Control-Volume Mixed Finite Element Methods.

Abstract

A key ingredient in simulation of flow in porous media is accurate determination of the velocities that drive the flow. Large-scale irregularities of the geology (faults, fractures and layers) suggest the use of irregular grids in simulation. This paper presents a control-volume mixed finite element method that provides a simple, systematic, easily implemented procedure for obtaining accurate velocity approximations on irregular block-centered grids. The control-volume formulation of Darcy's law can be viewed as a discretization into element-sized tanks with imposed pressures at the ends, giving a local discrete Darcy law analogous to the block-by-block conservation in the usual mixed discretization of the mass-conservation equation. Numerical results in two dimensions show second-order convergence in the velocity, even with discontinuous anisotropic permeability on an irregular grid. The method extends readily to three dimensions.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Feb 01, 1997
Accession Number
ADA324497

Entities

People

  • J. E. Jones
  • S. F. Mccormick
  • T. F. Russell
  • Z. Cai

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Applied Mathematics
  • Boundaries
  • Continuity
  • Convergence
  • Differential Equations
  • Engineering
  • Equations
  • Finite Element Analysis
  • Geometry
  • Grids
  • Integrals
  • Mathematics
  • Partial Differential Equations
  • Permeability
  • Petroleum Industry
  • Simulations
  • Simulators

Readers

  • Aerospace Propulsion Engineering.
  • Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)
  • Fluid Dynamics.