Multiphase flow simulation through porous media with explicitly resolved fractures
File(s)Su_et_al-2015-Geofluids.pdf (6.52 MB)
Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Accurate simulation of multiphase flow in fractured porous media remains a challenge. An important problem is the representation of the discontinuous or near discontinuous behaviour of saturation in real geological formations. In the classical continuum approach, a refined mesh is required at the interface between fracture and porous media to capture the steep gradients in saturation and saturation-dependent transport properties. This dramatically increases the computational load when large numbers of fractures are present in the numerical model. A discontinuous finite element method is reported here to model flow in fractured porous media. The governing multiphase porous media flow equations are solved in the adaptive mesh computational fluid dynamics code IC-FERST on unstructured meshes. The method is based on a mixed control volume – discontinuous finite element formulation. This is combined with the PN+1DG-PNDG element pair, which has discontinuous (order N+1) representation for velocity and discontinuous (order N) representation for pressure. A number of test cases are used to evaluate the method's ability to model fracture flow. The first is used to verify the performance of the element pair on structured and unstructured meshes of different resolution. Multiphase flow is then modelled in a range of idealised and simple fracture patterns. Solutions with sharp saturation fronts and computational economy in terms of mesh size are illustrated.
Date Issued
2015-02-16
Date Acceptance
2015-01-19
Citation
Geofluids, 2015, 15 (4), pp.592-607
ISSN
1468-8123
Publisher
Wiley
Start Page
592
End Page
607
Journal / Book Title
Geofluids
Volume
15
Issue
4
Copyright Statement
© 2015 The Authors. Geofluids Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
License URL
Sponsor
Engineering & Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC)
Engineering & Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC)
Exxon Mobil Upstream Research Company
Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)
Engineering & Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC)
Engineering & Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC)
Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)
Grant Number
GR/S42699/01
EP/I00405X/1
itf-ISF-3
NE/J015938/1
EP/I003010/1
EP/H030123/1
NE/L000660/1
Subjects
Science & Technology
Physical Sciences
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Geology
discontinuous finite element method
fracture flow
multiphase flow
STRESS-DEPENDENT PERMEABILITY
FINITE-VOLUME METHOD
2-PHASE FLOW
GEOLOGICAL MEDIA
ELEMENT
ROCK
MODEL
TRANSPORT
SCHEMES
MESHES
0402 Geochemistry
0404 Geophysics
0403 Geology
Publication Status
Published