Citation

BibTex format

@article{Su:2015:10.1111/gfl.12129,
author = {Su, K and Latham, J-P and Pavlidis, D and Xiang, J and Fang, F and Mostaghimi, P and Percival, JR and Pain, CC and Jackson, MD},
doi = {10.1111/gfl.12129},
journal = {Geofluids},
pages = {592--607},
title = {Multiphase flow simulation through porous media with explicitly resolved fractures},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gfl.12129},
volume = {15},
year = {2015}
}

RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB - 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.
AU - Su,K
AU - Latham,J-P
AU - Pavlidis,D
AU - Xiang,J
AU - Fang,F
AU - Mostaghimi,P
AU - Percival,JR
AU - Pain,CC
AU - Jackson,MD
DO - 10.1111/gfl.12129
EP - 607
PY - 2015///
SN - 1468-8123
SP - 592
TI - Multiphase flow simulation through porous media with explicitly resolved fractures
T2 - Geofluids
UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gfl.12129
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/33989
VL - 15
ER -