Fast Numerical Simulation of Porous Media Flows

The numerical simulation of multiphase flow through porous media in unstructured grids is a key issue in Petroleum Reservoir Engineering and Basin Analysis. To overcome computational limitations, a set of fast and innovative computer strategies is presented for sequentially implicit in time, 3D 2-phase immiscible or miscible flows in porous media. The procedures contain stabilized finite element technologies for both tetrahedra (T4) and hexahedra (H8). For the T4, is employed an edge-based data structure [

1

] to accelerate linear systems iterative solutions and a variationally consistent velocity post-processing technique [

2

]. For the H8, is implemented a one-point integration plus hourglass control [

3

] and superconvergent velocity approximation at the element centroid [

4

]. For both elements, a dynamic deactivation [

5

] procedure is used on the transport equation, which updates solution only on the gradient varying part of the mesh. By combining those techniques, one can achieve solutions up to 2 times faster, and another relative gain is the possibility to run larger and more complex models.