Hydraulic well testing inversion for modeling fluid flow in fractured rocks using simulated annealing: a case study at Raymond field site, California

Ž . Ž . Cluster variable aperture CVA simulated annealing SA is an inversion technique to construct fluid flow models in fractured rocks based on the transient pressure data from hydraulic tests. A two-dimensional fracture network system is represented as a filled regular lattice of fracture elements. The algorithm iteratively changes element apertures for a cluster of fracture elements in order to improve the match to observed pressure transients. This inversion technique has been applied to hydraulic data collected at the Raymond field site, CA to examine the spatial characteristics of the flow properties in a fractured rock mass. Two major conductive zones have been detected by various geophysical logs, geophysical imaging techniques and hydraulic tests; one occurring near a depth of 30 m and the other near a depth of 60 m. Our inversion results show that the practical range of spatial correlation for transmissivity distribution is estimated to be approximately 5 m in the upper zone and less than 2.5 m in the lower zones. From the televiewer and other fracture imaging logs it was surmised that the lower conductive zone is associated with an anomalous single open fracture as compared to the upper zone, which is an extensive fracture zone. This would explain the difference in the estimated practical range of the spatial correlation for transmissivity. q 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.