputs to the model can be grouped under two broad categories. Reservoir properties

include reservoir fracture permeability (x, y and z directions), formation thickness, density,

porosity (of fractures), initial reservoir pressure, initial water saturation, sorption capacity of

coal, sorption pressure, sorption time constant, irreducible water saturation, critical gas

saturation and Corey’s correlation parameters for relative permeability curves. Design

parameters include unit acreage, bottom-hole pressure in well, skin (if there is any), orientation

of the well (horizontal or vertical), length of the well (if horizontal) and shape of the well

drainage template. The final model has been categorized into two, one for horizontal wells and

a second one that works for vertical wells.

An inverse protocol to optimize production strategies for a certain CBM reservoir and

for a certain expected production performance has also been developed. This expert system

predicts optimum production parameters for a certain targeted percentage recovery from a

CBM reservoir whose properties are known within acceptable ranges of values. Numerical

models lack the capability to optimize these design parameters and require a trial and error

procedure to achieve the same. The two models together serve as excellent tools to obtain

physically valid optimum performance indicators and give an opportunity to the user to identify

the possibility of investments on production from potential CBM reservoirs.

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Neuro-simulation methodologies applied in this work involve coupling together hard-

computing and soft-computing procedures. MATLAB programming language comes with an

Artificial Neural Network tool box containing in-built transfer functions, learning functions,

performance functions, weight and biases initialization functions and several other tools that

can be controlled using user-written codes. Data samples required to train, validate and test

the tool box are obtained using PSU COALCOMP, a three dimensional compositional CBM

reservoir simulator developed by Manik et al in 2002.

Starting with a simple model, variations in reservoir properties and design parameters

are slowly affected with gradually increasing complexity. A step by step procedure of

development of the model has been explained with assertions on technical difficulties in each

step. Due to the existing high degree of nonlinearities in the relationships between inputs and

outputs, several modifications were required to institute a sound combination of inputs that

can improve predictions significantly. With an orderly and improvised procedure, a robust

expert system that can be used in optimizing CBM production applications has been developed

and tested successfully.

1.2 Coalbed methane reservoirs

Coalbed methane reservoirs are unconventional resources of natural gas in which the source

rock and reservoir rock are the same. By the end of 2003, CBM constituted nearly 10% (1600

BCF) of the total natural gas production in the US (EIA, 2003) as indicated in Figure 1-1 below.

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Gas production profiles and gas transport mechanisms in CBM reservoirs are different

from that of conventional reservoirs, because most of the gas is adsorbed into the coal matrix

and the volume of gas in free phase is usually very negligible. They are naturally fractured

reservoirs and most of the fracture spacing is usually filled with water in the beginning. There is

a need to dewater the system and bring down the pressure in the reservoir to facilitate gas

desorption. Hence gas transport takes place in three stages including desorption, diffusion and

advection (Darcy flow) (King, G. R. et al, 1983) as shown in Figure 1-2 below:

Figure 1-1: U.S. Coalbed Methane Production, 1989-2003 (Source: EIA)

Figure 1-2: Schematic of Methane flow dynamics in Coal seams (Remner, D., et al, 1986)

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As water is removed from the system, pressure in the reservoir decreases. When

irreducible water saturation is reached, water production stops. Gas adsorbed on to the coal

matrix starts desorbing from the matrix to the micro pores. This is followed by flow of gas from

the micro pores to the macro pores and is characterized by diffusion. The natural fractures act

as channels for the gas to flow from coal to the surface. This flow is characterized by advection

(Darcy flow). Fractures in a coalbed reservoir are continuous in the horizontal direction and

discontinuous in the vertical direction. As a result, the permeability is usually heterogeneous in

nature. The continuous cleats are called the face cleats and the discontinuous ones are called

the butt cleats (King, G.R. et al, 1983). A typical structure of the coal matrix is illustrated in

Figure 1-3 below:

There are many factors that make CBM reservoirs unconventional. Table 1-1 lists the

differences in properties and characteristics between Coalbed and conventional natural gas

Figure 1-3: Plan view of coal seam showing cleat structures and matrix blocks (King, G.R. et al, 1983)

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reservoirs. Gas in coalbeds is produced by chemical and physical processes during the last stage

in the development of coal where organic material is converted to methane.

S. No. CBM Conventional natural gas reservoirs

1 Source rock and reservoir rock are the

same

Gas flows from source rock to reservoir

rock towards the surface from which gas

is taken out

2 Gas flow is characterized by

desorption, diffusion and Darcy flow

Gas flow is characterized by Darcy flow

3 These reservoirs are naturally

fractured and fractures act as channels

for the gas to flow

These are not naturally fractured and

flow takes place through pores of

reservoir rock

4 Most of the gas is in adsorbed phase Most of the gas exists in free phase

5 Initial water saturation is usually very

high

Initial water saturation is usually low and

gas shows a production decline right

from the beginning

1.3 Artificial Neural Networks

Artificial neural networks are computational models that are developed on the principle

of functioning of the human biological nervous system. The capabilities and robustness of

artificial neural networks depend on its learning abilities and can applied to pattern recognition

problems, optimization techniques etc.

Table 1-1: Differences between CBM and conventional natural gas reservoirs

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Artificial neural networks work on the hypothesis that intelligence is achieved by means

of interaction of large numbers of simple processing units called nodes (Jeirani, Z. et al 2005). A

multilayered neural network consists of three main parts - the input layer, output layer and the

hidden layer(s). The number of hidden layers and the number of nodes in each layer depends

on the problem at hand. If the number of nodes in the hidden layer(s) is too small than the

optimum one, the network may fail to converge to the minimum. On the other hand, if the

number of nodes is much higher when compared to the optimum one, over fitting may occur

that results in poor generalization capabilities (Jeirani, Z. et al 2005). Mathematically, in an

artificial neural network, a set of weights are found that generates outputs when a net is

presented within an input. This process is called learning and by altering the weight of links

between nodes, the learning abilities of such neural networks are improved (Mohaghegh et al.,

1994).

The most important characteristic of neural networks is their adaptability. By exposing

them to sufficient examples they can learn by adjusting the links and connections between

neurons. They can thus be programmed to train, store and recognize patterns to solve

optimization problems (Mohaghegh et al., 1996). Database that needs to be fed to a neural

network is usually categorized into three different groups – training, testing and validation sets.

Training sets are used to train the network by use of suitable transfer functions, learning

functions, performance functions and several other parameters. The testing data sets are used

to determine the ability of the network to predict outputs for inputs that the network has never

seen before. The validation data sets are similar to the testing data sets and are used to

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establish the accuracy and reliability of the neural network. Having said all that, a typical

structure of a neural network looks like the one in Figure 1-4 below.

1.3.1 Feedforward Back propagation neural networks

Artificial neural networks can be broadly classified into two groups – Supervised

networks and Unsupervised networks. Unsupervised networks, also known as self organizing

networks are usually provided with input data for training and they learn without being shown

with the correct output (Aminian, K. et al 2005). One such example is the Kohonen network.

However, most applications in Petroleum engineering use supervised networks in which

pattern-identification and decision making abilities are acquired based on the patterns of inputs

and outputs they have learned. The most common of these is the back propagation neural

networks. In a feed forward neural network, flow of information is always from one layer to

another in the forward direction and no backward flow is allowed. The neurons in a layer get

input from the previous layer and feed their output to the next layer. Thus in feedforward

Figure 1-4: Typical structure of a simple ANN

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networks, connections to the neurons in the same layer or previous layers are not permitted

(Yilmaz, S. et al 2001).

In a Back propagation neural network, the error between the network output and the

desired output is propagated through the network. Depending on the magnitude of this error,

the weights on the connections are adjusted and this process continues until the network

output reaches an acceptable value (Jeirani, Z. et al 2005). The ANN acquires learning abilities

through this training process and is then ready to simulate other outputs for inputs it has never

seen before (Bean, M. et al 2000). A simple structure of a feed-forward back-propagation

neural network is shown in Figure 1-5 below:

1.4 Expert System development – Statement of the problem

Reservoir simulators are effectively used in predicting production performances of oil

and gas reservoirs with a good level of accuracy. When a high level of uncertainty exist in the

knowledge of reservoir properties and production parameters before a reservoir enters active

exploration, expert systems can be effective as a screening tool by mimicking the performance

of a reservoir simulator at a lower cost, reduced personnel and machine time. An expert system

Figure 1-5: A feed forward Back propagation ANN (Saemi, M. et al 2007)

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also known as a knowledge based system consists of a knowledge base and a set of algorithms

or rules that infer new facts from knowledge and incoming data. An expert system uses the

knowledge base of human expertise and the degree of problem solving ability of the expert

system depends on the quality of data provided and the rules obtained from the expert system

(Gharbi, R.B.C., et al 2005).

An expert system essentially consists of three main parts: A knowledge base, an

inference engine and a user interface. The knowledge base is the data base generated using

human expertise and usually involves gathering of data and putting them in a form easily

recognized by a computer. The expert system acquires an ability to develop answers by running

the knowledge base in an inference engine which is usually a computer program that processes

results from the rules and facts in the knowledge base(Gharbi, R.B.C., et al 2005).. The user

interface is the part that establishes communication between the user and the computer

program.

Expert systems are recently being used in a large of number of reservoir engineering

applications. Gharbi, R.B.C., et al uses expert systems to identify optimum conditions at current

oil prices to determine whether a certain Enhanced Oil Recovery technique is feasible or not.

Aminian, K., et al uses artificial neural networks to develop accurate reservoir descriptions by

utilizing available geophysical well log data and limited core data. Hari, D., et al uses neuro

simulation techniques to structure field development schemes in conjunction with numerical

reservoir simulation. Garrouch, A.A., et al uses expert system development strategies to screen

wells that could be drilled underbalanced and to aid in the preliminary selection of appropriate

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underbalanced drilling fluids for a given range of well bore and reservoir conditions. Ertekin, T.,

et al uses a neural network approach to develop specialized inverse solution techniques for the

analysis of pressure transient data for the characterization of the transport and sorption

properties of coal seams.

The proposed expert system has been trained with the help of an extensive database

and has the capability of providing gas and water production profiles for a period of about ten

years for a given coalbed methane reservoir.

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CHAPTER 2

DATA GENERATION AND NETWORK TRAINING STRATEGY

2.1 Description of PSU COALCOMP reservoir model

The PSU COALCOMP is a three dimensional, two phase, dual porosity, fully implicit,

compositional coalbed methane reservoir simulator developed by Manik, J., et al at the

Pennsylvania State University. The model couples together multi-component gas sorption

formulation and compositional fluid flow formulation in coalbed reservoirs. It uses the

Langmuir sorption constants and the molar solution Gas-Oil ratio to determine the equilibrium

ratios (K values). These values along with the free gas concentration are then used to determine

the mole fraction of the adsorbed gas phase and the adsorption capacity.

2.1.1 Langmuir Isotherm for multi-component sorption formulation

The most commonly used sorption isotherm equation is the Langmuir isotherm given by:

Sv and Sp are the Langmuir volume constants and the Langmuir pressure constants respectively. The

Langmuir volume constant is defined as the maximum capacity of the coal to adsorb gas. The Langmuir

pressure constant is defined as the pressure at which the gas content of the coal is equal to half the

Langmuir volume constant. A typical Langmuir isotherm looks like the one shown in Figure 2-1. As seen

from the curve, under conditions of equilibrium, the sorption capacity of coal increases with pressure

and reaches a certain maximum value. This is the Langmuir volume constant. From equation (1), when

Sp = p, Ve = Sv/2 and hence the definition of the Langmuir pressure constant is seen.

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Applying the desorption concept to production of methane in a CBM reservoir,

assuming initial conditions as shown in Figure 2-1 (Initial pressure = 1600 psia, Initial gas

content = 300 SCF/ton) there will be no gas production in the reservoir until pressure in the

system reaches equilibrium. This time is characterized by production of water from the fracture

spacing. Once the critical desorption pressure is reached, gas begins to flow to the well.

Estimating the adsorption capacity of multi-component gases is more difficult than single

component studies, because multi-component sorption is not only a function of pressure and

temperature, but also a function of the gas composition.

The equilibrium pressure at which gas begins to flow is called the critical desorption

pressure. The PSU COALCOMP model uses the extended Langmuir isotherm equation which

does not take into account thermodynamic equilibrium between gas components in free and

adsorbed phases (Manik, J., et al 2002). The model calculates the partial adsorption capacity of

Figure 2-1: A typical Langmuir isotherm curve

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gas components based on the partial pressures of gas components in the free gas mixture. In

the development of the compositional fluid flow model, water is assumed to be a single-

component phase and the gas phase is represented by a multi component mixture. The

sorption rate of the gas in the system is calculated using the non-equilibrium sorption rate

equation (2) proposed by King et al.

Where, Vei and Vai are the adsorption capacity and the amount of gas adsorbed for component i

respectively. The sorption time constant τ is related to the time lag due to the diffusion process

going on in the micro pores of the coal matrix (Manik, J., et al 2002).

As seen from the discussions above, the Langmuir pressure constant, Langmuir volume

constant and the sorption time constant are important parameters that control the gas

production rate and cumulative gas production. The amount of gas that can be produced from

a potential reservoir increases with increase in gas content (Sorption capacity). The sorption

time constant is a relative measure of how fast gas can be produced from the reservoir. The

higher the time constant, longer it takes to bring out the gas from the reservoir. The effect of

each of these parameters will be discussed in the following sections.

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2.2 Factors affecting production from a Coalbed reservoir

It is necessary to prepare a list of parameters that significantly impact production in a

CBM reservoir. This section discusses the inputs that will be used to train the neural network

model and the effect each of these parameters on gas production from the reservoir. The

inputs have been classified into two categories – reservoir properties and production

parameters. The ranges of each of these inputs for which the neural network is capable of

obtaining outputs in its predictive mode are listed in Table 2-1 and 2-2.

S. No Reservoir Property Minimum value Maximum value

1 Permeability (x – direction) (in) 0.1 1000

2 Anisotropic ratio (kx : ky) 1 17

3 Thickness (feet) 5 40

4 Porosity (%) 1 10

5 Coal Density (g/cc) 1.2 2

6 Initial reservoir pressure (psia) 100 3500

7 Initial water saturation (%) 30 100

8 Sorption volume constant 100 800

9 Sorption pressure constant (psia) 15 2000

10 Sorption time constant (days) 15 900

11 Irreducible water saturation (%) 5 30

12 Critical gas saturation (%) 0 5

Table 2-1: Ranges of reservoir properties used for ANN

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S. No Production design parameters Minimum value Maximum value

1 Sand face pressure (psia) 14.7 Pinitial/2

2 Skin -4 5

3 Length of well (if horizontal)

(feet)

250 1000

4 Reservoir acreage (acres) 20 100

2.2.1 Permeability

As discussed in the previous sections, CBM reservoirs are naturally fractured and the

coal matrix is characterized by continuous cleats in the x-direction and discontinuous cleats in

the y-direction. Hence, CBM reservoirs are usually heterogeneous in permeability. Based on

scenarios that have been studied so far, the ratio of the permeabilities may vary anywhere

between 1 and 17.

The permeability of a coal seam is obviously an important parameter in determining the

productivity of a coal seam. In CBM reservoirs, determination of permeability is complicated by

two-phase flow in the fractures. Hence, when well testing procedures are conducted on such

5 Well orientation Vertical/Horizontal

6 Reservoir drainage pattern Square/rectangular

Table 2-2: Ranges of production design parameters used for training ANN

Other Design parameters

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reservoirs, either a series of water pump-in and fall-off tests are conducted upon completing

the well, in order to ensure a single phase system or conventional pressure buildup tests are

conducted and the two phase flow is accounted for, by use of pseudo pressure or multi-phase

potential analysis methods (Jochen, V., A., et al 1994). The matrix permeability is usually

negligible and the cleat spacing acts as the major channels for the gas to flow. The fracture

permeability is related to the cleat spacing which in turn depends on the coal rank, mineral

content, petro graphic composition and tectonic history (Levine, 1993).

2.2.2 Porosity

CBM reservoirs are dual porosity systems and are characterized by matrix porosity and

fracture porosity. The porosity of coal seams depends on the rank of coal being mined. The

micropore system is estimated to have pore diameters less than 2 nm. The macropore system is

established by the fracture network designated by the cleat system. The coal porosities usually

contribute significantly to swelling and shrinkage of coal during desorption processes.

When compared to conventional oil reservoirs, porosity of CBM reservoirs is low. In

literature, some of the porosities of commercially important basins that have been reported

include an estimation of 2.8% in the Oak Grove basin and 2.4% in the San Juan Basin. In this

study, the maximum and minimum values used to generate data samples for training are 10%

and 1% respectively.

2.2.3 Coal thickness

Thickness of coal seam is directly related to the total gas content. Table 2-3 lists the

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Coalbed Name Thickness (feet)

Average Low High 1699 Wyodak 65.08 7.50 75.00

0036 Pittsburgh 6.00 1.67 9.00

0489 No. 9 5.17 2.00 6.42

0111 Coalburg 6.25 0.75 14.08

1697 Canyon 52.67 34.58 67.00

1569 Beulah-Zap 15.25 12.00 17.50

0151 Upper Elkhorn No. 3 4.25 1.00 12.50

0484 Herrin (Illinois No. 6) 5.92 3.83 8.00

1696 Anderson-Dietz 1-Dietz 2 73.83 55.00 80.00

0084 Lower Kittanning 4.08 1.00 7.83

1787 Roland 43.00 31.83 55.00

1808 Rosebud 21.83 18.00 23.00

0135 Hazard No. 4 4.92 1.00 11.50

0168 Lower Elkhorn 4.33 0.92 7.00

0103 Stockton-Lewiston 5.42 1.00 8.25

1753 Somerset B 14.50 8.50 20.00

1488 Fruitland No. 8 13.92 10.50 16.25

0071 Upper Freeport 4.50 1.67 7.00

0121 Winifrede 5.00 0.83 10.00

0344 Pocahontas No. 3 4.83 2.50 5.67

0176 Eagle 3.75 0.92 9.00

0480 No. 7 3.58 2.00 6.00

0280 Blue Creek 4.58 0.67 16.67

1750 Wadge 8.33 8.33 10.00

0080 Middle Kittanning 4.42 0.75 8.00

Major Coalbeds Average 36.58 0.67 80.00

U.S. Total 28.92 0.33 80

Table 2-3: Thicknesses of US coal seams (Energy Information Administration, 2006)

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thicknesses of different coal seams obtained from the Energy Information Administration

annual Coal report (EIA, 2006). For the purpose of this study the minimum and maximum values

of thickness used to generate training data sets are 5 feet and 40 feet, respectively.

2.2.4 Initial reservoir conditions

The initial reservoir pressure is related to the maximum time of useful production from

the reservoir. Since the production flow rate is proportional to the difference between the

reservoir pressure and the bottom hole pressure and since all the production scenarios studied

in this work are at conditions of constant bottom hole pressure, the higher the initial reservoir

pressure, the higher is the gas production flow rate, especially during the initial flowing period.

The initial water saturation plays in important role in deciding on the production

economics. Most of the coal seams are usually filled with water in the fracture spacing and the

time it takes to dewater the system, before gas can start flowing is quite critical. The

percentage water saturation also affects the shape of the gas production profile curves as

indicated in Figure 2-2. For any two reservoirs with identical properties and different initial

water saturations, gas production shows a decline from the very beginning, if the initial water

saturation is in low ranges. However, if water saturation is high, gas production increases in the

beginning, reaches a peak and starts declining afterwards. For the purpose of this study, the

maximum and minimum values used for initial reservoir pressure are 3500 psia and 100 psia

respectively. For initial water saturation, the maximum and minimum values are 100% and 30%,

respectively.

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2.2.5 Sorption parameters

The Langmuir sorption constant gives a measure of the amount of gas the coal seam can

hold. The height of the sorption curve increases as the Sorption capacity increases. This is

illustrated in Figure 2-3.

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000

Gas

Sto

rage

Cap

acit

y (S

CF/t

on)

Pressure (psia)

VL = 600 ; PL = 250

VL = 500 ; PL = 250

Figure 2-2: Effect of initial water saturation on gas production

Figure 2-3: Effect of Langmuir volume constant on sorption characteristics

Methane

Vol

ume

Time

Initial water saturation = 100 %

Initial water saturation = 30 %

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The effect of sorption pressure constant on the sorption characteristics is opposite to that of

the volume constant and is illustrated in Figure 2-4. These parameters together will decide the

shape of the desorption curve and thus based on the initial reservoir conditions, different

combinations of the two constants lead to different production scenarios. A reservoir with high

potential for production should have a high value for the Langmuir volume constant and a

critical desorption pressure that is close the initial reservoir pressure.

The sorption time constant regulates the rate at which gas is transferred from the micro

pores to the macropores. The higher the value of time constant, the longer is the time taken for

the gas to desorb. The time constants of some of the major coal seams in the US are displayed

in Table 2-4.

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000

Gas

Sto

rage

Cap

acit

y (S

CF/t

on)

Pressure (psia)

VL = 400; PL = 200

VL = 400 ; PL = 250

Figure 2-4: Effect of Langmuir pressure constant on sorption characteristics

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Coal Sorption time constant (days)

Fort Union <1

Fruitland <1

Pennsylvanian Age >80

Northern Appalachian 100 – 900

Central Appalachian 1 – 3

Warrior 3 - 5

2.2.6 Production Design Parameters

Apart from the reservoir properties that cannot be controlled by the producer, there

are certain engineering parameters that are under human control and can be suitably altered to

enhance production. Some of these parameters that are considered in this study include

sandface pressure, stimulation (skin), Well acreage, reservoir drainage pattern, length of the

well and well orientation.

Decisions on the sandface pressure depend on several factors such as the initial

reservoir pressure, expected rate of production from the reservoir and gas content of the coal

seam. The well may have been stimulated to improve communication between the well bore

and the fracture network. A positive skin factor indicates damage in the well due to factors such

as sand accumulation. Most of the initial efforts in this work have been conducted at conditions

of constant well spacing and well orientation as the level of nonlinearities affected on the

network due to their variations were observed to be highly significant. The ranges of variation

of these engineering parameters are listed in Table 2-2.

Table 2-4: Sorption time constants for different coal seams (Rogers, 1994)

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2.3 Training-data generation

As discussed in the previous section, to develop the most generalized model possible,

we have a total of 18 variables (inputs). It was thought that starting with a complex system right

from the beginning may not address all the problems related to generalization capabilities and

improvements in robustness of the network. Numerical simulations should be run for each

network in the developmental stages and the number of data samples required for training

each network vary with increasing complexities. The outputs can be shown to the network in

various forms such as:

1. The production profile can be fit to an appropriate function of time and the coefficients

can be used to predict the outputs indirectly.

2. Production flow rates at different time periods can be extracted from the simulation

runs and fed to the network to predict the outputs directly.

The problem with employing the first method is that, the shape of the production curve

varies depending on the water saturation in the coal seam. It may not be possible to represent

the curve using a unique function in such cases. When using the second method, we see an

increase in complexity of the network due to relatively large number of flow rates that need to

be shown as outputs in order to predict a smooth curve. Figure 2-5 shows a simple structure of

the inputs to the network. Let us assume that the simplest (generalized) model covers the input

variables in their outer ranges only. It is then possible to come up with a total of 218

combinations of these parameters that can generate different simulation runs (production

scenarios). Obviously this is not what we are trying to achieve.

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Kx

Porosity

Kx:Ky

Thickness

Pinitial

Swinitial

PL

VL

τ

Swirr

Sgcritical

Density

Pwf

Skin

Well orientation

Drainage pattern

Well length

Acreage

1000

10

17

40

3500

100

2000

800

900

25

10

2

Pinitial/2

5

Horizontal

Rectangle

Half the total length

100

0.1

1

1

5

100

30

15

100

15

5

0

1.2

14.7

-4

Vertical

Square

88

20

Figure 2-5: Input structure showing possible combinations of the input variables

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Our aim is to develop simulation runs using some of the physically possible

combinations that can help define the problem effectively. By physically possible combinations,

we mean that all the input combinations cannot exist practically and a sound knowledge of the

importance of each of these variables is required to decide whether a certain combination will

lead to a scenario corresponding to potential recovery or not. Existing expert knowledge on

production history from CBM reservoirs around the globe will help to determine dependence of

one variable on the other. Similarly, to produce from a reservoir at a bottom-hole pressure

close to its initial pressure does not make sense. Based on such factors, different input

combinations can be arrived at, thus narrowing down the number of simulation runs to what is

just required.

From Figure 2-5, it is seen that the model may be required to encounter any physically

possible combination of the 18 variables between ranges as shown. A generalized model should

have necessary extrapolation capabilities that can predict results for any input vector in space

that is not part of the training data. One way of achieving this is to prepare combinations of

these variables that cover only their extremes (maximum and minimum values). In this way, we

make sure that the entire range is being covered effectively. One can then decide on the

remaining combinations based on factors such as number of samples available, most commonly

encountered combinations of parameters in actual-field-exploitation and average values of

variables in their respective ranges.

The number of simulation runs required to train a network is not a fixed number and

there are no well defined rules to describe these numbers. Hence, whenever an Artificial Neural

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network model is developed, we start with a relatively small number of training samples and

increase this number based on improvements in predictions. Uniform distribution of these

input variables is also quite important. For example, training a network that has 80% of its

permeabilities less than 10 milliDarcies and the remaining between 10 and 1000 milliDarcies

may not give the model sufficient predictive capabilities. Hence, before training a network,

histograms of inputs are constructed to look into distribution patterns in order to make sure

that all the inputs in all the ranges were given a fair chance.

At the same time, we should also think about most commonly encountered values of

these parameters. For example, most of the coal seams are usually 100% saturated with water

and very few seams are filled with less than 90% water in the fracture spacing. It may be a good

idea to distribute such a variable based on seams with greater than 90% initial water saturation

and those with less than the former. All such complexities have been appropriately addressed

in this study with reference to each and every variable in the system. Figure 2-6 shows sample

histograms of distribution of inputs used in this model within their ranges as seen in tables 2-1

and 2-2.

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Figure 2-6: Histograms showing distribution of input variables

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Figure 2-6: Histograms showing distribution of input variables (continued)

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2.4 Network Structure development

Once the simulation runs are completed, efficient predictive and generalizing abilities

depend on a number of factors. Again, there are no defined rules that can provide a certain

level of accuracy in predictions. There are a number of factors that the user can play with, in

modifying the performance of the neural network model. Some of these factors are discussed

in detail in this section.

Figure 2-6: Histograms showing distribution of input variables (continued)

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The network architecture includes the type of network being used, number of hidden

layers, number of hidden neurons, transfer functions between layers of the network, weights

and biases initialization functions, performance functions, training functions and the stopping

criteria. Playing with all these parameters lead to different predictions and for the same

configuration, the results from different trainings may be different.

Feed-forward back-propagation networks are the most commonly used types of

networks used for generalization problems in reservoir engineering applications. A detailed

explanation of how these networks work is given in Appendix B. As the name indicates, feed-

forward back-propagation networks calculate the outputs in the forward direction and

propagate the error gradients in the backward direction. The number of hidden layers and

number of neurons in each of these hidden layers are crucial factors in training a network and

increasing the number of hidden layers usually does not improve the performance to a large

extent. In this study, more emphasis is laid on altering the number of hidden neurons with

structures containing 3 or less hidden layers. Coming up with a final architecture involves a

large number of trial and error procedures working on these parameters and finding the one

that predicts the best. Usually, to start with, a rough guess on the total number of hidden

neurons is given by

Number of hidden neurons = Total number of data samples + (Numinputs + Numoutputs)/2.

Transfer functions are functions on which the summation of products of weights and

inputs from the previous layer are applied to yield an output for the current layer.

The three most commonly used transfer functions in neural network applications are

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i. Tansig – The tangent sigmoidal function

F(x) = [2 / (1 + e-2x)] - 1

ii. Logsig – The logarithmic sigmoidal function

F(x) = [1 / (1 + e-x)]

iii. Purelin – The pure linear function

F(x) = x

The main advantage of using these functions is that, the derivative of the each of these

functions can be expressed in terms of the function itself and thus makes it easier to calculate

the error gradients in the backward direction. In case of the pure linear function, the derivative

is equal to 1 and makes it even simpler.

Another very important parameter that controls the rate of convergence and ability of

the network to generalize is the training function. MATLAB* offers a variety of features on these

aspects and provides a list of functions that can be used for training. Different training functions

have different applications based on the type of problem under study. Most of the models in

this study use the trainscg (Scaled Conjugate Gradient Algorithm) function for training purposes

and have been proven very effective when compared to other functions available for use.

* MATLAB® is a high-level language and interactive environment that enables one to perform computationally

intensive tasks faster than with traditional programming languages (http://www.mathworks.com/).

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CHAPTER 3

STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT

As mentioned in the previous chapter, several models were developed in this study

before finalizing a generalized model. Two main intermediate models apart from the

generalized model, whose results are shown in this chapter include,

1. A model with varying well design parameters (and fixed reservoir properties)

2. A model with varying reservoir properties (and fixed production parameters)

There are two important issues that need to be examined carefully in structuring a

network. The first problem is called undertraining which usually occurs, when at the end of the

training session, the network acquires poor pattern recognition capabilities. The second

problem is called overtraining which is usually seen in cases when the network begins to

memorize data. Using a relatively small number of hidden neurons may lead to undertraining.

On the other hand, if the number of hidden neurons is too high, the network starts memorizing

data. This is usually characterized by an increase in the testing error during training while the

training error keeps decreasing. The following sections discuss each of the models mentioned

above and the results from different network structures explaining how a satisfactory model is

achieved.

3.1 ANN with varying well design parameters

In this model (Model I), all the predictions are confined to a certain reservoir with fixed

properties and variations in well design parameters only. Two different cases were studied: A

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system with isotropic permeability and another system with anisotropic permeability. As

mentioned before, two different ways of predicting the production profiles are also studied. For

the first reservoir, simulation runs are made with a total of 80 different combinations of

production parameters. To start with, the very first model was made to predict only five

outputs – Cumulative gas production at the end of 20 years, Cumulative water production at

the end of 20 years, maximum production flow rate achieved, time to reach peak flow rate and

the abandonment time (assuming an abandonment flow rate of 50 MSCF).

All the outputs were obtained for the same reservoir whose properties are listed in

Table 3-1. The first case is an isotropic system and the structure of the network (Structure 1)

composed of one hidden layer containing 10 neurons, using a tansigmoidal transfer function

applied on the hidden layer and a pure linear function on the output layer. A feed forward

network with the scaled conjugate gradient training function is used. A sample output obtained

from training the above network is shown in Figure 3-1.

Reservoir Property Value

Initial reservoir pressure (psia) 2000

Initial water saturation (%) 98

Reservoir thickness (feet) 15

Uniform top depth (feet) 1500

Isotropic reservoir permeability (mD) 25

Porosity (%) 3

Coal Density (g/cc) 1.45

Reservoir temperature (F) 100

Initial free gas concentration (%) 100

Table 3-1: Properties of reservoir I used for training model I

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Sorption capacity (lb mole gas/lb coal) 0.00185

Sorption pressure (psia) 200

Sorption time constant (seconds) 40,000,000

Irreducible water saturation (%) 25

Critical gas saturation (%) 0

krw at Sw = 1 – Sgcritical 1

krg at Sg = 1 – Swirr 0.8

Table 3-1: Properties of reservoir I used for training model I (continued)

Figure 3-1a: Sample output from Model I with fixed reservoir properties using Structure 1

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As can be seen from the results, the network does not have a complex architecture and

predictions are close to that achieved by the numerical model. As the next step, the capability

of the network was improved further by predicting the production profile along with the

outputs seen above. To achieve this, the production profiles (flow rates) from each of the

reservoirs were fit to an exponential function of time given by:

Figure 3-1-b: Sample output from Model I with fixed reservoir properties using Structure 1

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The coefficients in each case were fed along with the other outputs and trained with the same

configuration as above except for the number of hidden neurons which was increased to 12

(Structure 2). It should be noted that these studies were conducted with production from

vertical wells in all the cases. As will be seen near the end of this chapter, the final generalized

model was categorized into two: one which works for horizontal wells and another which works

for vertical wells. This is due to the absence of impact of z direction permeability on vertical

wells and the absence of y direction permeability on horizontal wells in two dimensional

representations. A sample output along with function coefficients and some production profiles

predictions is shown in Figure 3-2.

The results indicate that, although most of the predictions are fine, there is room for

improvement in calculation of the the coefficients a and c. Also, accuracy of predictions of

Cumulative gas and water productions can be improved to a certain extent. It can be seen that

the values of gas cumulative production and the coefficients a and c are very high when

compared to the rest of the variables. To see an improvement in performance, 50 more

simulation runs were prepared. The cumulative gas production was shown to the network in

units of MMSCF while the coefficients were divided by a factor of 100 to bring down the ranges

of values in the outputs. The network configuration was kept the same and was trained

successfully (Structure 3). A sample output from this network is shown in Figure 3-3.

In this model, the inputs and outputs are always distributed normally between -1 and 1

in order to bring down the ranges of values for ease of training. There are so many other

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network parameters that may have a significant impact on the results. In MATLAB, the training,

validation and testing errors are predicted simultaneously so that the user will be able to keep

track of the network’s progress. At the end of each epoch, the weights and biases are used to

predict outputs for the testing samples and the validation samples. It is necessary that the

Figure 3-2a: Sample output from Model I with fixed reservoir properties using Structure 2

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testing and validation errors should not increase at any point of time, although the rate of

minimization of errors may not be the same as that of the training data sets.

In Figure 3-2, although most of the predictions for the coefficients a and c are close

to that of the actual values, some of them are significantly different from the expected values.

The new datasets being shown to the network consisted of many reservoirs with high acreage

and low sand face pressure as higher values for the coefficients correspond to higher

production flow rates. In neural network applications, when generalization capabilities do not

improve as expected, additional inputs and outputs in the form of functional links are usually

Figure 3-2b: Sample output from Model I with fixed reservoir properties using Structure 2

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provided to enable better understanding of non linear relationships between the inputs and

outputs.

In this case, due to relatively simple structure of the network, use of functional links was

not necessary. However, it will be seen in the next model that use of functional links is a must,

as the complexity of the problem increases further. In the network with structure 3, the inputs

to the network are the bottom-hole pressure, skin factor, well drainage pattern and the

Figure 3-2c: Sample output from Model I with fixed reservoir properties using Structure 2

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reservoir area. Length of the well does not come into picture as all the simulation runs were

made with vertical wells.

Figure 3-3a: Sample output from Model I with fixed reservoir properties using Structure 3

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It can be seen from Figure 3-3 that the production profiles from Structure 3 match the

actual results more closely when compared to Structure 2. In most of the neural network

applications, before one could decide on increasing the number of data samples, different

configurations are usually applied to identify any possibilities for improvements in predictions.

Structure 2 was started with just one hidden layer and the number of neurons

was roughly chosen based on the number of inputs, number of outputs and number of data

samples available. Also, one needs to make sure that enough training data are available so that

the weights do not become applicable only to certain set of data samples that do not address

Figure 3-3b: Sample output from Model I with fixed reservoir properties using Structure 3

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all the commonalities usually seen in CBM reservoirs. In this case, of the 80 data samples that

were available, 50 were used for training, 20 for validation and 10 for testing purposes.

Histograms of the inputs in the data samples are constructed to make sure that all ranges of

inputs are encountered in all the three categories.

Initially, a logarithmic transfer function was applied on the hidden layer. Although

predictions were reasonable, calculation of abandonment time in some of the cases were

negative. Use of hidden neurons greater than 16 only brought down the accuracy. As part of

Figure 3-3c: Sample output from Model I with fixed reservoir properties using Structure 3

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the stopping criteria, the maximum number of epochs was increased to 2000 and the number

of epochs for which an increase in validation error is acceptable was set to 200 when the

default values did not seem to work. When a tansigmoidal transfer function was applied, the

network began to perform better for the same configuration.

In Structure 3, of the 130 samples that were available, 80 were used for training, 30 for

validation and 20 for testing purposes. When this network produced acceptable results, it was

decided to apply the same configuration to a different reservoir which had similar properties as

the previous one but anisotropic in permeability. These properties are listed in Table 3-2 below:

Reservoir Property Value

Initial reservoir pressure (psia) 2000

Initial water saturation (%) 98

Reservoir thickness (feet) 30

Uniform top depth (feet) 700

X- direction permeability (mD) 5

Y – direction permeability(mD) 1

Porosity (%) 2.5

Coal Density (g/cc) 1.35

Reservoir temperature (F) 100

Initial free gas concentration (%) 100

Sorption capacity (lb mole gas/lb coal) 0.000975

Sorption pressure (psia) 180

Sorption time constant (seconds) 40000000

Irreducible water saturation (%) 20

Critical gas saturation (%) 0

krw at Sw = 1 – Sgcritical 1

krg at Sg = 1 – Swirr 0.8

Table 3-2: Properties of reservoir II used for training model I

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Unfortunately, in this case, the method of fitting the curves to a function and determining the

coefficients did not work. The second method involving determining gas flow rates at different

time periods and feeding them as outputs was tried. Although this increases the size of the

output matrix, it is a more efficient way to predict the flow rates as there is a very good

possibility that for a similar configuration, a network with any combination of reservoir

properties in the inputs may become capable of predicting the flow rates when a generalized

model is developed in the future. Since the initial water saturation affects the shape to a great

extent, it may not be possible to apply the curve fitting procedure and find a function that can

be applied to every reservoir in the training samples.

100 simulation runs were prepared of which 60 were used for training, 20 for validation

and 20 for testing purposes. The same configuration as used in the previous network was used

to train the network. A sample output from this network (Model II) is shown in Figure 3-4.

Figure 3-4a: Sample output from Model II with fixed reservoir properties (anisotropic system)

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Based on trial and error procedures, the number of hidden neurons required to train

this network was found to be between 15 and 18. The variations in well drainage pattern in this

case were shown by including the uniform dimensions of the grid blocks in the x and y direction

as inputs. The number of grid blocks into which the reservoir should be discretized was decided

by preparing simulation runs with different uniform dimensions. The difference in results due

to change in number of blocks became negligible for a 17 x 17 X 1 selection of blocks. Hence, a

15 x 15 x1 dimension was used in all the cases. Thus, for a reservoir of certain acreage, the grid

size was decided by keeping the number of blocks in each direction fixed.

Figure 3-4b: Sample output from Model II with fixed reservoir properties (anisotropic system)

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In this model, the network started to generate excellent results with just 100 simulation

runs available to run the model when compared to 130 runs in the previous case. It can be

realized that choice of input combinations is a very important parameter in making the network

provide satisfactory results. Three important factors should be kept in mind. First, the choice of

inputs should not be localized. If so, the predictions will be fine, but they may not represent a

much generalized system. As mentioned before, choice of inputs should cover all possible

values in all ranges to the best possible extent. Secondly, the data samples that are part of the

testing data must contain samples that are of similar nature as the data samples in the training

Figure 3-4c: Sample output from Model II with fixed reservoir properties (anisotropic system)

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data sets. For example, if the testing data set contains permeabilities in all ranges under study

and if the training samples do not contain many values in the respective ranges, results of

interpolation may not be very satisfactory. This is related to studying distribution of the inputs

using histograms before training the network. Thirdly, as the number of outputs or rather the

size of the network increases, it may not be possible to expect as much accuracy of predictions

as seen in the previous structures. It should be understood that, artificial neural networks used

in this study are designed to serve only as screening tools to provide an estimate on potential

investments and obviously they cannot replace numerical models.

Figure 3-4d: Sample output from Model II with fixed reservoir properties (anisotropic system)

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It can be noticed from the outputs that flow rates are calculated at some predefined

time periods. The first few flow rates are captured at time intervals within the first 2 years

while the remaining flow rates measured at nearly equally distributed time intervals. Because,

the time at which gas production peaks depends on several factors including the initial water

saturation, the critical gas saturation, irreducible water saturation, fracture permeability and

reservoir acreage. For any 2 reservoirs with similar properties, high initial water saturation is

very likely to give a longer water production profile. Similarly, a reservoir with low critical gas

saturation may start producing gas earlier than one with a higher value.

Figure 3-4e: Sample output from Model II with fixed reservoir properties (anisotropic system)

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In this study, since all the simulation runs were prepared at conditions of high initial

water saturation (98%), time at which gas flow rate peaks depends mainly on the producing

sand face pressure and the reservoir acreage. In most CBM reservoirs, the peak is usually

achieved in the first 2 to 3 years of production (utmost) and hence the necessity to capture flow

rates during early periods arose. Flow rates captured at equally distributed time intervals

without identifying the peak may lead to predictions whose shapes are not even close to the

simulation results.

Figure 3-4f: Sample output from Model II with fixed reservoir properties (anisotropic system)

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opertie

3.2 ANN with varying reservoir properties

The next intermediate model (Model III) that will be discussed in this chapter is one in

which the production parameters are kept fixed and variations in reservoir properties are

brought into consideration. The level of nonlinearities that will be affected into the system as a

result of this change in inputs was expected to be very high. Because these properties are not

under the control of the producer and the most significant parameters that affect production

come under this list. For example, even a slight difference in the adsorption capacity (Langmuir

volume constant) between two reservoirs may lead to significant differences in their production

Figure 3-4g: Sample output from Model II with fixed reservoir properties (anisotropic system)

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profiles. The importance of each of these parameters was discussed in Chapter 2 and various

steps in development of this model have been discussed in this section.

Initially, 100 simulation runs were prepared with the production parameters kept at

constant values as shown in Table 3-3.

Production (design) parameter Value

Sand face pressure (psia) 14.7

Skin factor 0

Reservoir acreage (Acres) 40

Well orientation Vertical

Well drainage pattern square

Flow rates at 15 different time periods were measured and included as outputs along

with Cumulative gas production, Cumulative water production, Maximum gas production flow

rate and time to reach peak production. As mentioned before, as the complexity of the network

grows, it may not be possible to expect the same level of accuracy in all the cases. Of the 100

samples, 80 were used for training, 20 for validation and 20 for testing.

Several configurations were tried to come up with a robust network in this case. Initially,

only 5 parameters (Permeability, Initial reservoir pressure, Sorption capacity, Sorption pressure,

Sorption time) were varied keeping the other reservoir properties fixed. Because, the initial

water saturation was found to introduce significant nonlinearities into the system. Properties

like coal density, reservoir temperature, Correy’s correlation parameters have no big impact on

Table 3-3: Production parameters used for Model III

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the production profile at all. They are included into the model mainly because, they are intrinsic

and naturally occurring part of the reservoir and are not decided upon by the producer. When

the model started working fine with variations in these properties alone, all the other variables

except initial water saturation were brought into the system. The network worked fine for the

same configuration showing that the effect of these variables isn’t really significant.

The most difficult part of improving the capabilities of this model was when the initial

water saturation was brought in. 100 simulation runs were initially prepared and tried with

different configurations. Several possibilities such as increasing the number of hidden layers,

number of hidden neurons, changing the transfer functions, performance functions etc were

tried. The best results that we could obtain corresponded to a configuration containing 2

hidden layers, a tansigmoidal transfer function applied on both the layers, with the first and

second hidden layer containing 20 neurons and 15 neurons respectively (Structure 1). An

average percentage accuracy of 95% with most of the outputs was considered acceptable. A

sample output from this configuration is shown in Figure 3-5.

As seen from the output, many of the flow rate predictions were below the acceptable

limits. Significant deviations in results from the actual results can be seen in many of the

outputs. In this network, 2 functional links were included as part of the inputs to improve

performance. These include the square root of the product of x and y direction permeabilities

and the initial gas content which is obtained by substituting the pressure term in the Langmuir

adsorption equation with the initial reservoir pressure. Although results were better than that

without these functional links, as a whole, the predictions were not completely acceptable.

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Figure 3-5a: Sample output from Model III with fixed production parameters using Structure 1

Figure 3-5b: Sample output from Model III with fixed production parameters using Structure 1

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Figure 3-5c: Sample output from Model III with fixed production parameters using Structure 1

Figure 3-5d: Sample output from Model III with fixed production parameters using Structure 1

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The last two figures show a comparison between the actual and predicted results.

Many of the predictions lie outside the 45 degree line drawn from the origin. Even the

cumulative gas and water productions that gave excellent predictions in case of the previous

model had accuracies less than the expected 95% mark. Since most of the possible

configurations have been tried, it was decided to introduce more simulation runs to improve

generalization capabilities. 100 more training samples were generated increasing the number of

samples available to 200 of which, 160 were used for training, 20 for validation and 20 for

testing.

The best results were obtained for a configuration containing one hidden layer

with 60 neurons and a tansigmoidal function applied (Structure 2). Sample outputs from this

configuration are shown in Figure 3-6. This structure did not contain any functional links.

However, nearly 5 to 6 configurations were tried by including some functional links into the

system. Some of these are listed below.

1. Difference between initial reservoir pressure and the sand face pressure.

2. Square root of the Sorption time constant in seconds.

3. Gas content of coal at different pressures such as pi/2, pi/4, pi/8 etc.

4. The productivity index

5. Logarithm of the product of the Sorption Volume and Pressure constants.

Many of these variables may not make any sense in terms of equations that characterize fluid

flow in CBM reservoirs. However, it should be understood that the network is acquiring some

kind of a learning ability here that the kind of non linear relationships that the network predicts

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Figure 3-6a: Sample output from Model III with fixed production parameters using Structure 2

Figure 3-6b: Sample output from Model III with fixed production parameters using Structure 2

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between the inputs and the outputs are vaguely understood in term of the mathematical

equations and the physics behind it. The ultimate aim is to find an optimum value for the

weights and biases that gives the least error in predictions. Fortunately, in this structure, output

predictions were better without functional links than the one with them in the inputs.

Initially, when presence of water saturation affected the network’s abilities

drastically, a flag was used that categorizes the reservoirs into two – One with early peak

(usually occurs in systems with less than 70% saturation) and two with peaks observed after a

significant water production period. This did not help much in terms of betterment in

performance.

Figure 3-6c: Sample output from Model III with fixed production parameters using Structure 2

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Working further on this, the ratio of the maximum production flow rate to the

time of peak production was predicted along with all the other outputs. This is roughly equal to

the slope of the decline curve assuming this to occur along a straight line. For systems with

early gas production with no peak, the time of peak production was assumed to be 1 day.

Predictions became better but were not satisfactory.

Extreme differences in ranges of values in the outputs were suspected to be a

possible cause and hence, before normalizing those for training, logarithm of all the output

values were taken to bring down the range. The sorption capacity (VL) was expressed in units of

Figure 3-6d: Sample output from Model III with fixed production parameters using Structure 2

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SCF/ton instead of lb mole gas/ton of coal. The sorption time constant was expressed in days

instead of seconds. The ratio of the permeabilities in the x and y directions was included as an

input. Densities and reservoir temperatures were removed from the system as presence of

these variables had no effect on the predictions at all. A cross check was made to make sure

that all the reservoirs have a potential to produce for a certain period of time with additional

concentration on reservoirs with very low permeability and low sorption capacity, because such

reservoirs produce at rather low flow rates consistently for a longer period of time.

The number of hidden layers was brought down from 2 to 1 and the number of hidden

Figure 3-6e: Sample output from Model III with fixed production parameters using Structure 2

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neurons was also increased to 60 (as compared to 45 in structure 1). In artificial neural

networks, everything works on a trial and error basis. After so many different attempts, a final

configuration (Structure 2) was arrived at for Model II. The next step in the development of the

expert system will be to develop a generalized model that combines the abilities of the two

intermediate models that have been discussed in this section so far.

Figure 3-6f: Sample output from Model III with fixed production parameters using Structure 2

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3.3 Generalized model with varying reservoir properties and design parameters

The generalized model will work analogous to a numerical model that predicts

production profiles that can help forecast production from a potential reservoir, once the

properties of the reservoir have been identified and the producer decides on the operating

parameters. This model should also be able to predict flow rates of water, because, in deciding

on the economics involved in producing from a CBM reservoir, the time required to dewater

the system based on existing operating conditions is very important.

Considering all these expectations, the network will have a total of 14 input variables

and 43 different outputs. The outputs include gas and water flow rates calculated at different

time periods similar to, to build the generalized model directly is not possible. The water flow

rates were introduced into the system as a last step. Most of the intermediate models

developed during this process were aimed at predicting gas flow rates efficiently. Initially, 200

simulation runs were prepared with random (but physically possible) combinations of inputs.

This will give an indication on the weight of each parameter on the outputs. The following

discussion pertains to every step in the development of this model. Sample outputs obtained in

these steps will be shown in Chapter 5 in which results are discussed.

The nine parameters shown in Table 3-4 were chosen to build the very first model in this

process. A flag was used to distinguish between horizontal and vertical wells. The remaining

parameters were introduced in steps once each predecessor model starts working thereby

increasing the complexity gradually.

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1. Fracture permeability (x direction)

2. Fracture permeability (y direction)

3. Fracture permeability (z direction)

4. Formation thickness

5. Initial reservoir pressure

6. Sorption volume

7. Sorption pressure

8. Sorption time

9. Length of well (if horizontal)

When the well orientation is horizontal, the well is usually placed along the y

direction, because the x-direction is assigned as the higher permeability direction. The necessity

to categorize the model into two based on orientation of the well was seen here in the first

model itself. In reservoir simulation, the gas flow rate through any block is proportional to the

square root of product of permeabilities in the directions perpendicular to the direction of flow

of fluid (only). Thinking along these lines, then, the effect of z direction permeability in vertical

wells and the effect of y direction permeability in horizontal wells do not come into

consideration.

The configuration that made this model working was very close to Structure 2 of

model II. The network contained a total of 400 simulation runs, of which 320 were used for

training, 40 for validation and 40 for testing. The next step is to bring in initial water saturation.

A summary of problems that arose in bringing in this parameter is given below:

1. The network failed to predict peak gas flow rate and time at which this occurs.

Table 3-4: Initial parameters of interest in development of generalized model

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2. Severe oscillations were seen in some of the periodical flow rate predictions. It was not

even possible to smooth down the shape of the curve to follow a certain trend because

of these oscillations.

3. Careful observations indicated that gas flow rates predicted during time periods less

than 50 days and those around the peak were not satisfactory at all.

4. Most of these problems were observed with reservoirs in the testing samples that

included combinations with high fracture permeability (> 500 mD), high initial water

saturation and very low abandonment time.

A number of changes were implemented to overcome the aforementioned

difficulties. First, only five outputs (cumulative gas and water productions, peak gas flow rate,

time of occurrence of peak production) were predicted without predicting the gas production

profile. These predictions were quite precise which instilled a good level of confidence that this

model will work ultimately. Secondly, the model was classified into two components. In the first

model, flow rates measured at 10 equally distributed time intervals before the occurrence of

peak were fed as outputs, the network trained and the negative decline curve predicted. In the

second model, flow rates at 10 equally distributed time intervals after the peak were fed as

outputs. If the initial water saturation is very low so that the gas flow rate starts to decline right

from the beginning, there will be no entry for this reservoir in the first model. These predictions

were also observed to be very satisfactory.

As the next step, the two simple models above were put together into one. Several

functional links were included in the inputs. Some of the inputs are included in the outputs too,

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so that the network apart from predicting those values as such will be forced to predict outputs

that have close relationships with these parameters. One main reason for oscillations in

predictions is insufficient number of epochs to which the network is trained. They could be

easily overcome by allowing the network to run for a longer period of time up to as many as

even 6000 epochs in some cases.

Cases when the network could not predict flow rates around the peak were too

difficult to resolve. It was not possible to determine if the difficulty was in measuring the trend

in production or in accurately predicting the peak attributes. In coalbeds of high fracture

permeability, the gas is produced so fast that the occurrence of the peak flow rate can be at

times as early as 20 or 30 days. On the other hand, for reservoirs with low porosity and fracture

permeability, gas is released at a slower rate, peak conditions may be seen at times as late as a

year or more. Moreover, these are not the only parameters that need to be considered.

The last problem could be solved by introducing more simulation runs with

concentration on reservoir systems that cover ranges which previously did not yield satisfactory

predictions. Another approach was to test on the outputs indirectly by feeding them to the

network in a different format. For example, the peak flow rate could be shown in MMSCF

instead of SCF. Similarly, the flow rates can be shown by dividing them with the corresponding

time at which they were measured and multiplying by the time again when plotting results. In

some cases the testing error keeps decreasing but with an oscillatory nature. This is not an

indication of overtraining, because the testing error still decreases that is what is expected

ultimately. To prevent the network from stopping training under such conditions, the

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performance goal is reduced to a very low value of 10e-6 and the number of epochs for which

an increase in the validation/testing error is acceptable is increased to a high value.

The final configuration that made this model working had a total of 2 hidden layers

with 30 neurons and 26 neurons in the first and second hidden layers respectively. In the next

two intermediate models, porosity, coal density and Correy’s correlation parameters were

brought into the system. No significant variations in the network’s architecture were required

to account for the new complexities that were introduced by these variables.

Now that all the reservoir properties are in place, the next step is to bring in the

remaining production parameters. We are left with three important variables (sand face

pressure, well stimulation and reservoir acreage) each of which have significant impact on the

results. It will be a good idea to compare differences in predictions for any 2 reservoirs whose

properties and productions parameters are exactly the same with the exception of one which

may be one of the above three parameters. First, let us examine the impact of sand face

pressure graphically. Figure 3-7 shows difference in production profiles between 2 identical

reservoirs when produced at different bottom-hole pressures.

As we know, the gas production flow rate is directly proportional to the

difference between the reservoir pressure and the bottom-hole pressure. The lower the

bottom-hole pressure, the higher the gas flow rates. By increasing the bottom-hole pressure to

500 psia, the peak gas flow rate becomes less than half when compared to that with a bottom-

hole pressure of 200 psia.

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Roughly speaking, within the same time frame, gas recovery is nearly doubled by

lowering the sand face pressure in the example above. Capturing completely different

variations in the flow rates for changes in just a single parameter in the system was observed to

be difficult. The final configuration that worked contained 4 hidden layers, with logsigmoidal

transfer function applied on all of the layers. The four layers contained 35, 15, 10 and 8 hidden

neurons in the first, second, third and forth hidden layers, respectively. A total of 800

simulation runs were required for a successful training.

Skin factor is the next parameter that will be considered. Whenever a well is put

into production, the goal is always to produce the reservoir as rapidly as possible, without

causing irreversible damages. Stimulation techniques have a definite effect on enhancing

production rates. Figure 3-8 shows changes caused by well stimulation in 2 reservoirs with

identical properties.

0

20000

40000

60000

80000

100000

120000

140000

160000

0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000

SCF/

day

Time (Days)

Pwf = 200 psia

Pwf = 500 psia

Figure 3-7: Graphical representation of effect of sand-face pressure on gas production in CBM wells

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As evident from the above figure, the more the stimulation, the earlier the peak production

occurs. Also, gas is exploited faster in a stimulated well than one without any stimulation at all.

Skin can also be positive which is indicative of possible damage to the well. However inclusion

of skin factor into the system did not affect the network’s ability drastically. The reason for this

can be explained as follows. The major and significantly evident change that is being caused by

stimulating a well is an early peak production except for which, behavior of the positive decline-

curve is more or less the same. Also, in most of the CBM reservoirs, decline in gas production

begins in less than 3 years while we are examining the production profile for a period of ten

years. The final configuration in this case was very similar to the previous one except for the

number of neurons in the third and forth hidden layer which were changed to 12 and 10

respectively. Also an additional functional link given by the difference between the initial

reservoir pressure and the sand-face pressure was predicted along with the existing outputs in

the system.

0.00E+00

2.00E+04

4.00E+04

6.00E+04

8.00E+04

1.00E+05

1.20E+05

0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000

SCF/

day

Time (days)

Skin = -3

Skin = 0

Figure 3-8: Graphical representation of effect of stimulation on gas production in CBM wells

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At this stage of the development, the only variable remaining to be addressed is

the reservoir acreage. Figure 3-8 is a sample comparison of gas production profiles from two

reservoirs with similar properties but different drainage areas. The production curve is shifted

to the top right and the decline curves are more or less parallel to each other.

The final configuration contained 2 hidden layers, with a tansigmoidal function applied on each

of the hidden layers and the layers contained 65 neurons and 30 neurons respectively. The

performance function was changed from MSE (Mean squared error) to MSEREG (Mean squared

error with regularization) for the first time in this study. Training took rather a long period of

time (around 45 minutes to an hour) for satisfactory results as the rate of minimization of error

after conditions when performance reaches around 0.01 was very slow. The final architecture

of this network is shown in Figure 3-8.

0.00E+00

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2.00E+04

3.00E+04

4.00E+04

5.00E+04

6.00E+04

7.00E+04

8.00E+04

9.00E+04

0 500 1000 1500 2000

Acreage = 40 acres

Acreage = 60 acres

Figure 3-9: Graphical representation of effect of drainage area on gas production in CBM wells

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Figure 3-10: Network Structure of the final generalized model

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3.4 Vertical and Horizontal well Models

As mentioned earlier, the generalized model was tried on two different sets of

data samples, one that contained reservoir systems in which all runs were made with vertical

wells and another one in which all the runs were made with horizontal wells. Sample outputs

from the generalized model are shown in Figures 3-10 and Figure 3-11.

Figure 3-11a: Sample output (gas flow rates) from the final generalized model (Horizontal wells)

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Figure 3-11b: Sample output (gas flow rates) from the final generalized model (Horizontal wells)

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Figure 3-11c: Sample output (water flow rates) from the final generalized model (Horizontal wells)

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Figure 3-11d: Sample output (water flow rates) from the final generalized model (Horizontal wells)

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Figure 3-11e: Sample output (gas flow rates) from the final generalized model (Horizontal wells)

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Figure 3-11f: Sample output (gas flow rates) from the final generalized model (Horizontal wells)

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Figure 3-11g: Sample output (water flow rates) from the final generalized model (Horizontal wells)

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Figure 3-11h: Sample output (water flow rates) from the final generalized model (Horizontal wells)

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Figure 3-12a: Sample output (gas flow rates) from the final generalized model (Vertical wells)

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Figure 3-12b: Sample output (gas flow rates) from the final generalized model (Vertical wells)

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Figure 3-12c: Sample output (water flow rates) from the final generalized model (Vertical wells)

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Figure 3-12d: Sample output (water flow rates) from the final generalized model (Vertical wells)

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Figure 3-12e: Sample output (gas flow rates) from the final generalized model (Vertical wells)

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Figure 3-12f: Sample output (water flow rates) from the final generalized model (Vertical wells)

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Figure 3-12g: Sample output (gas flow rates) from the final generalized model (Vertical wells)

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Figure 3-12h: Sample output (gas flow rates) from the final generalized model (Vertical wells)

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3.5 Multilayered well schemes

Earlier the reason behind the lack of the model’s ability to combine vertical and

horizontal wells together was explained. All the reservoir systems implemented in this study are

considered to be two dimensional because thicknesses of coal seams on an average are

relatively small and the need to discretize the systems in the vertical direction does not arise.

However, this is applicable to vertical wells only. The aim of this particular study is to predict

gas production from horizontal wells laid parallel to each other in three dimensional systems.

Although this model is not part of the expert system, it is meant to establish capabilities of

neural networks in general applications when provided with sufficient data samples and an

appropriate configuration. Figure 3-11 shows difference in profiles caused by discretizing the

reservoir in the z direction making it a three dimensional study. The difference or error is

caused by the difference in depth gradients between the two layers. The greater the number of

layers in the z direction, the more accurate is the results.

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7.00E+04

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0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600

SCF/

day

Time (days)

3 D

2 D

Figure 3-13: Effect of three dimensional discretization on production in CBM reservoirs

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A total of 800 simulation runs were prepared with the same reservoirs as seen in

the generalized model but with 2 layers in the z direction containing one horizontal well in each

layer. Gas flow rates at different times were collected as before; the network trained and

predictions are made. Sample outputs from this network are shown in Figure 3-12.

Figure 3-14a: Sample output from network to predict gas flow rates from multilayered well schemes

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Figure 3-14b: Sample output from network to predict gas flow rates from multilayered well schemes

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Figure 3-14c: Sample output from network to predict gas flow rates from multilayered well schemes

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Figure 3-14d: Sample output from network to predict gas flow rates from multilayered well schemes

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Figure 3-14e: Sample output from network to predict gas flow rates from multilayered well schemes

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CHAPTER 4

DEVELOPMENT OF THE INVERSE MODEL

In reservoir engineering applications, developing a numerical model for a reservoir

involves significant cost and time. The determination of the optimum operating conditions

required to produce from a reservoir is not an easy task. With a novel approach using a

combination of expert knowledge and artificial neural networks, this can be achieved. The

inverse model presented in this chapter helps identifying the optimum value of sand face

pressure and well stimulation required to recover a specified percentage of gas from a coalbed

methane reservoir. The method is unique in the sense that it can be achieved using numerical

models by trial and error procedures only. By exposing an artificial neural network to a

sufficient number of patterns, it is possible to make the network identify optimum operating

conditions to achieve a certain targeted production performance.

4.1 Performance indicators

Now that we have described the problem to be solved at hand, it is necessary to come

up with various questions that the user can ask the neural network model based on the

producer’s requirements. The project design engineer may ask questions such as:

1. What are the conditions required to dewater 95% of the water in the system over a

period of time of two years?

2. What are the well conditions required to exploit 65% of the gas in the reservoir in 8

years?

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3. What are the conditions such that gas flow rate reaches its peak value at the end of two

years?

Many similar questions may be framed. However, the type of input and output data that

needs to be obtained for each of these cases should guide the construction of input and output

layers. For example, to answer question 1, we can provide the time required to dewater 95%

water in the system in all the reservoirs by calculating the total water in place (which is usually

known to the producer) and adding the time to the outputs. Using multi-dimensional non-linear

interpolation techniques, the trained network should be able to answer this question

effectively. The importance of implementing expertise knowledge is also necessary. Two factors

should be kept in mind. The prediction from the model may be mathematically correct but may

not make any practical sense. Secondly, the solution that is being offered is not unique.

The question that we have tried to answer with the help of this model is: the

identification of the optimum operating conditions that can help in achieving a certain targeted

percentage gas recovery from a reservoir at the end of 5 years of production? Again, two

different models are investigated – one for horizontal and another for vertical wells. Inputs to

each of these models are the same as those in the forward-looking direct generalized model

with the exception that the percentage recovery of gas at the end of 10 years was added to

each reservoir as an additional input. The two outputs that are predicted include the sand face

pressure and the skin factor.

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4.2 Study of the effect of skin on percentage recovery in vertical and horizontal wells

As shown in the previous sections, it is clear that the effect of stimulation (negative skin)

in producing from a reservoir is to shift the peak production rate to early times and to increase

the production rate. Therefore, the presence of skin in generating a variation in percentage

recoveries becomes more important especially during the first 5 to 6 years. For a coal seam

with low permeability and low porosity, such considerations become important. It is well

known that reservoirs with relatively high permeability are exploited so fast that the difference

in percentage recoveries at the end of 10 years caused by stimulation becomes negligible. A

study of these changes affected by well stimulation on some low permeable reservoirs is

presented in the following section.

4.2.1 Effects of skin on percentage recovery in vertical wells

A total of 14 scenarios, all with very low permeabilities (less than 5 mD) were studied

and differences in percentage recoveries were calculated for different skin factors and the

S.No kx

(mD) ky

(mD) H

(ft) Φ

(%) pi

(psia) Swi (%)

VL

PL (psia)

Τ (days)

pwf (psia)

S (old)

S (new)

%recovery (old)

%recovery(new)

1 5 5 35 2 3000 30 0.0005 800 100 300 -3 0 69.7501 69.1039 2 5 2.5 30 9 2300 70 0.001 300 600 500 -1 -3 22.5090 25.0088 3 1 1 24 5 3000 45 0.001 800 40 1000 0 -3 31.2141 33.5453 4 1 0.25 30 4 3500 90 0.0009 1500 100 200 0 -3 28.7661 40.4411 5 1 0.2 40 8 3000 85 0.001 1500 25 40 -3 0 12.0381 7.57567 6 5 1 20 1 3500 90 0.0006 250 400 100 -4 0 37.1389 30.1787 7 1 0.5 35 5 3200 60 0.001 2000 40 100 0 -3 46.1158 52.7945 8 1 0.5 35 7 3500 55 0.0009 2000 150 200 -4 0 74.9572 67.1615 9 5 1 35 2 3200 85 0.0008 1500 200 50 -4 0 83.0816 76.1254

10 1 0.5 40 8 3200 45 0.0007 1200 800 300 -4 0 61.5880 68.6981 11 1 1 32 5 3500 95 0.0007 800 120 20 0 -3 35.6510 45.2197 12 1 0.5 40 3 3000 40 0.001 450 100 500 -4 0 35.43352 30.09918 13 5 5 5 10 2500 30 0.0006 1800 15 20 0 -3 93.0854 94.6340 14 5 1.25 40 2 2000 75 0.0005 1600 700 200 -3 0 54.7725 46.5907

Table 4-1: Effect of well stimulation on percentage gas recovery in vertical wells

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results are shown in Table 4-1. In Table 4-1, it can be seen that the maximum difference in

recoveries was close to 12% in reservoir 4, mainly because, the permeabilities were too low,

the gas content was high and the sorption time was also comparatively low. Gas was being

extracted at such a low rate that only 40% of the gas could be recovered at the end of 10 years

even with a negative skin of -3. In case of reservoir 1, with lateral permeabilities of 5 mD, there

is no difference at all in terms of percentage recoveries with and without stimulation. The

implication is that, even if predictions of skin from the inverse model are not exactly the same

as fed to the model, the results may still be applicable and need to be tested by introducing

them to the direct model and calculating the percentage recoveries.

4.2.1 Effects of skin on percentage recovery in horizontal wells

A similar study was made on horizontal wells as well. As we know, production from a

horizontal well under the same operating conditions when compared to a vertical well is usually

much higher and hence the effect of skin is expected to be less pronounced in this case. Similar

to the previous investigation, 15 different scenarios from reservoirs of low permeability are

studied and the results are tabulated in Table 4-2 below:

S.No kx

(mDky

(mDH (ft

Φ (%)

pi (psia)

Swi (%)

VL PL (psia)

Τ (days)

S(new)

S(old)

Pwf (psia)

%recovery (old)

%recovery(new)

1 1 1 24 5 3000 45 0.001 800 40 0 -3 1000 35.17 35.152 1 1 30 4 3500 90 0.0009 1500 100 0 -3 200 73.43 71.503 5 5 35 9 2000 85 0.001 2000 15 5 -3 300 71.15 69.154 1 1 40 8 3000 85 0.001 1500 25 -3 0 40 40.35 42.465 1 1 35 5 3200 60 0.001 2000 40 1 -3 100 75.89 74.506 5 5 40 6 2500 75 0.0007 400 700 2 -3 200 53.66 50.737 1 1 35 7 3500 55 0.0009 2000 150 2 -3 200 85.56 84.258 5 5 25 10 2000 40 0.0006 2000 50 2 -3 500 67.26 67.179 1 1 35 3 3500 70 0.0009 2000 50 -1 -3 100 92.66 92.68

10 5 5 35 9 2500 100 0.0005 800 300 -1 -3 60 83.57 82.6511 1 1 40 8 3200 45 0.0007 1200 800 0 -3 300 76.68 75.8212 1 1 32 5 3500 95 0.0007 800 120 2 -3 20 69.96 69.2813 1 1 40 1 3000 40 0.0007 2000 20 -1 -3 40 93.67 93.3414 5 5 32 4 2500 85 0.0004 2000 800 2 -3 40 79.21 77.6715 1 1 40 3 3000 40 0.001 450 100 -4 -3 500 42.51 42.25

Table 4-2: Effect of well stimulation on percentage gas recovery in horizontal wells

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4.3 Percentage recovery based predictions

A sensitivity analysis of results due to changes in Sand-face pressure was also studied.

This is because, in the inverse model applications, the solution to the problem is not always

unique and just because the predictions of the model are not in accordance with the simulation

results, the solution cannot be discarded altogether. To explain this better, all the reservoirs

that were studied for effects of skin were analyzed to understand importance of sand-face

pressure in affecting the percentage recovery. The results as applied to vertical wells are

tabulated in Table 4-3.

S.No kx

(mD) ky

(mD) H

(ft) φ

(%) pi

(psia) Swi (%)

VL

PL (psia)

Τ (days)

pwf (psia) (old)

pwf (psia)(new) Skin

%recovery (old)

%recovery (new)

1 5 5 35 2 3000 30 0.0005 800 100 300 200 -3.000 69.75 76.95

2 5 2.5 30 9 2300 70 0.001 300 600 500 400 -1.000 22.51 23.92

3 1 1 24 5 3000 45 0.001 800 40 1000 800 0.000 31.21 34.96

4 1 0.25 30 4 3500 90 0.0009 1500 100 200 100 0.000 28.77 29.97

5 1 0.2 40 8 3000 85 0.001 1500 25 40 60 -3.000 12.04 11.97

6 5 1 20 1 3500 90 0.0006 250 400 100 80 -4.000 37.14 37.23

7 1 0.5 35 5 3200 60 0.001 2000 40 100 60 0.000 46.12 46.49

8 1 0.5 35 7 3500 55 0.0009 2000 150 200 100 -4.000 74.96 74.73

9 5 1 35 2 3200 85 0.0008 1500 200 50 100 -4.000 83.08 82.32

10 1 0.5 40 8 3200 45 0.0007 1200 800 300 200 -4.000 61.59 70.39

11 1 1 32 5 3500 95 0.0007 800 120 20 80 0.000 35.65 34.76

12 1 0.5 40 3 3000 40 0.001 450 100 500 350 -4.000 35.43 37.74

13 5 5 5 10 2500 30 0.0006 1800 15 20 100 0.000 93.09 90.71

14 5 1.25 40 2 2000 75 0.0005 1600 700 200 50 -3.000 54.77 54.79

The difference in percentage recoveries with changes in sand-face pressures by up to 20

– 25% indicate that the optimum value expected from the model should be unique. In

prediction of results from the inverse model, error percentages ranging from anywhere

between 0 to 25% (approximately) were considered acceptable. Here, in consideration of

Table 4-3: Effect of Sand-face pressure on percentage gas recovery in vertical wells

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similar outcomes for horizontal wells, a similar analysis was made. The results are tabulated in

Table 4-4 below.

S.No kx

(mD) ky

(mD) H

(ft) φ

(%) pi

(psia) Swi (%)

VL

PL (psia)

Τ (days)

Pwf (psia) (old)

Pwf (psia)(new) Skin

%recovery (old)

%recovery (new)

1 1 1 24 5 3000 45 0.001 800 45 1000 900 0 35.15 38.38

2 1 0.25 30 4 3500 90 0.0009 1500 90 200 100 0 71.50 74.41

3 5 5 35 9 2000 85 0.001 2000 85 300 200 5 69.15 74.91

4 1 0.2 40 8 3000 85 0.001 1500 85 40 60 -3 42.46 42.47

5 1 0.5 35 5 3200 60 0.001 2000 60 100 80 1 74.50 74.76

6 5 0.71 40 6 2500 75 0.0007 400 75 200 140 2 50.73 53.47

7 1 0.5 35 7 3500 55 0.0009 2000 55 200 250 2 84.25 72.81

8 1 0.25 35 3 3500 70 0.0009 2000 70 100 60 -1 92.68 95.18

9 5 2.5 35 9 2500 100 0.0005 800 100 60 40 -1 82.65 83.91

10 1 0.5 40 8 3200 45 0.0007 1200 45 300 200 0 75.82 79.97

11 1 1 32 5 3500 95 0.0007 800 95 20 60 2 69.28 69.36

12 1 0.5 40 1 3000 40 0.0007 2000 40 40 20 -1 93.34 93.76

13 5 0.42 32 4 2500 85 0.0004 2000 85 40 80 2 77.67 77.64

In the case of horizontal wells, similar to the study made with skin factor, the effect is

less pronounced when compared to vertical wells. The same simulation runs conducted with

the forward looking model were used here to predict optimum sand-face pressure and skin

required to attain the desired percentage recovery of gas. Sample results from the network are

shown in Figure 4-1 and Figure 4-2 for vertical and horizontal wells, respectively. Here, in this

network, predictions are being made on factors when the weight is much higher on the

percentage recovery when compared to rest of the inputs. Functional links including ratio of

sand-face pressure to percentage recovery, sand-face pressure to permeability, sand-face

pressure to formation thickness and sand-face pressure to initial water saturation were

included in the outputs.

Table 4-4: Effect of Sand-face pressure on percentage gas recovery in horizontal wells

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It should be emphasized here that the problem the network is trying to learn is primarily

a pattern-recognition and hence the performance of the model largely depends on the quality

of data used in training the network. For example, if there are two identical reservoirs, one with

a sand-face pressure of 400 psia yielding 65% recovery and another with a sand-face pressure

of 14.7 psia yielding 68% recovery at the end of 10 years, the there is a very good possibility

that the network may get confused, especially, if one of these reservoirs is in the training

sample and the other in the testing sample, the network tries to predict results that are close to

those of the training data. The best way to validate the predictions of the inverse model will be

to feed the estimated sand-face pressure and skin to the forward looking model to see if the

percentage recoveries agree with the expectations of the user. For obvious reasons, making

simulation runs with a positive skin in this case does not make any sense at all, as these are

wells that will be put into production soon and the extent of damage to the wells is known.

Figure 4-1: Sample results from inverse model as applied to vertical wells

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Figure 4-1: Sample results from inverse model as applied to vertical wells (continued)

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Figure 4-2: Sample results from inverse model as applied to horizontal wells

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Figure 4-2: Sample results from inverse model as applied to horizontal wells (continued)

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CHAPTER 5

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter discusses some of the important results obtained at different stages in this

study starting from the most simplified model to the final generalized model. The idea behind

these discussions is to provide a compilation of the results thereby showing the stages of

development of this model in an orderly manner. The following models and their results have

been discussed in this chapter.

1. Model I with varying well design parameters and fixed reservoir properties with

isotropic permeability (using flow rate as an exponential function of time)

2. Model II with varying well design parameters and fixed reservoir properties with

anisotropic permeability (using flow rates measured at different time periods).

3. Model III with varying reservoir properties and fixed design parameters

4. Model IV – An intermediate step in the generalized model when initial water saturation

is introduced into the system.

5. Model V - Final generalized model.

5.1 Results from Model with varying well design parameters (isotropic system)

Sample training was made with Model I (structure 3: Chapter 3). The network’s

configuration is given in Table 5-1. Some of the production profiles obtained in this study are

shown in Figure 5-1.

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Network Parameter Value

Number of data samples used 150

Number of inputs/outputs 5/9

Network type Cascaded-Feed-forward-Back-propagation network

Number of hidden layers 1

Transfer function used Tansig

Number of hidden neurons 12

Training function Scaled Conjugate gradient

Performance goal 0.00001

Acceptable Validation failures 50

Additional modifications to inputs/outputs Cumulative gas production – MMSCF Cumulative water production – MSTB

Coefficients were divided by a factor of 100

Table 5-1a: Network Structure used for Model with varying well design parameters (isotropic system)

Figure 5-1a: Sample production profile predictions from Model with varying well design parameters (isotropic system)

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5.2 Results from Model with varying well design parameters (anisotropic system)

This model was used to train reservoir systems with varying well design parameters

and fixed reservoir properties similar to the Model II but was applied on a system with

anisotropic permeability. Network parameters are listed in Table 5-2 and sample predictions

are shown in Figure 5-2.

Network Parameter Value

Number of data samples used 100

Number of inputs/outputs 5/19

Network type Cascaded-Feed-forward-Back-propagation network

Number of hidden layers 1

Transfer function used Tansig

Number of hidden neurons 18

Training function Scaled Conjugate gradient

Performance goal 0.00001

Acceptable Validation failures 50

Additional modifications to inputs/outputs Cumulative gas production – MMSCF Cumulative water production – MSTB

Coefficients were divided by a factor of 100

Figure 5-1b: Sample production profile predictions from Model with varying well design parameters (isotropic system)

Table 5-2: Network Structure used for Model with varying well design parameters (anisotropic system)

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5.3 Results from Model with varying reservoir properties

In this study, predictions are confined to reservoirs with fixed well design

parameters and variations are effected on reservoir properties only. The ranges of properties

applicable to this model have been discussed in chapters 2 and 3 already. Properties of the

network used in this case are tabulated in Table 5-3. Sample outputs obtained from running this

model are shown in Figure 5-3.

Figure 5-2: Sample production profile predictions from Model with varying well design parameters (anisotropic system)

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Network Parameter Value

Number of data samples used 200

Number of inputs/outputs 7/16

Network type Cascaded-Feed-forward-Back-propagation network

Number of hidden layers 1

Transfer function used Tansig

Number of hidden neurons 60

Training function Scaled Conjugate gradient

Performance goal 0.00001

Acceptable Validation failures 200

Additional modifications to inputs/outputs Sorption volume in SCF/ton Sorption time in days

Functional links: Kx:Ky, √ (Kx*Ky), Initial gas content

Table 5-3: Network Structure used for Model with varying reservoir properties

Figure 5-3a: Sample production profile predictions from Model with varying reservoir properties

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5.4 Results from an intermediate model in the developmental stage

One of the most challenging parts of development of the generalized model was the

time when initial water saturation was introduced as an input to the system.

Network Parameter Value

Number of data samples used 400

Number of inputs/outputs 8/21

Network type Cascaded-Feed-forward-Back-propagation network

Number of hidden layers 1

Transfer function used Tansig

Number of hidden neurons 45

Training function Scaled Conjugate gradient

Performance goal 0.0001

Acceptable Validation failures 200

Additional modifications to inputs/outputs Logarithm of inputs and outputs used in training

Figure 5-3b: Sample production profile predictions from Model with varying reservoir properties

Table 5-4: Network Structure used for intermediate model in the developmental stage

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The level of nonlinearities caused by this change was huge and entailed several

trial and error measures to come up with a robust model. Properties of this network are listed

in Table 5-4. Sample predictions from this model are shown in Figure 5-4.

Figure 5-4: Sample production profile predictions from intermediate model in the developmental stage

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Figure 5-4: Sample production profile predictions from intermediate model in the developmental stage

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5.5 Results from the generalized model

This is the final generalized model where water production flow rates were also

predicted. The size of the output matrix was nearly doubled. As mentioned before, this model

was categorized into two – one for vertical wells and one for horizontal wells. Network

configuration for this model is given below in Table 5-5.

Network Parameter Value (Horizontal wells) Value (Vertical wells)

Number of data samples used 600 900

Number of inputs/outputs 15/43 14/43

Network type Cascaded-Feed-forward-Back-

propagation network

Cascaded-Feed-forward-Back-

propagation network

Number of hidden layers 2 2

Transfer function(s) used Tansig / Tansig Tansig / Tansig

Number of hidden neurons 55/25 65/20

Training function Scaled Conjugate gradient Scaled Conjugate gradient

Performance goal 0.0001 0.0001

Performance function MSEREG MSEREG

Learning function learngdm learngdm

Acceptable Validation failures 400 500

Additional modifications to inputs/outputs

Logarithm of inputs and outputs used in training

Logarithm of inputs and outputs used in training

Sample predictions from this model (gas and water flow rates) are shown in Figure 5-5 and

Figure 5-6 for vertical wells and horizontal wells respectively.

Table 5-5: Network Structure used for Final generalized model

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Figure 5-5a: Sample production profile predictions from Final generalized model (vertical wells)

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Figure 5-5b: Sample production profile predictions from Final generalized model (vertical wells)

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Figure 5-5c: Sample production profile predictions from Final generalized model (vertical wells)

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Figure 5-6a: Sample production profile predictions from Final generalized model (horizontal wells)

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Figure 5-6b: Sample production profile predictions from Final generalized model (horizontal wells)

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Figure 5-6c: Sample production profile predictions from Final generalized model (horizontal wells)

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5.6 Discussion of results

In all the above models, arriving at the final model is purely based on trial and error

procedures and there is no hard and fast rule governing the nature of functioning of the

networks. It will be a good idea to focus on various parameters that affect a network’s

performance so that they can serve as guidelines for anyone to know what he should look for

when configuring a network.

Once simulation runs are prepared, the input and output values are always normalized

between -1 and 1 by default before training. The number of data samples that should be used

for training, testing and validation purposes are usually user dependent. Usually, 60% of the

data samples are used for training, 20% for validation and 20% for testing purposes. But,

depending on the number of samples available, this can always be changed. Also, to keep the

data samples used in testing and validation fixed is also left to the user as it depends on the

problem at hand. If the designer is trying to identify the most optimum configuration for a

certain network problem, he/she may prefer sticking to certain data samples so that it will be

easier to understand the change imposed on the outputs every time a network parameter is

changed.

However, in all the above models, every time the network is trained, the choice of data

samples for validation, training and testing is left to the program to choose them at random.

This is make sure that the network has much higher generalization capabilities that can handle

any combination of inputs in any range that are physically possible and show potential to

produce gas for an acceptable period of time.

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The choice of number of hidden layers and hidden neurons has always been a challenge

with all the models. A rough estimate can be made based on the number of data samples

available, the number of inputs and outputs. However problems of undertraining and

overtraining are always present initially. In almost every model shown above, overtraining was

a common phenomenon in the stages of development. Either the number of hidden neurons

will be higher than required or the number of data samples is not sufficient. It is always a good

idea to try out a small number of hidden neurons, follow the trend in minimization of errors

and increase them as required.

Different methods are available to initialize weights and biases in a neural network.

Using matrices of zeros is not usually preferred and a random number generator function is

often used. MATLAB comes with Nguyen-Widrow layer initialization function (initnw) and the

by-weight-and-bias layer initialization function which can be used. In all the models above, a

non linear function of random numbers is used to obtain an initial guess on the weights and

biases for the network. Use of functions available with MATLAB did not really seem to improve

the performance to any acceptable extent.

In a feed forward back-propagation neural network, there is no connection between

layers other than the ones before and after them. In a cascaded feed forward back-propagation

neural network, the inputs to each layer come from all the layers before it. In this model, CFF

networks showed better performance when compared to ordinary BP neural networks. It is

important that testing and validation errors are reduced at rates which are not too slow. CF

networks helped achieve this synchronized trend in rate of reduction of errors.

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Each network has its own parameters which may be suitably altered based on the

complexity of the problem. The performance-goal also known as the convergence criteria is the

minimum error the network is expected to reach and is checked at the end of each epoch. In

this study, these values are in the range of 0.0001 to 0.00001. The maximum number of epochs

allowed is always kept high, because MATLAB neural network toolbox offers features to stop

training at any point as desired by the user. The trend in the training, testing and validation

errors appear on screen when the network is trained which helps the user keep track of it. The

learning rate, minimum gradient, performance ratio etc are some other parameters that can be

used in an attempt to improve generalization capabilities.

Transfer functions are mathematical functions used to predict the outputs from layers

on which they are applied. Three most commonly used functions are Tansig, Logsig and Purelin.

In this model, many user-defined functions were tried. Performances did improve in many

cases, but a robust network could always be established by working on other parameters in the

system. Use of logsigmoidal transfer functions resulted in negative values for some of the

outputs predicted. These problems diminished to some extent after logarithmic values of inputs

and outputs were used in the network and almost all the models shown in this study use

tansigmoidal transfer functions.

Several functions are available to train the network. The most commonly used ones are

the scaled conjugate training algorithm, the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm, Fletcher-Powell

conjugate gradient algorithm, the BFGS quasi-Newton algorithm and the Powelle-Beale

conjugate gradient algorithm. The most powerful of these is the trainlm function which usually

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converges in a relatively small number of epochs. The big disadvantage in using this function is

that it occupies a lot of memory and takes time to converge. The scaled conjugate gradient

although not as powerful as trainlm has been used in all the models and successful results could

be obtained.

Performance functions are used to let the network know how it should calculate the

errors at the end of each epoch so that back-propagation can be done accordingly. The two

most common functions used in this study are MSE and MSEREG. Sometimes, overtraining

problems may not occur only due to the number of hidden neurons. The data samples as such

may not present a good quality of distribution in combinations. MSEREG function (Mean

Squared Error function with regularization) helps in such cases. It calculates error at the end of

each epoch as a function of the mean squared error as well as the mean squared weight and

bias values.

These are only parameters that may or may not have any impact on the performance of

the network. The most important of all the factors is the choice of inputs and outputs. One

needs to be aware of certain facts that will be highly influential in developing a robust

algorithm. Even combinations made of physically possible groups of reservoir properties and

design parameters may not sometimes work, because the network does not find a good match

on the weights and biases. In the direct model, the solution to the problem is unique and a

certain combination of inputs can result in a specific production profile only. When compared

to the inverse model, this provides confidence that a working model can definitely been

developed.

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Knowledge on artificial neural networks alone does not help solving the problem at

hand. People with a good level of practical knowledge in CBM reservoirs can easily pin point

changes that can result in production from changes in any of the properties in a reservoir. A

neural network is being trained to acquire such capabilities by feeding with historical data.

Hence, anyone who develops this model should be aware of the significance of every part and

parcel of the system. Unconventional reservoirs behave differently in terms of mass transfer

and production and understanding technical aspects of such behavior is very crucial. Every

reservoir property has its own importance and should be well studied and this is what helps

one to decide whether a combination is physically possible or not. Producing from a reservoir at

certain operating conditions entails knowledge on deciding whether such a combination helps

producing gas efficiently or not. These were the reasons to develop models starting from I to V

that facilitate learning while you work.

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CHAPTER 6

CONCLUSIONS

In this study, a screening tool that works using the neuro-simulation methodology to

predict performance from a Coalbed Methane reservoir has been developed and tested

successfully. A total of 900 reservoir systems each for horizontal and vertical wells were used

and trained using a cascaded feed-forward back-propagation neural network. With sufficient

knowledge on back-propagation algorithm and properties of CBM reservoirs, appropriate

network configurations were identified that could address most of the nonlinearities in the

system efficiently.

By providing this model with a large number of combinations expected on the

properties, reliable production forecasting can be obtained. Validity and reliability of this model

has been established by training the network several times and exposing them to samples it has

never seen before. Predictions were found to be very close to that of the simulation results.

Different methods to measure flow rates were identified and implemented in this study.

Flow rate as a function of time is shown to the final model as outputs and found to be efficient

than any other method that could be used. A user interface has been developed to enhance

practicability of the model.

The following important inferences could be made based on experience and various

procedures that were tried in various developmental phases of the model:

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• The choice of number of hidden neurons is very crucial in developing a working model.

Overtraining and undertraining are possible and common problems that may result due

to choice of a wrong number of hidden layers.

• Input combinations chosen to run simulators should cover all ranges of values. At the

same time, all combinations should be physically possible and represent a potential gas

reservoir.

• Distribution of inputs using histograms should always be studied to make sure that

sufficient simulation runs are available to train the network.

• Instead of developing the final model directly, understanding simple models and

gradually increasing the complexity of the simple models by combining one or more of

them helps both understanding behavior of artificial neural networks as well as

application of the methodology to CBM reservoirs.

• Before deciding on increasing the number of simulation runs, different configurations

should always be tried to identify possibilities for any improvements in performance of

the network.

• Use of functional links is necessary to establish better understanding between inputs

and outputs. Sometimes, showing functions of inputs to the outputs helps in forcing the

network to learn better apart from the ease in predicting these functional links.

• Randomized choice of validation and testing data samples is necessary to establish

reliability of the network.

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• The network should be trained more than once to make sure that prediction capabilities

of the model are not confined to a certain set of data samples that do not carry all the

commonalities in CBM reservoirs.

• In reservoirs with very high initial water saturation, predictions of peak flow rates were

always not precise.

• Finally, the capability of the model has been extended to predict water flow rates as the

time required to dewater a coalbed methane reservoir is very important in deciding on

the economics of gas production.

• It is desirable to train such a network with real field production data instead of data

from a simulator to promote practical use of such tools in reservoir engineering

applications.

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CHAPTER 7

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APPENDIX A

Source code: Generalized Model Algorithm

% Final Program - Most generalized one % Clear off all existing contents clear clc close all %Load matlab variable containing only inputs and outputs load inandoutdatawaterandgas1 %Create Transpose matrix for normalization output1 = log(output); input1 = log(input); % output1 = output; inputprog = input1'; outputprog = output1'; numtotal = 900; %Total number of datasets available in = inputprog; out = outputprog; numins = 14; %Total number of input elements numouts = 43; %Total number of output elements numtrain = 810;%Total number of training data sets numval = 45; % Total number of validation data sets numtest = 45; % Total number of testing data sets [inn,ps] = mapminmax(in,-1,1); %Normalizing input variables [outn,ts] = mapminmax(out,-1,1); %Normalizing output variables % % [traindata,valdata,testdata] = dividevec(inn,outn,0.05,0.05); %Categorizing data sets into training, validation and testing though not always preferred [traindata,valdata,testdata] = dividevec(inn,outn,0.05,0.05); %Categorizing data sets into training, validation and testing though not always preferred hncount = 3; % Number of hidden layers hn1 = 65; hn2 = 20; hn3 = 5; hn4 = 8; hn5 = 5; % hn4 = 8; %Create a new feed forward network net = newcf(minmax(inn), [hn1,hn2,numouts], {'tansig','tansig','purelin'},'trainscg','learngdm','msereg');

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b1= zeros(hn1,1); b2 = zeros(hn2,1); b3 = zeros(numouts,1); w1 = zeros(hn1,numins); w2 = zeros(hn2,hn1); w3 = zeros(numouts,hn2); w1(:,:) = (2*rand(hn1,numins)-1)*0.3; w2(:,:) = (2*rand(hn2,hn1)-1)*0.3; w3(:,:) = (2*rand(numouts,hn2)-1)*0.3; b1(:,:) = 2*rand(hn1,1)-1; b2(:,:) = 2*rand(hn2,1)-1; b3(:,:) = 2*rand(numouts,1)-1; net.IW{1,1} = w1; net.LW{2,1} = w2; net.LW{3,2} = w3; net.b{1} = b1; net.b{2} = b2; net.b{3} = b3; %Set training parameters net.trainParam.goal = 0.0001; %Performance to be achieved net.trainParam.epochs = 20000; %Maximum number of epochs net.trainParam.show = 1; %Number of epochs to be shown on window % net.trainParam.mem_reduc = 200; net.trainParam.max_fail = 1000; % net.trainParam.min_grad = 1e-25; % net.trainParam.mu = 0.000; % net.trainParam.mu_dec = 0.1; % net.trainParam.mu_inc = 5; % net.performParam.ratio = 20/21; % net.trainParam.mu_max = 100; % net.trainParam.lr = 0.01; % net.trainParam.mc = 0.9; % net.trainParam.max_perf_inc = 1.02; %Start training the network % [net,tr] = train(net,traindata.P,traindata.T,[],[],valdata,testdata); % Please see train function syntax [net,tr] = train(net,traindata.P,traindata.T,[],[],valdata,testdata); % Please see train function syntax %Start simulating the network trainout = sim(net,traindata.P); valout = sim(net,valdata.P); testout = sim(net,testdata.P); %Denormalize the output obtained trainfinal = mapminmax('reverse',trainout,ts); valfinal = mapminmax('reverse',valout,ts); testfinal = mapminmax('reverse',testout,ts);

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%Recollecting the original outputs traino = mapminmax('reverse',traindata.T,ts); valo = mapminmax('reverse',valdata.T,ts); testo = mapminmax('reverse',testdata.T,ts); %String labels for figure titles strlabel1 = {'qgascum(SCF)';'qwatercum(STB)'}; strlabel2 = {'flink1';'flink2'}; %Plotting all outputs %Plotting training errors traino = exp(traino); trainfinal = exp(trainfinal); testo = exp(testo); testfinal = exp(testfinal); for i = 1 : numouts traino(i,:) = exp(traino(i,:)); trainfinal(i,:) = exp(trainfinal(i,:)); testo(i,:) = exp(testo(i,:)); testfinal(i,:) = exp(testfinal(i,:)); end for i = 2 : 22 output(:,i) = output(:,i)*1000; end % Plotting training flow rates of gas ind = 1 : numtrain; for i = 2 : 11 CC = corrcoef(traino(i,:),trainfinal(i,:)); figure(2); subplot(5,2,i-1); plot(ind,traino(i,:),'bo-','MarkerFaceColor','b'); hold on; plot(ind,trainfinal(i,:),'r*--','Color',[1 0.5 0],'MarkerEdgeColor',[1 0.5 0],'MarkerFaceColor',[1 0.5 0]); title(['| R = ',num2str(CC(1,2))]); xlabel('index'); legend('Actual','Network'); end for i = 12 : 22 CC = corrcoef(traino(i,:),trainfinal(i,:)); figure(3); subplot(6,2,i-11); plot(ind,traino(i,:),'bo-','MarkerFaceColor','b'); hold on; plot(ind,trainfinal(i,:),'r*--','Color',[1 0.5 0],'MarkerEdgeColor',[1 0.5 0],'MarkerFaceColor',[1 0.5 0]); title(['| R = ',num2str(CC(1,2))]);

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xlabel('index'); legend('Actual','Network'); end %Plotting training flow rates of water ind = 1 : numtrain; for i = 23 : 32 CC = corrcoef(traino(i,:),trainfinal(i,:)); figure(4); subplot(5,2,i-22); plot(ind,traino(i,:),'bo-','MarkerFaceColor','b'); hold on; plot(ind,trainfinal(i,:),'r*--','Color',[1 0.5 0],'MarkerEdgeColor',[1 0.5 0],'MarkerFaceColor',[1 0.5 0]); title(['| R = ',num2str(CC(1,2))]); xlabel('index'); legend('Actual','Network'); end for i = 33 : 43 CC = corrcoef(traino(i,:),trainfinal(i,:)); figure(5); subplot(6,2,i-32); plot(ind,traino(i,:),'bo-','MarkerFaceColor','b'); hold on; plot(ind,trainfinal(i,:),'r*--','Color',[1 0.5 0],'MarkerEdgeColor',[1 0.5 0],'MarkerFaceColor',[1 0.5 0]); title(['| R = ',num2str(CC(1,2))]); xlabel('index'); legend('Actual','Network'); end for i = 2 : 22 for j = 1 : numtest testo(i,j) = testo(i,j) * 1000; testfinal(i,j) = testfinal(i,j)*1000; end end % ind = 1 : numtest; %Plotting testing flow rates of gas for i = 2 : 11 CC = corrcoef(testo(i,:),testfinal(i,:)); figure(6); subplot(5,2,i-1); plot(ind,testo(i,:),'bo-','MarkerFaceColor','b'); hold on; plot(ind,testfinal(i,:),'r*--','Color',[1 0.5 0],'MarkerEdgeColor',[1 0.5 0],'MarkerFaceColor',[1 0.5 0]); title([num2str(timegas(1,i-1)),'days| R = ',num2str(CC(1,2))]); xlabel('index'); legend('Actual','Network'); end

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for i = 12 : 22 CC = corrcoef(testo(i,:),testfinal(i,:)); figure(7); subplot(6,2,i-11); plot(ind,testo(i,:),'bo-','MarkerFaceColor','b'); hold on; plot(ind,testfinal(i,:),'r*--','Color',[1 0.5 0],'MarkerEdgeColor',[1 0.5 0],'MarkerFaceColor',[1 0.5 0]); title([num2str(timegas(1,i-1)),'days| R = ',num2str(CC(1,2))]); xlabel('index'); legend('Actual','Network'); end %Plotting testing flow rates of water for i = 23 : 32 CC = corrcoef(testo(i,:),testfinal(i,:)); figure(8); subplot(5,2,i-22); plot(ind,testo(i,:),'bo-','MarkerFaceColor','b'); hold on; plot(ind,testfinal(i,:),'r*--','Color',[1 0.5 0],'MarkerEdgeColor',[1 0.5 0],'MarkerFaceColor',[1 0.5 0]); title([num2str(timewater(1,i-22)),'days| R = ',num2str(CC(1,2))]); xlabel('index'); legend('Actual','Network'); end for i = 33 : 43 CC = corrcoef(testo(i,:),testfinal(i,:)); figure(9); subplot(6,2,i-32); plot(ind,testo(i,:),'bo-','MarkerFaceColor','b'); hold on; plot(ind,testfinal(i,:),'r*--','Color',[1 0.5 0],'MarkerEdgeColor',[1 0.5 0],'MarkerFaceColor',[1 0.5 0]); title([num2str(timewater(1,i-22)),'days| R = ',num2str(CC(1,2))]); xlabel('index'); legend('Actual','Network'); end index = 0; for i = 1 : numtest index(i,1) = testdata.indices(i); % index(i,1) = 722 + i; end testo = testo'; testfinal = testfinal'; for i = 1 : numtest for j = 2 : 22 qactualgas(i,j-1) = output(index(i,1),j); qpredgas(i,j-1) = testfinal(i,j); end for k = 23 : 43 qactualwater(i,k-22) = output(index(i,1),k); qpredwater(i,k-22) = testfinal(i,k);

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end end for i = 1 : numtest strtitle2 = ['Dataset ',num2str(index(i,1))]; createfigurewaterandgas(timegas(index(i,1),:),qactualgas(i,:),timegas(index(i,1),:),qpredgas(i,:),timewater(index(i,1),:),qactualwater(i,:),timewater(index(i,1),:),qpredwater(i,:),strtitle2); end for i = 2 : 11 figure(10) subplot(5,2,i-1); xmin1 = max(testo(i,:)); ymin1 = min(testo(i,:)); xmin2 = max(testfinal(i,:)); ymin2 = min(testfinal(i,:)); xmil = [min([ymin1 ymin2]) max([xmin1 xmin2])]; ylim = [min([ymin1 ymin2]) max([xmin1 xmin2])]; xtemp = [min([ymin1 ymin2]) max([xmin1 xmin2])]; ytemp = [min([ymin1 ymin2]) max([xmin1 xmin2])]; plot(testo(i,:),testfinal(i,:),'MarkerFaceColor',[0 0 0],'MarkerSize',8,'Marker','x','LineStyle','none'); CC = corrcoef(testo(i,:),testfinal(i,:)); str = [num2str(timegas(1,i-1)) 'days']; title(['% accuracy =', num2str(CC(1,2))]); text(min([ymin1 ymin2])*6/5, (max([xmin1 xmin2])) *7/8,str) hold on; plot(xtemp,ytemp,'Color','r','LineStyle','-'); end for i = 12 : 22 figure(11) subplot(6,2,i-11); xmin1 = max(testo(i,:)); ymin1 = min(testo(i,:)); xmin2 = max(testfinal(i,:)); ymin2 = min(testfinal(i,:)); xmil = [min([ymin1 ymin2]) max([xmin1 xmin2])]; ylim = [min([ymin1 ymin2]) max([xmin1 xmin2])]; xtemp = [min([ymin1 ymin2]) max([xmin1 xmin2])]; ytemp = [min([ymin1 ymin2]) max([xmin1 xmin2])]; plot(testo(i,:),testfinal(i,:),'MarkerFaceColor',[0 0 0],'MarkerSize',8,'Marker','x','LineStyle','none'); CC = corrcoef(testo(i,:),testfinal(i,:)); str = [num2str(timegas(1,i-1)) 'days']; title(['% accuracy =', num2str(CC(1,2))]); text(min([ymin1 ymin2])*6/5, (max([xmin1 xmin2])) *7/8,str) hold on; plot(xtemp,ytemp,'Color','r','LineStyle','-'); end for i = 23 : 32 figure(12) subplot(5,2,i-22); xmin1 = max(testo(i,:));

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ymin1 = min(testo(i,:)); xmin2 = max(testfinal(i,:)); ymin2 = min(testfinal(i,:)); xmil = [min([ymin1 ymin2]) max([xmin1 xmin2])]; ylim = [min([ymin1 ymin2]) max([xmin1 xmin2])]; xtemp = [min([ymin1 ymin2]) max([xmin1 xmin2])]; ytemp = [min([ymin1 ymin2]) max([xmin1 xmin2])]; plot(testo(i,:),testfinal(i,:),'MarkerFaceColor',[0 0 0],'MarkerSize',8,'Marker','x','LineStyle','none'); CC = corrcoef(testo(i,:),testfinal(i,:)); str = [num2str(timewater(1,i-22)) 'days']; title(['% accuracy =', num2str(CC(1,2))]); text(min([ymin1 ymin2])*6/5, (max([xmin1 xmin2])) *7/8,str) hold on; plot(xtemp,ytemp,'Color','r','LineStyle','-'); end for i = 33 : 43 figure(13) subplot(6,2,i-32); xmin1 = max(testo(i,:)); ymin1 = min(testo(i,:)); xmin2 = max(testfinal(i,:)); ymin2 = min(testfinal(i,:)); xmil = [min([ymin1 ymin2]) max([xmin1 xmin2])]; ylim = [min([ymin1 ymin2]) max([xmin1 xmin2])]; xtemp = [min([ymin1 ymin2]) max([xmin1 xmin2])]; ytemp = [min([ymin1 ymin2]) max([xmin1 xmin2])]; plot(testo(i,:),testfinal(i,:),'MarkerFaceColor',[0 0 0],'MarkerSize',8,'Marker','x','LineStyle','none'); CC = corrcoef(testo(i,:),testfinal(i,:)); str = [num2str(timewater(1,i-22)) 'days']; title(['% accuracy =', num2str(CC(1,2))]); text(min([ymin1 ymin2])*6/5, (max([xmin1 xmin2])) *7/8,str) hold on; plot(xtemp,ytemp,'Color','r','LineStyle','-'); end

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APPENDIX B

Feed-forward Back-propagation algorithm

In the back-propagation algorithm, the output is calculated in the forward direction and the

error is propagated in the backward direction. A neural network that works on back propagation

consists of an input layer, one or more hidden layers and an output layer. The number of neurons in the

input layer is equal to the number of inputs. The number of neurons in the hidden layer(s) is decided

upon, by the user and the number of neurons in the output layer is simply equal to the number of

outputs. Each of the connections between each of the neurons in the network has a weight and is used

to calculate the net output from each layer. Consider a simple network given below:

As seen in the network, each of the neurons in a layer is connected to each of the neurons in the layers

before and after it. Before understanding how the outputs are calculated for each layer, let us see what

exactly happens with these data in a neural network. First the outputs from the input layer become the

inputs to the hidden layer. These outputs are then applied on a transfer function which then becomes

the output for the hidden layer. Again, these outputs are applied on a transfer function to become the

outputs for the output layer. The calculated output is then compared with the desired output and the

I1

I2

I3

H1

H2

O1

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error determined. This error is propagated in the backward direction to determine the new weights

between the layers such that the error is reduced to a minimum. The newly calculated weights are then

applied to another data sample and the same procedure repeated to determine the new weights. The

output prediction and error propagation are continued till the Mean Squared error in all the data

samples are reduced to a certain minimum value as desired by the user. Let us now understand how this

error propagation is done.

The error propagation follows the generalized delta rule.

For any layer k, the error function is given by:

∑ --------------------------------------------------- (1)

Where, m is equal to the number of outputs, Tm is the desired output and Om is the predicted output.

The change in error with changes in weights is calculated for each layer. The idea is to modify the

weights in the direction of minimization of error for each of the data samples in the training data sets.

After passing the weights once through each layer in the network in the forward direction and after

calculating the errors, the rate of change of error with change in weights is determined for the last layer.

This gradient is given by,

------------------------------------------------------------- (2)

Where, Ek is the error of the layer under study, Oki is the output of the layer k for each hidden neuron i in

layer k and Wij is the weight between the neurons i and j.

By chain rule, our required derivative is the product of 2 derivatives as shown in (2). The first derivative

can be calculated by differentiation of the error in (1) with respect to output.

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Hence, --------------------------- (3)

Thus the change in the output layer is given by (3). Now, the output of the hidden layer is the input to

the output layer. The summation is applied on the transfer function between the hidden layer and the

output layer to determine the predictive outputs. Defining the inputs to the output layer from the

hidden layer as netHj, where j refers to the hidden neuron, we can say that for a layer k,

∑ --------------------------------------------------- (4)

Where, i refers to the output neuron and j refers to the neurons in the previous layer.

----------------------------------------------------------------- (5)

Where, i refers to the neuron in the output layer.

Applying the general rule in (2) to the any layer k, we get,

------------------------------------------------------ (6)

From (4), the second derivative of (6) is given by,

-------------------------------------------------------------------- (7)

Using chain rule, the first derivative in (6) can be calculated as follows:

------------------------------------------------------- (8)

From (5),

---------------------------------------------------------- (9)

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The value of the first derivative of (8) depends on which layer is being studied currently. Let us calculate

this derivative for two different cases, the output layer and the hidden layer.

For the output layer, since the error function is defined already, the derivative is simply given by (3).

Thus the change in the output layer for each output neuron j is given by,

-------------------------------------------------- (10)

Where, Tj is the desired output and Oj is the predicted output for each output neuron j. Here, the

negative sign in (3) diminishes as we are calculating the negative gradient of the error.

In case of the hidden layer, thinking on the same lines as that of the output layer, the outputs from the

first layer become inputs to the hidden layer. A transfer function is applied on each of the hidden

neuron values to determine the layer’s outputs. Referring to the inputs to the hidden layer as netIi, for

each hidden neuron i, the output from the hidden layer is given as,

------------------------------------------------------------------- (11)

Writing (8) for the hidden layer, we get,

-------------------------------------------------------- (12)

From (11), --------------------------------------------------- (13)

∑ -------------------------------------------------- (14)

Here, the change in the output layer is multiplied by the weights to calculate the change for the hidden

layer. The error is propagated backward and hence the name of the algorithm is seen. Thus, the change

in the outputs of the hidden layer is given by (14). Therefore,

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After the negative gradients of the error in each layer are calculated, the weights are updated to

minimize error in prediction when applied to subsequent data samples.

Thus, the updates in weights for the hidden layer and the output layer are given by (16) and (17)

respectively.

& ------------------- (16)

& ---------------- (17)

After updating the weights, the new weights are applied to another data sample in the training data set

and the error measured. A cycle of completion of this process once through every data sample in

training is defined as an epoch. After an epoch, a stopping criterion is usually given which may be any

one of the following:

1. Maximum number of epochs is reached

2. Minimum error is achieved.

When stopping criterion is reached, the weights are applied to the testing data samples to

predict outputs for inputs that the network has never seen before. To avoid divergence in the direction

of minimization of errors, usually a fraction of the weight updates of the previous iteration are added to

the new weight changes so that the network can pass through the local minima. This is called the

momentum term. In (16) and (17), the term is called the learning rate which is usually a value

between 0 and 1 and can be modified based on the complexity of the problem under study and the

robustness of the network.

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APPENDIX C

Sample data file used for training

INPUTS

Kx Ky h φ ρ Pi Swi VL PL T Pwf Well

length Nx Swirr 10 10 40 1 1.2 3500 98 758.8 20 15 50 7 15 25 5 5 35 2 1.3 3000 30 379.4 800 100 300 11 25 15 10 10 30 3 1.4 2500 50 607.04 1800 200 100 5 11 20 50 50 25 4 1.5 2000 70 531.16 1500 300 14.7 3 9 25

100 100 28 5 1.6 1500 80 75.88 600 50 100 9 19 10 250 250 5 6 1.7 1000 90 303.52 150 15 400 9 21 15 50 50 20 7 1.8 500 95 455.28 250 800 250 5 19 20

100 100 35 8 1.9 1500 100 75.88 1500 50 700 9 25 25 1000 1000 24 10 1.35 300 55 607.04 200 40 150 7 15 15

5 2.5 30 9 1.6 2300 70 758.8 300 600 300 11 25 20 10 5 40 8 1.5 800 90 303.52 1800 250 100 9 21 25 50 25 30 7 1.7 1500 95 607.04 800 300 500 7 19 25

100 50 25 6 1.9 2500 90 455.28 1500 150 500 3 9 10 250 125 25 5 2 500 99 455.28 500 400 200 5 11 25 10 5 35 4 1.2 1750 85 303.52 1750 300 500 9 21 20

700 350 20 3 1.35 100 75 682.92 1750 80 50 7 15 15 900 450 30 2 1.33 100 60 455.28 500 200 50 5 19 10 1000 500 32 1 1.5 200 55 758.8 100 50 100 5 15 20

1 1 24 5 1.7 3000 45 758.8 800 40 1000 7 25 25 10 3.3333 40 3 1.8 3500 50 151.76 1250 150 500 9 19 10 50 16.6667 15 1 1.9 1500 30 303.52 2000 500 300 7 15 15

100 33.3333 10 2 2 1200 40 379.4 1700 100 100 5 11 20 250 83.3333 20 6 1.2 200 90 758.8 150 250 50 9 19 25 500 166.666 35 4 1.4 200 100 682.92 200 50 100 9 21 25 700 233.333 10 9 1.6 150 95 758.8 300 250 80 11 25 20 900 300 8 8 1.8 200 85 531.16 800 100 100 7 15 10 1000 333.333 18 10 2 200 75 682.92 2000 800 100 9 25 15

10 10 40 2 1.3 3500 80 758.8 1000 50 500 5 19 10 1 0.25 30 4 1.5 3500 90 682.92 1500 100 200 7 15 15 50 12.5 12 6 1.7 1500 70 455.28 800 30 500 7 25 20

100 25 32 8 1.9 1400 60 379.4 1200 900 400 9 21 25 250 62.5 5 10 2 1000 40 758.8 250 45 300 7 19 20 500 125 15 1 1.8 300 30 531.16 2000 650 150 9 25 25 900 225 40 5 1.4 100 65 682.92 1000 500 50 3 9 25 1000 250 20 7 1.2 1200 75 758.8 900 100 400 5 11 15