Numerical simulation and optimization study of In-Situ Heating for three-dimensional oil shale exploitation with different well patterns

In order to explore a three-dimensional shale well network model with low power consumption and high oil production rate, this study employed Ansys Fluent numerical simulation software to analyze cumulative oil production volume, annual oil production volume, heating rate factor, and unit volume power consumption for seven well network models. The results indicate that during the in -situ heating and extraction process of oil shale, all seven different well network models undergo direct in -situ pyrolysis without a preheating period. With an increasing number of heating wells, Model VII reaches its peak annual oil production volume at day 360, and the heating rate factor peaks at 3.696 on day 540. This is a 5.68 -fold increase compared to Model I's peak heating rate factor. The slope of the cumulative oil production volume over time is the highest, indicating the fastest heating rate, and complete pyrolysis is achieved by day 780. However, throughout the entire in -situ heating process of oil shale, Model VI exhibits the lowest unit volume power consumption at 814.87 Kw/m3, with the highest energy utilization efficiency. This represents a significant reduction of 41.93% in unit volume power consumption compared to the other six well network models. The exploration results of these different well network models provide robust technical support for subsequent in -situ oil shale extraction field experiments.