TOUGH2: A general-purpose numerical simulator for multiphase nonisothermal flows

Technical Report · Sat Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 1991

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/138333· OSTI ID:138333

Pruess, K ^[1]

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1. Lawrence Berkeley Lab., CA (United States)

Numerical simulators for multiphase fluid and heat flows in permeable media have been under development at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory for more than 10 yr. Real geofluids contain noncondensible gases and dissolved solids in addition to water, and the desire to model such `compositional` systems led to the development of a flexible multicomponent, multiphase simulation architecture known as MULKOM. The design of MULKOM was based on the recognition that the mass-and energy-balance equations for multiphase fluid and heat flows in multicomponent systems have the same mathematical form, regardless of the number and nature of fluid components and phases present. Application of MULKOM to different fluid mixtures, such as water and air, or water, oil, and gas, is possible by means of appropriate `equation-of-state` (EOS) modules, which provide all thermophysical and transport parameters of the fluid mixture and the permeable medium as a function of a suitable set of primary thermodynamic variables. Investigations of thermal and hydrologic effects from emplacement of heat-generating nuclear wastes into partially water-saturated formations prompted the development and release of a specialized version of MULKOM for nonisothermal flow of water and air, named TOUGH. TOUGH is an acronym for `transport of unsaturated groundwater and heat` and is also an allusion to the tuff formations at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The TOUGH2 code is intended to supersede TOUGH. It offers all the capabilities of TOUGH and includes a considerably more general subset of MULKOM modules with added capabilities. The paper briefly describes the simulation methodology and user features.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
• OSTI ID: 138333
• Report Number(s): LBL-29700; ON: DE92000647; TRN: JT9212%%562
• Resource Relation: Other Information: PBD: Jun 1991; Related Information: Is Part Of Earth Sciences Division annual report 1990; PB: 197 p.
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

58 GEOSCIENCES
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
99 MATHEMATICS
COMPUTERS
INFORMATION SCIENCE
MANAGEMENT
LAW
MISCELLANEOUS
05 NUCLEAR FUELS
15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY
02 PETROLEUM
FRACTURED RESERVOIRS
HEAT FLOW
MULTIPHASE FLOW
RADIOACTIVE WASTE FACILITIES
AQUIFERS
CALCULATION METHODS
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
DESIGN
ENERGY BALANCE
EQUATIONS OF STATE
FLOW MODELS
GEOTHERMAL SYSTEMS
HYDROLOGY
M CODES
MASS BALANCE
NATURAL GAS DEPOSITS
PERMEABILITY
PETROLEUM DEPOSITS
PROGRESS REPORT
RADIOACTIVE WASTE STORAGE
T CODES
THERMAL STRESSES
THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES
WATER SATURATION
Yucca Mountain Project