“数字油田”要设计一个涵盖油田全部业务活动的综合信息系统指导性框架,当作今后 油田信息化建设的指南。它作为一个复杂的开放系统,适于使用元胞自动机模型来进行研究。介绍了元胞自动机的产生与原理,作为复杂性研究的新途径,探讨了元胞自动机在“数字油田”中的应用并做了复杂性分析。 关键词: 数字油田; 元胞自动机; 复杂性 The Application of Cellular Automata in the “Digital Oilfield” XU Bang-hai1,2; HE Ying3; LIU Xiao-ting4 (1.School of Computer Science and Technology,Ludong University,Yantai 264025,China; 2.Department of Computer Science & Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an 710072, China;3.Department of Electric Engineering, Xinjiang Polytechnical College, Urumqi 830091,China;4.Editorial Office of the School Journal, Ludong University, Yantai 264025,China) Abstract: The purpose of “Digital oilfield” is to design a directive frame to the integrated information systems that cover all of the business in oilfield, as a guide for building a information oilfield in the future. Being a complicated open system, it suits to be studied using a cellular automata model. This paper presents it’s origination and some essential theories, and explores the application of cellular automata in “Digital oilfield”. Additionally, the complexity of cellular automata is analyzed. Keywords: Digital oilfield; Cellular automata; Complexity