InterPore2022

From streamlines to discrete fracture modelling of multi-phase flow and deformation in fractured porous media

2 Jun 2022, 09:10

15m

Oral Presentation (MS23) Special Session in honor of Brian Berkowitz MS23

Speaker

Rainer Helmig (University of Stuttgart)

Description

One of the most important problems related to the modeling of fluid flow in natural porous media is accounting for their heterogeneous structure, which occurs on various spatial scales. A typical and widespread example of heterogeneous porous media is fractured rocks. While the volume of the fractures is negligible, their presence significantly alters the mechanical and hydraulic properties of the porous medium. Accurate simulations of fluid flow in fractured geological formations are very important in applications such as the exploitation of petroleum, groundwater or geothermal reservoirs or the design of waste-disposal facilities. An emerging field of application is related to the geological storage of, for example, green gas. The description of complex flow and transport processes including deformation-dependent fracture apertures is necessary. Mathematical models of fluid flow in fractured media can be broadly divided into discrete fracture models, where the fractures are represented explicitly on the numerical grid, and multi-continuum models, where the fracture network and the porous matrix are represented as overlapped continua, each characterized by its own set of hydraulic parameters. In the discrete fracture models, the fractures are often represented as elements of reduced dimensionality, i.e. 1D elements in a 2D matrix or 2D elements in a 3D matrix. Existing models for fracture-matrix systems are usually available for the simulation of flow and transport processes without fracture deformation. To overcome the above-mentioned challenges, the focus of this presentation is on the development of a hybrid-dimensional model for multi-phase flow in fractured poro-elastic media. The results are discussed in terms of the physical relevance of the observed phenomena as a quantitative assessment would require detailed experimental data.

References

1. Gläser, D.; Schneider, M.; Flemisch, B.; Helmig, R. (2022): Comparison of cell-and vertex-centered finite-volume schemes for flow in fractured porous media. Journal of Computational Physics, 448, 110715. DOI: 10.1016/j.jcp.2021.110715.
2. Gläser, D.; Flemisch, B.; Helmig, R.; Class, H. (2019): A hybrid-dimensional discrete fracture model for non-isothermal two-phase flow in fractured porous media. In GEM-International Journal on Geomathematics 10 (1), p. 5. DOI: 10.1007/s13137-019-0116-8.
3. Gläser, D.; Helmig, R.; Flemisch, B.; Class, H. (2017): A discrete fracture model for two-phase flow in fractured porous media. In Advances in Water Resources 110, pp. 335–348. DOI: 10.1016/j.advwatres.2017.10.031.

Presentation materials

InterPore-M23-R-Helmig-22.pptx