Finite Element
Since its inception in the 1940s, the finite element method (FEM) has been adopted by a multitude of institutions across the industrial spectrum. Early adopters to integrate FEM into their process included NASA, the automotive industry, and maritime companies. With the rise in popularity of the PC, FEM then spread to companies in the medical, civil engineering, chemical, electronics and consumer goods industries, to name a few. Not only is the finite element methodology being used in industries across the spectrum, but in many cases finite element is becoming the standard in analyzing and testing concepts in the design and development phases of product development lifecycles. As competition increases, there is added pressure to reduce the production and development costs and timelines. Not only does early, accurate FEM computer testing reduce time to market and lower development costs, but FEM allows for numerous early iterations to optimize product design that increases product quality as well.
As the foundation of FEM strengthens, its applications continue to spread to other disciplines such as electromagnetism, fluid dynamics, heat transfer, and radiation. Today FEM is used to analyze everything from the high temperature super alloy assemblies used on space shuttles to golf putters.
The challenges in modeling with FEM in the oil and gas industry are the problems that 3-phase fluid physics and phase change in porous media present. Object Reservoir has solved the problem and has been providing companies across the globe with its FEM based technology, Resolve™, and its services over the last 10 years. Having validated the technology against the leading conventional tools, Resolve has been proven to be as accurate, if not more accurate, in a fraction of the time, even when negotiating multi-phase/phase change conditions.
