Modelling Multi-Phase Flow in the Earth's Crust USing Node-Centred Finite Volumes on Unstructured Finite Element Grids

Research Report MRR01-023

Modelling Multi-Phase Flow in the Earth's Crust Using Node-Centred Finite Volumes on Unstructured Finite Element Grids

Sebastian Geiger, Stephen Roberts, Stephan K. Matthäi and Christopher Zoppou

Abstract: The permeability, porosity, and fluid velocities that govern the flow of multi-phase fluids such as water, oil and steam in the earth's subsurface often vary over several orders of magnitude and the scales of interest can vary from centimetres to kilometres. We describe a node-centred finite volume method coupled with a finite element method on an unstructured triangular grid which can be used to accurately and efficiently model multi-phase flow in geologic media. This is demonstrated by modelling multi-phase flows in complex geometries and with transport parameters that vary over several orders of magnitude.

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