Identifying Flow Units Using an Artificial Neural Network Approach Optimized by the Imperialist Competitive Algorithm

The spatial distribution of petrophysical properties within the reservoirs is one of the most important factors in reservoir characterization. Flow units are the continuous body over a specific reservoir volume within which the geological and petrophysical properties are the same. Accordingly, an accurate prediction of flow units is a major task to achieve a reliable petrophysical description of a reservoir. The aim of this paper was core flow unit determination by using a new intelligent method. Flow units were determined and clustered at specific depths of reservoir by using a combination of artificial neural network (ANN) and a metaheuristic optimization algorithm method. At first, artificial neural network (ANN) was used to determine flow units from well log data. Then, imperialist competitive algorithm (ICA) was employed to obtain the optimal contribution of ANN for a better flow unit prediction and clustering. Available routine core and well log data from a well in one of the Iranian oil fields were used for this determination. The data preprocessing was applied for data normalization and data filtering before these approaches. The results showed that imperialist competitive algorithm (ICA), as a useful optimization method for reservoir characterization, had a better performance in flow zone index (FZI) clustering compared with the conventional K-means clustering method. The results also showed that ICA optimized the artificial neural network (ANN) and improved the disadvantages of gradient-based back propagation algorithm for a better flow unit determination.