Patent Document ID: 20100138196
Application ID: 12630709
Patent Flag: 0

Claim One:
1. A computer-implemented method to predict fluid flow characteristics within a fractured subsurface reservoir, the method comprising: (a) providing geological data describing a subsurface reservoir having a network of fractures; (b) generating a stochastic fracture representation that represents the network of fractures; (c) constructing a fine-scale geological model of the subsurface reservoir using the geological data and the stochastic fracture representation; (d) constructing a fine-scale grid associated with the fine-scale geological model, the fine-scale grid defining a plurality of polyhedral cells having cell-to-cell interfaces at boundaries between the polyhedral cells, a plurality of the cell-to-cell interfaces adjacent to the network of fractures being used to approximate the network of fractures and defining fracture connections for the polyhedral cells within the fine-scale grid; (e) discretizing the fine-scale grid to compute fine-scale simulation parameters for the fine-scale cells; and (f) simulating the fine-scale simulation parameters to predict fluid flow characteristics within the subsurface reservoir.