Construction of hexahedral finite element mesh capturing realistic geometries of a petroleum reserve

- The three-dimensional finite element mesh capturing realistic geometries of the Bayou Choctaw site has been constructed using the sonar and seismic survey data obtained from the field.
- Various ideas and techniques to construct finite element mesh capturing artificially and naturally formed geometries are provided.
- The techniques to reduce the number of elements as much as possible to save on computer run time while maintaining the computational accuracy is also introduced.
- The steps and methodologies could be applied to the complicated shape masses for various civil and geological structures.

The three-dimensional finite element mesh capturing realistic geometries of the Bayou Choctaw site has been constructed using the sonar and seismic survey data obtained from the field. The mesh consists of hexahedral elements because the salt constitutive model is coded using hexahedral elements. Various ideas and techniques to construct finite element mesh capturing artificially and naturally formed geometries are provided. The techniques to reduce the number of elements as much as possible to save on computer run time while maintaining the computational accuracy is also introduced. The steps and methodologies could be applied to construct the meshes of Big Hill, Bryan Mound, and West Hackberry strategic petroleum reserve sites. The methodology could be applied to the complicated shape masses for various civil and geological structures.

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