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Processes
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Application of Advanced Numerical Simulation in Petroleum Engineering
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Application of Advanced Numerical Simulation in Petroleum Engineering

A Special Issue of Processes (ISSN 2227-9717) belonging to the section "Petroleum and Low-Carbon Energy Process Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2026 | Viewed by 2489

Editors

Dr. Mingyang Liu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu 610500, China
Interests: drilling engineering; petroleum metering; well control; petroleum equipment maintenance; petroleum detection
Dr. Quanchang Li

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu 610500, China
Interests: petroleum equipment maintenance; system dynamics; intelligent structures and embedded systems

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The petroleum industry faces ever-increasing complexity in terms of subsurface characterization, operational safety, and production optimization. Advanced numerical simulation has become an indispensable tool across the entire petroleum engineering workflow, enabling engineers and researchers to model, predict, and optimize processes that are otherwise inaccessible through direct observation alone. From geological modeling and drilling dynamics to well control, surface facilities, and pipeline networks, high-fidelity simulation methods are transforming how the industry addresses both technical and safety challenges.

This Special Issue, entitled, ‘Application of Advanced Numerical Simulation in Petroleum Engineering’, aims to collect high-quality original research articles and comprehensive reviews that address the latest advances in numerical methods, computational modeling, and simulation-based engineering applied to petroleum systems. We particularly welcome interdisciplinary contributions that bridge simulation with data-driven approaches, system dynamics, and real-world field applications.

Topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

  •  Numerical simulation methods in geological and reservoir engineering;
  •  Advanced modeling and simulation for drilling engineering;
  •  Petroleum metering and flow measurement simulation;
  •  Well control dynamics and blowout prevention modeling;
  •  Numerical methods in petroleum production engineering and enhanced recovery;
  •  Condition monitoring, fault diagnosis, and maintenance simulation of petroleum equipment;
  •  Petroleum detection technologies and sensor-based simulation;
  •  Pipeline transportation modeling and flow assurance;
  •  System dynamics modeling of petroleum production and supply chain systems;
  •  Integration of machine learning and data-driven approaches with numerical simulation.

We look forward to receiving your valuable contributions to this Special Issue.

Dr. Mingyang Liu
Dr. Quanchang Li
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Processes is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • geological engineering
  • drilling engineering
  • petroleum metering
  • well control
  • petroleum production engineering
  • petroleum equipment maintenance
  • petroleum detection
  • pipeline transportation
  • system dynamics
  • numerical simulation

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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26 pages, 3914 KB  
Article
An Analytical Method for Estimating Large-Scale Cave Volume in Fractured-Vuggy Carbonate Reservoirs of the Tarim Basin, China
by Su Li, Mengying Chen and Zhiwei Lu
Processes 2026, 14(18), 2966; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr14182966 (registering DOI) - 17 Sep 2026
Viewed by 76
Abstract
Large-scale caves provide important storage space in carbonate oil and gas reservoirs. However, accurately estimating their volume remains challenging because of complex geometries and limited access to underground cavities. In this study, an analytical well-test method is proposed to estimate large-scale cave volume [...] Read more.
Large-scale caves provide important storage space in carbonate oil and gas reservoirs. However, accurately estimating their volume remains challenging because of complex geometries and limited access to underground cavities. In this study, an analytical well-test method is proposed to estimate large-scale cave volume from pressure-transient responses. A physical model is first established and mathematically formulated, followed by the derivation of an analytical solution in the Laplace domain. Stehfest’s numerical inversion is then applied to obtain pressure and pressure-derivative-type curves under different outer boundary conditions. The results identify four characteristic flow regimes: the wellbore-storage regime, the transition-flow regime, the cave-storage regime, and the boundary-dominated flow regime. A distinct concave feature is observed in the pressure-derivative curves. Sensitivity analysis shows that the pressure response is mainly influenced by three dimensionless parameters: the depth coefficient, radius coefficient, and shape coefficient. The depth coefficient primarily determines the transition time of the wellbore-storage regime, the radius coefficient mainly affects the width and depth of the concave response, and the shape coefficient mainly influences its magnitude. Finally, two field cases are presented to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed method for estimating cave volume. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Advanced Numerical Simulation in Petroleum Engineering)
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16 pages, 5211 KB  
Article
The Hybrid DBSCAN-Transformer Framework for High-Precision Phase Fraction Measurement in Low-Energy Gamma Flowmeter
by Yibo Huang, Mingyang Liu, Lijing Fan, Yulin Liang, Qingjing Lin, Shihan Zhang, Haibo Liang and Lianzheng Zhang
Processes 2026, 14(16), 2644; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr14162644 - 19 Aug 2026
Viewed by 324
Abstract
Multiphase flow metering is widely employed in the oil and gas industry, particularly for measuring gas-liquid-solid multiphase flow at drilling outlets. Low-energy gamma flowmeters offer relatively high metering accuracy, with phase fraction errors for gas, liquid, and solid typically within ±10%. However, in [...] Read more.
Multiphase flow metering is widely employed in the oil and gas industry, particularly for measuring gas-liquid-solid multiphase flow at drilling outlets. Low-energy gamma flowmeters offer relatively high metering accuracy, with phase fraction errors for gas, liquid, and solid typically within ±10%. However, in practical applications, fluid viscosity often causes substances to adhere to the photon detector, leading to measurement deviations that can reach 18% or more. To overcome this limitation, this paper proposes a hybrid Density-Based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise (DBSCAN)-Transformer regression framework, referred to as D-Transformer. DBSCAN removes isolated abnormal detector responses before overlapping time-series windows are generated, while the Transformer captures temporal dependencies among operating variables, raw phase-fraction readings, and multi-energy photon counts. Under experiment-wise five-fold evaluation, D-Transformer obtains R2 values of 0.982, 0.985, and 0.981 and RMSE values of 0.0134, 0.0122, and 0.0138 for the gas, liquid, and solid phase fractions, respectively. Component ablations and baseline comparisons show that the complete framework outperforms the no-ResNet, no-DBSCAN, CNN-GRU-Attention, CNN-LSTM, ridge-regression, and uncorrected-flowmeter alternatives. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Advanced Numerical Simulation in Petroleum Engineering)
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18 pages, 2951 KB  
Article
Theory and Application of Formation Pressure in Fractured-Vuggy Oil and Gas Reservoirs Based on Concentrated Source Theory
by Dongmei Li and Zhiwei Lu
Processes 2026, 14(16), 2545; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr14162545 - 7 Aug 2026
Viewed by 627
Abstract
In this study, a rapid analytical framework is developed for reconstructing transient formation-pressure distributions in sparsely connected fractured-vuggy carbonate reservoirs using well-test-derived fracture–cave geometry and source allocation. Pressure–flow relationships are established for caves, fractured bodies, and finite line-source fractures; unit-source solutions are combined [...] Read more.
In this study, a rapid analytical framework is developed for reconstructing transient formation-pressure distributions in sparsely connected fractured-vuggy carbonate reservoirs using well-test-derived fracture–cave geometry and source allocation. Pressure–flow relationships are established for caves, fractured bodies, and finite line-source fractures; unit-source solutions are combined via spatial superposition and Duhamel convolution for variable-rate production; and the framework is evaluated by comparing Well EX-1 against a PEBI-grid simulation. Cave response is derived from mass conservation and effective compressibility, while point- and line-source Green’s functions describe pressure diffusion. For the 30-day EX-1 case, analytical and PEBI pressures at four locations show close internal agreement, with a mean absolute error of 0.070 MPa, a root-mean-square error of 0.083 MPa, and a maximum absolute error of 0.13 MPa. This method is applicable mainly to single-phase, slightly compressible, linear-flow conditions with a constrained fracture–cave topology. It provides a rapid screening tool for deep carbonate reservoirs with sparse well control, while multiphase, strongly nonlinear, reactive, or geomechanically coupled cases require conventional numerical simulation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Advanced Numerical Simulation in Petroleum Engineering)
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21 pages, 2908 KB  
Article
Process-Based Geochemical Constraints on Organic Matter Enrichment and Shale Oil Potential in the Upper Jiufotang Formation, Ludong Sag, NE China
by Jieyun Tang, Zuhua Dong, Wei Fu, Pengchao Guo, Yugang Li, Fuzhen Chen, Hong Zhang and Zengyuan Zhou
Processes 2026, 14(15), 2521; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr14152521 - 6 Aug 2026
Viewed by 482
Abstract
Accurately identifying organic-rich shale intervals remains a major challenge in lacustrine shale oil exploration, particularly in continental rift basins characterized by rapid environmental change and pronounced vertical heterogeneity. This study investigates the upper Jiufotang Formation in the Ludong Sag, Kailu Basin, NE China, [...] Read more.
Accurately identifying organic-rich shale intervals remains a major challenge in lacustrine shale oil exploration, particularly in continental rift basins characterized by rapid environmental change and pronounced vertical heterogeneity. This study investigates the upper Jiufotang Formation in the Ludong Sag, Kailu Basin, NE China, using total organic carbon (TOC), vitrinite reflectance, multi-stage programmed rock pyrolysis, and major and trace element geochemistry to constrain the processes governing organic matter enrichment and hydrocarbon occurrence. The studied shales contain abundant organic matter, with TOC values ranging from 1.91% to 7.55% and averaging 4.22%. Type II2 kerogen and vitrinite reflectance values of 0.60–0.94% indicate oil-prone organic matter at low-mature to mature stages within the oil generation window. Multi-stage pyrolysis shows that the hydrocarbon assemblage is dominated by bound oil and residual kerogen-derived fractions, whereas the low-temperature movable oil fraction is limited. TOC is more strongly associated with the high-temperature pyrolysis fractions than with the light free-oil fraction, indicating that organic matter abundance primarily controls residual hydrocarbon generation potential but does not directly determine present-day movable oil content. Multiple elemental proxies are collectively consistent with deposition in a hydrologically restricted, variably brackish–saline lacustrine system with water-mass differentiation. Redox-sensitive indicators, including V/(V + Ni) and Mo, suggest persistent weakly reducing to reducing bottom-water conditions. After correction for carbonate- and phosphate-associated Ca, CIA values fall within a narrow range of approximately 67–70, indicating moderate and relatively stable source area chemical weathering. Organic matter enrichment was governed by the coupled effects of organic matter supply, preservation under stratified oxygen-deficient waters, and sedimentary dilution. We therefore propose a two-stage process framework in which depositional productivity–preservation coupling first promoted organic matter accumulation, whereas subsequent thermal maturation, hydrocarbon expulsion, retention, and adsorption reshaped the present hydrocarbon occurrence state. The results demonstrate that high organic matter abundance and residual generation potential do not necessarily translate into high movable oil content and provide a well-scale geochemical basis for source rock evaluation and future multi-well assessment in continental rift lake systems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Advanced Numerical Simulation in Petroleum Engineering)
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Review

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36 pages, 5210 KB  
Review
Advances in Numerical Simulation of Coupled Wellbore Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer During Drilling and Well Construction: Models, CFD, Validation, and AI-Assisted Deployment
by Zijian Li, Bo Zhang, Liping Jiang, Liqun Xu, Tai Luo, Bin Tang, Yi Cheng, Xianping Cao, Gao Li, Hongtao Li, Xu Yang and Stephen Butt
Processes 2026, 14(14), 2342; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr14142342 - 20 Jul 2026
Viewed by 631
Abstract
Wellbore fluid flow and heat transfer are strongly coupled during drilling and well construction, where temperature, pressure, rheology, gas behavior, transient operations, and cementing displacement jointly affect pressure-window control and wellbore safety. This review synthesizes advances in coupled wellbore thermal–hydraulic numerical simulation, emphasizing [...] Read more.
Wellbore fluid flow and heat transfer are strongly coupled during drilling and well construction, where temperature, pressure, rheology, gas behavior, transient operations, and cementing displacement jointly affect pressure-window control and wellbore safety. This review synthesizes advances in coupled wellbore thermal–hydraulic numerical simulation, emphasizing governing equations, discretization strategies, coupling algorithms, rheology and turbulence closures, verification and validation, computational efficiency, uncertainty quantification, and AI-assisted deployment. A bibliometric-guided critical review was conducted using an 841-record Web of Science corpus, 79 screened technical records, 86 screened OnePetro field-facing records, and representative prior reviews. CiteSpace was used to identify knowledge structure and thematic evolution, while screened records were coded by governing physics, numerical method, closure assumption, model output, validation evidence, and deployment relevance. The literature is organized into five model families: wellbore temperature and heat transfer; annular non-Newtonian flow, rheology, turbulence, and CFD; pressure-window and transient hydraulics; cementing displacement and well-construction flow; and AI-assisted calibration and deployment. The synthesis shows that field-deployable simulation requires consistent state variables, transparent closure hierarchies, benchmark validation, uncertainty reporting, CFD-to-well-scale transfer, reduced-order implementation, and physics-constrained AI updating. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Advanced Numerical Simulation in Petroleum Engineering)
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