A discontinuous Galerkin method for gravity-driven viscous fingering instabilities in porous media
We present a new approach to the simulation of gravity-driven viscous fingering instabilities in porous media flow. These instabilities play a very important role during carbon sequestration processes in brine aquifers. Our approach is based on a nonlinear implementation of the discontinuous Galerkin method, and possesses a number of key features. First, the method developed is inherently high order, and is therefore well suited to study unstable flow mechanisms. Secondly, it maintains high-order accuracy on completely unstructured meshes. The combination of these two features makes it a very appealing strategy in simulating the challenging flow patterns and very complex geometries of actual reservoirs and aquifers. This article includes an extensive set of verification studies on the stability and accuracy of the method, and also features a number of computations with unstructured grids and non-standard geometries.
- Research Organization:
- Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC04-94AL85000
- OSTI ID:
- 1113319
- Report Number(s):
- SAND2011-9412J; 457241
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Computational Physics, Vol. 233, Issue C; Related Information: Proposed for publication in Journal of Computational Phyiscs - Elsevier Publishers.; ISSN 0021-9991
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
An experimental investigation of viscous fingering in heterogeneous porous media
A new method to simulate the effects of viscous fingering on miscible displacement processes in porous media